U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has 'Always' Added New Testament References By JOSEPH RHEE, TAHMAN BRADLEY and BRIAN ROSS Jan. 18, 2010 â Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found. The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army. U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents. One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent 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." Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash. 'It violates the Constitution' The company's vision is described on its Web site: "Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom." "We believe that America is great when its people are good," says the Web site. "This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals." Spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps both said their services were unaware of the biblical markings. They said officials were discussing what steps, if any, to take in the wake of the ABCNews.com report. It is not known how many Trijicon sights are currently in use by the U.S. military. The biblical references appear in the same type font and size as the model numbers on the company's Advanced Combat Optical Guides, called the ACOG. A photo on a Department of Defense Web site shows Iraqi soldiers being trained by U.S. troops with a rifle equipped with the bible-coded sights. "It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military. 'Firearms of Jesus Christ' "It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said. Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm of Jesus Christ." He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade." According to a government contracting watchdog group, fedspending.org, Trijicon had more than $100 million in government contracts in fiscal year 2008. The Michigan company won a $33 million Pentagon contract in July, 2009 for a new machine gun optic, according to Defense Industry Daily. The company's earnings from the U.S. military jumped significantly after 2005, when it won a $660 million long-term contract to supply the Marine Corps with sights. "This is probably the best example of violation of the separation of church and state in this country," said Weinstein. "It's literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun against the people that we're fighting. We're emboldening an enemy."
Freedom of Religion means the freedom to put your beliefs on whatever you want and express your views whenever you want. Separation of church and state is only supposed to be that the government will not tell the church how to run itself, not that the state cant have a religious preference. Otherwise the very state that is run by the people for the people IS limited in their freedom of Religion which they are not supposed to be. Freedom of Religion does not give you Freedom FROM religion. If you want a religious free country, start your own country or move to an atheist nation. Dont screw with ours, just because you dont like the constitution. Anyway...that said, I personally think its a bad Idea to be putting scripture on weapons. If I didnt know, I would say it was probably an atheist that put that scripture on there, just because they wanted to screw with muslims and Christians at the same time.
"Freedom of Religion means the freedom to put your beliefs on whatever you want and express your views whenever you want. " Not when the product in question is being paid for by the US government it doesn't...
why it seems ridiculous to me to put biblical quotes on a weapon of war.... Calling this a important constitutional violation is more ridiculous? I am not even sure there is a violation? What part of the constitution is being violated?
I will be happy when God almighty, Jesus the Christ takes every weapon away from mankind. Apparently at that time death and destruction will be non-existent as well. For now since these two issues have not happened ... I am insured. Any person that doesn't recognize that Military and arms is a preparatory and preventative "type of insurance" is just plain ignorant of the facts. Putting scriptures on something. Fine ... it is a free market. Making a judgment call on that either way isn't free market. Personally I believe that the Government should have scientists develop a lubricant solely derived from "Pig Lard" so that every weapon and every bullet had some content of "Pig" on it. It would also create a huge economic boon and sent pork bellies through the roof. And likely improve the heart health of Americans a bit due to the increased cost of pig lard. Every Jihad oriented Islamic or Middle Eastern based religion would know that if they died by any weapon or bullet from the US arsenal that they were unclean and could not go to heaven due to the "Pig" content. It would be a real moral booster for our troops and absolutely destroy moral for those who are violent Islamic peoples.
================= Thanks for you opinion,O777; but historicaly its very wrong. Even President Thomas Jefferson, somewhat of a miracle sceptic[cut the miracles out of his personal Bible], paid for Bibles for Indians. Judeo -Christian foundation of this nation is simply amazing.Also actually amazing is how much Bible the founding fathers knew/lived .............................................................................. Somebody in US Army [1980's]said you are a Christian , how could you be in the military??. I said, you dont read the old testament much do you???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? He admitted ,no..................................................................
================== Good shot, Unretired !!!!! And until the lion eats grass like a lamb, keep your powder dry.....................................