January 20, 2010

Army gun sight with biblical inscription.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council today called on the Defense Secretary Robert Gates to immediately withdraw weapons which have been found to have inscriptions of Biblical references from combat use. An ABC news investigation revealed this week that the Michigan-based contractor Trijicon sold up to 800,000 sights for military rifles to the U.S. military, and that the equipment is currently being used by U.S. troops.

Calling this "a violation of America's founding principles" as well as U.S. military rules instituted in recent years, MPAC called for an investigation into the matter, and also requested a meeting with Pentagon officials.

"Having Biblical references on military equipment violates the basic ideals and values our country was founded upon," said Washington, DC Office Director Haris Tarin. "Worse still, it provides propaganda ammo to extremists who claim there is a ‘Crusader war against Islam' by the United States."

In a letter sent to Secretary Gates today, MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati stated in part:

Allowing religious references to be placed on U.S. weaponry, which are bought and paid for by U.S. taxpayers, is unacceptable.  Such inscriptions not only run afoul of the Constitution and U.S. military rules, but they also feed into the violent extremists' narrative that the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are a "crusade against Islam."

All of us are concerned about the security of our nation, which makes combating extremist narratives an essential component in defeating Al-Qaeda and like-minded groups. Furthermore, there are thousands of American Muslims, Jews and people of other faiths proudly serving their country in the Armed Forces. Allowing a contractor to proselytize on U.S. military equipment is also an affront to their service and dedication.

One of the citations on the gun sights, "2COR4:6," is an reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament: "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." 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."