(ChattahBox)—Holy, holy war! According to a report by
ABC news![[IMG]](http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2_bing.gif)
, a Michigan-based weapons company specializing in high-powered scopes for rifles produces its instruments of death based on biblical principles. The company stamps each scope with a coded reference to passages from the New Testament and the books of Revelation. The company’s “Jesus rifles” are used by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. And critics of the Jesus rifles say they not only violate the military’s rules against religious proselytizing, but they also give the dangerous impression that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting against jihadists, are waging a holy war against insurgents.
The Trijicon company located in Wixom, Michigan says that it has always stamped its sighting systems with coded biblical passages. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing told ABC News that “the inscriptions “have always been there.” And he denied that they were wrong or illegal. He responded to the criticism by deriding the group as “not Christian.”
Some of the inscriptions, include JN8:12, referring to John 8:12 from the books of revelations, which reads: “Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, and 2COR4:6, which is a reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Trijicon’s
Web site is blatant about its biblical proselytizing via high-powered rifle sights. The company’s vision statements reads: “Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom.” And under its morality statement the firm says: “We believe that America is great when its people are good. This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals.”
When contacted by ABC, both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps denied knowing about the biblical inscriptions. But Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation says soldiers have told him that the inscriptions are well known and many commanders refer to the Jesus rifles, as “spiritually transformed firearm
of Jesus Christ.”
Weinstein says the Jesus rifles not only violate the Constitution, but they put our soldiers in harms way in a war with al-Qaida Muslim jihadists. Knowledge of the Jesus rifles could embolden Muslim extremists to join the fight against a holy crusade they believe is being waged against Muslims by Americans.Click to expand...