A Marine who was court-martialed after refusing to take biblical verses down from her desk has lost her federal appeal, in a decision her representative called 'outrageous'.

Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling lost a 2014 court-martial at her base in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, based in part on her refusal to remove the verses.

She challenged that action but was told Wednesday that she had lost the case after it was ruled that the order was not a 'substantial burden' on her First Amendment rights, Fox News reported.

Court-martialed: Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was court-martialed in 2014 partly because she refused to take Bible verses down from her workspace

Burden: She posted up an altered version of Isiah 54:17 (pictured). She lost an appeal to the court-martial on Wednesday, as judges said her rights weren't 'substantially burdened'

'We reject the argument that every interference with a religiously motivated act constitutes a substantial burden on the exercise of religion,' said the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the highest military court, in a 4-1 decision.

'In this case, the record does not clearly address whether (Sterling's) conduct was based on a "sincerely held religious belief" or motivated by animosity toward her chain of command,' it added.

'Military orders are presumed to be lawful and are disobeyed at the subordinate’s peril.'

'This is absolutely outrageous,' Kelly Shackelford, president of First Liberty Institute, which represented Sterling.

'A few judges decided they could strip a Marine of her constitutional rights just because they didn't think her beliefs were important enough to be protected.'

Judge Kevin Ohlson, who wrote the dissenting opinion, agreed, saying: 'while the military's asserted interest in good order and discipline surely deserves great deference, it does not demand reflexive devotion.'

Sterling, a Christian, had posted a modified form of Isiah 54:17 that read 'No weapon formed against me shall prosper' in three areas at her workspace.

She refused to remove them when ordered, saying that the three identical verses represented the Holy Trinity. Her commanding officer then threw the verses in the trash, at which point she printed them back out.

This process repeated until the officer added the incident to a number of offenses for which she was court-martialed.

Those included disrespecting a superior officer, disobeying lawful orders, and failing to report to an assigned duty.

She was reduced in rank to Private and given a bad-conduct discharge and later left the service.

If a Marine is awarded a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge, he or she can lose access to government benefits.