Trijicon

Military On Rifle Scope Bible Citations: It's Just Like 'In God We Trust' On Money

Justin Elliott | January 19, 2010, 6:01PM

Iraqi police officer in Hayy, Iraq, looks through Trijicon scope with Bible verse in March, 2009 (magnified below).

Responding to the controversy over Biblical inscriptions on military rifle scopes in Iraq and Afghanistan, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command told the AP, "This situation is not unlike the situation with U.S. currency. Are we going to stop using money because the bills have 'In God We Trust' on them?"

In an interview with ABC, the spokesman, Air Force Maj. John Redfield, argued that the inscriptions on Trijicon rifle scopes do not violate the military's ban on proselytizing "because this equipment is not issued beyond the U.S. Defense Department personnel. It's not something we're giving away to the local folks."

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