Trijicon Optics Bible verse

Published On: March 22, 2012|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|2 Comments|

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Dear Military Religious Freedom Foundation,

I wanted to email about the news report on ABC, slandering Trijicon for apparently violating the Constitution. If you didn’t know, the Constitution says that GOVERNMENT (keyword) may not establish a religion or prevent exercise of a certain religion. The first amendment doesn’t say anything about a company or business promoting a religion, so Trijicon has every right to manufacture their products with bible verses on them. If the soldiers were forced to use weapons with bible verses that they object to, then that is a violation, but it’s the military’s job to ensure what is inscribed or written on their materials. And the fact that you all turned this around and took cheap shots at their company disgusts me and I would say that you’re violating the constitution by preventing a private company’s exercise of religious freedom. If you were correct on this issue, then that would mean that publishing companies wouldn’t be allowed to print the bible or anything to do with religion, but then again it would be the military’s fault if they decided to buy bibles. So please stop with your slander of Trijicon and read the constitution further than a few sentences.

(name withheld)


Hi (name withheld),

My name is Rick Baker and I volunteer for MRFF to help make sure everyone who writes us gets a timely response.

Ryan, I’m afraid you missed the boat on this one. Trijicon stamped Christian Biblical Verse Numbers on their sights which they knew were being installed on weapons not only used by US Forces but Iraqi, Afghani and a number of other Armed Forces. (See below)

Among those forces are adherents to the Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other faiths. Since Americans and our allies use these weapons primarily against Muslims, it was felt that a crusade of sorts was in the offing.

US Government screwed up on this one by not recognizing the Bible verses sooner and Trijicon was in direct violation of the constitution by not notifying the government about the verses.

The Bible verses became an issue when Iraqi troops and others became aware of the verses and American troops began calling them “Jesus Rifles.” This further inflamed the issue.

In a Supreme Court Ruling (Lemon Vs. Kurzman 1971) the Court held that government, including the armed forces and public education, may not elevate, recommend, prefer or proselytize any religion over another or religion over non-religion. By allowing these weapons with Christian Scripture stamped on them to be distributed and employed by US and other troops, the government gave the appearance of being in direct violation of that ruling. Trijicon was guilty of not informing the government of those verses.

Non-Christian troops were incensed and some violence took place directed at Americans.

It was a bad move by Trijicon to advance their own Christian beliefs. The Armed Forces must remain religion neutral by law and by common sense.

Thanks for your note and may I suggest you google “Supreme Court Rulings on the Separation of Church and State.” There is a wealth of information there for you including those things which I brought up here.

Rick Baker
MRFF


That’s still the military’s issue. Trijicon stamps all their acog sights with this and I know because I own one. And no one was making a big deal about this till ABC came out with this story. Most people that own them didn’t even know it was a bible verse and the few that did, didn’t make a big deal about it.

I understand the separation of church and state, but it’s still up to the military to check into what they’re buying, plus Trijicon has recently started selling a kit to remove these inscriptions. But do you really think an enemy would really know what those markings are when most the people here thought it was a model number or something else. That is until ABC broadcast the story all over the world calling it Jesus rifles, which sounds utterly ridiculous and offensive.

Go waste time doing something more important than making a big deal about something as silly as this. Out of everyone i know that served, zero have had an issue with this. It’s always the politically correct watchdog groups that make a big deal out of nothing and end up doing more harm than good. And by the way, the Constitution does not say that religion cannot be in government. It says government can’t establish or prevent a religion or make a law based on religion. The Declaration of Independence makes this point with the fact that it clearly states both God and Creator with capital letters in the first few sentences. According to your definition, the Declaration is violating the law. But in this case no law has been made and no law has been violated based off what the Constitution says.

(name withheld)


Hi (name withheld),

Thanks for your response.

As a former Air Force Officer and Rescue Pilot having served two combat tours in Vietnam I feel at least somewhat qualified to know that whether or not an illegal thing in the military is caught or not, it’s still wrong. Stamping military gun sights with exclusive Christian Biblical verses was wrong. Allowing them to be distributed to personnel of all faiths, beliefs and non-beliefs was wrong. It was an act of Christian hegemony designed to proselytize religion. This act violated CENTCOM General Order #1 which prohibits the proselytizing of religion in the mid eastern theaters of war. By violating this order, Trijicon placed itself in legal jeopardy and cancellation of all military contracts. You know as well as I do that losing these excellent and technologically advanced gun sights would be disastrous given their superiority and life saving quality for our ground troops. Trijicons immediate and wide-spread remedial action allowed them to remain in defense contractor status.

The US Supreme Court has made many rulings regarding the First Amendment which have been made a part thereof. As I have said, government, including the armed forces may not favor one religion over another or religion over non-religion. It may not have been a big deal to those who routinely wear their beliefs on their sleeves but to patriotic armed forces members who swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, it was a big deal. What if the verses were from the Quran saying “Allah is Great, Kill the Infidels!” You may have had a different take on it then.

Ryan, the Declaration of Independence was not a founding document. Therefore having a reference to the Creator was not a violation of US Law then and would not be today.

The US Constitution is the bona fide founding document of the United states of America in which there is no reference to a God, Jesus Christ, Angels, Satan or religion of any kind with the exception of prohibiting any religious test to hold office. The founders chartered the United States as a secular pluralistic representative republic in which all religions may flourish but none dominate.

MRFF is engaged in the guarantee of religious freedom to all armed forces members and their families. We have interceded in many many cases in which our young men and women were in the grip of command centered and coercive Christian proselytizing. At last check by me, over 28,000 complaints have been lodged by armed forces members relative to overbearing and illegal Christian proselytizing. This is a big deal.

Your concern demonstrates that you care about our military and for that I thank you. And what could be more important than the guarantee of religious freedom for our troops?

Rick Baker
MRFF

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2 Comments

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  2. Willie Chaffin December 10, 2022 at 9:13 pm

    I see no problem with stamping a code on the Trijicon products, that’s one reason I like to purchase them. I studied the what my inscription means and it’s true. It gives us hope. I wish more companies would exercise this form of religious freedom guaranteed by our Constitution. Religious freedom wins every time.

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