Posts Tagged ‘Iraq’

New Testament inscriptions on Army, Marine rifle sights?

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

The effort by some evangelical groups to use the U.S. military to spread their religious views knows no bounds.  Take this report, from ABC news: snipers in Afghanistan and Iraq may be taking aim through rifle sights inscribed with New Testament references.

The sights come from a Michigan company, Trijicon, which has a  $660 million  contract to provide sights for high-powered rifles to the Marines and Army.

The issue is a particularly sensitive one, ABC reports, because of widespread charges that the U.S. is  waging religious “crusades” in Iran and Afghanistan – a charge that has been reinforced by some ministers here who portray both conflicts as wars between the Christian West and Islam.

The ABC report quotes Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who says “It’s wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws.”

Then Weinstein, who is never at a loss for words, adds this:  “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.”

Groups Try to Galvanize Jewish Antiwar Activism

Friday, November 21st, 2008

Joe Klein vs. Abe Foxman on Iraq, Iran and “Jewish Neoconservatives”

Friday, June 27th, 2008