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Monday, January 18, 2010

God and Guns on a Holiday

"This is probably the best example of violation of the separation of church and state in this country.… It's literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun against the people that we're fighting. We're emboldening an enemy."

Those trenchant words by 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") can only be an understatement given the enormity of this breach of the separation of church and state:

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….

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."

A company spokesperson defended the practice by characterizing the opposition:

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."

Apparently, no Christian would object to this practice. Moreover, apparently, no Christian would think it bizarre that references to the Bible would be printed on instruments that are used to kill people. The implication is that Christianity is of one type and that type sees no obligation to honor the separation of church and state much less waver at the prospect of killing people. Besides, what if non-Christians do object to this practice? Does that make their objection somehow invalid?

The US military's response?

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.

"What steps, if any"—surely they jest. If this egregious practice isn't wrong, what is?

Posted by Delaware Watch at Monday, January 18, 2010