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US Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret Bible Codes
Trijicon, a Michigan company that makes high-powered rifle sights for the military, has come under fire for inscribing coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ on their products. The sights contain references to Second Corinthians 4:6, "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" and John 8:12, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The company has acknowledged that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the US military, but says there is nothing wrong or illegal about adding them. Spokespeople for the US Army and the Marine Corps both say that they were unaware of the biblical markings, and are discussing what steps, if any, to take. I personally think this is ridiculous. Everyone knows that Jesus was such a good shot he never used sights.
Way to just go out and hand a propaganda victory to every two-bit "zOMG the Americans are Crusaders!" holy warrior in the whole bloody sand trap.
Also, I'm guessing that we won't be seeing any "Matthew 26:54" gunsights...
By reinforcing the notion that the US and other NATO forces engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan are in fact "Crusaders" there to forcibly convert people to Christianity. There have been a few comments of a religious nature from US commanders in the past that probably helped reinforce the other sides propaganda efforts but this goes a step further. What more proof that we are engaged in fighting "Islam" the religion (and not Islamist terrorists) do you need to give to Al Qaida propagandists? What about the Muslim (or any other non-Christian religion) members of the US/NATO forces who suddenly discover they have been using a weapon with a religious quote that they might find personally find offensive?
You will never win the hearts and minds of a population by making them think you are there to completely uproot their lives, starting with telling them their religion is wrong, and that getting your help is conditional on them converting to your religion. What you will do is help create even more opposition to your presence.
I think the directors of this company should be fined the entire cost of the items sold to the military so far, from their own personal pocketbooks. What a hairbrained assinine and offensive stupid thing to do. I hope they pay for it.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
Most hardcore religious types typically seek to impose their beliefs on everyone else. If they can't do it overtly, they'll adopt this kind of passive aggressive nonsense to get their way. Telling of their convictions is the fact that while they say they've done nothing wrong, they never bothered to tell the army exactly what they were getting.
The rifles should all be refunded. They've essentially all got graffiti on them.
May the Maths Be with you!
At least the manufacturer isn't inscribing "JN3:16" or "MAT6:27-31".
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
Now, if I could only get them to inscribe 1 Timothy 5:23 on my wine bottles. ("Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.") I believe my father had this quote on the front of his wine log.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I think it's great - the manufacturer of the sights, being both religious and (apparently) proud of their work have rolled the two together. (Reminds me of the sniper in Saving Private Ryan - and how can *that* be a bad thing?)
Here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8468981.stm
Seems the issue came up when some muslim members of the forces complained and asked why these inscriptions were there. Article has some good comments.
Why is this in Idle btw? Its not all that geeky but its not trivially unimportant either.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
The manufacturer put abbreviated Scripture references on its parts. So what? If you didn't know anything about the Bible, it could easily be seen as just another part number. They're not forcing anyone to read the Bible or look up the Scripture reference. If a manufacturer wanted to put HHGTTG42 or THX1138 on parts or some other geeky reference, people would think it's cool. It's just as cryptic to anyone without "inside knowledge", but since it's a Bible reference, everyone gets their undergarments in a twist. It's not an endorsement of Christianity as an official religion by any government.
blasphemy i say!
Is this CEO of this company Roboute Guilliman of the Adeptus Astartes?
Exept for close analogy with German Forces in WWII I do not see there anything really bad. If US dollars were signed with "In God We Trust", why US weapons cannot contain Bible citations? At least something inspirational for soldiers who must keep their humanity.
Hide your files and folders from others!
Know this, son of Guilliman. The father of our Chapter watches over us always. He knows your soul, your strengths and, aye, even your doubts. The chain of command must not be broken or we are nothing. Discipline and order are everything on the battlefield and the army that lives by that credo will always triumph. +++ Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines +++
Just wait till they find out that "Have a Nice Day" is inscribed around the muzzles of some .50 caliber rifles. (another not joking, sorry)
The Muslim and Hindu soldiers of the British Raj rose up in mutiny because lard was used to lubricate the cartridges. Pig fat is haram for Muslims. All animal fats were haram for Hindus.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Do they produce grenades (hand), holy, Antiochish, blowing thine enemies to bits in Thy mercy for the purpose of?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOrgLj9lOwk
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
This is *really* stretching for a church/state link. The manufacturers are clearly believers, and they put references to their beliefs in their products. The references aren't even intolerant or violent ones.
Anyone crying about this is just keeping in practice at crying about stuff.
Sure, it's silly. But it's just free expression. You can't tell me with a straight face that this is coercive.
For the most part, Trijicon sells "night sights": tritium lit, light amplification, etc. Given that, their choices of quotes (about shining light) seem apropos. If it had been a Shakespeare quote about light, would anybody be complaining? Before crying about religious oppression, realize that the Bible is a work of literature. Quotes from it are not necessarily for religious purposes.
If you really want to get upset about something military related, might I suggest the expense of trillions of borrowed dollars to kill unthreatening foreigners and police the world?
I have Trijicon tritium sights on most of my pistols, and a Trijicon ACOG on one of my AR-15s. I've never noticed the quotes (I'll look tonight), but they haven't subliminally converted me to Christianity yet. The only people who really have any justification to complain would be the customers, and most gun owners I know (Christian or not) wouldn't care.
People need to lighten up.
If the quotes were instead from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, perhaps something pithy like "Mostly Harmless", we'd be applauding their sense of irony. Instead they were from another book, just one arguably more well-read.
The issue here is that these sorts of things will be taken as evidence of some sort of religious crusade. But Muslims around the world already have more than enough justification to be pissed off, this is just another drop in the bucket. And even if they didn't, Dutch cartoonists and Salman Rushdie have already stepped on enough toes to merit the occasional assassination attempt for their own politically incorrect behaviour.
Which is to reiterate: people need to lighten up.
Seriously? Who cares? I buy AKMAK crackers and EZEKIEL bread that both have bible inscriptions on it, our fav. private bank writes "In God We Trust" on all our money. It's not like the rifle says JesusFTW or has a virgin mary on it...
Trijicon does NOT make rifles, they make illuminated sights and illuminated 'scopes. (all of their products are luminous, hence the choice of verses, I imagine.) anyhow, they have not marked any rifles. RTFA
In Soviet Russia jokes are formulaic and decidedly non-humorous.
The optic's model type portion of the serial number is a reference to the bible. No need to swap out the whole rifle, just swap out the optic. I, for one, welcome the opportunity to buy a ton of surplus Trijicon optics at discount prices from the US Military. They're the best gun site optics out there.
Way to have a misleading headline... again...
"Thou Shalt Not Kill" would be by far more appropriate. But then, they would not produce those arms anyway, would they?
It seems to pay to be a hypocrite.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
How about "Kill em all, let ME sort them out" written in red?
Listen, there is nothing funny about warfare. Adding biblical inscriptions just really is not funny at all. I have been a frontline combat soldier and seen things that would make politicians sick and make them think twice about war. Do you know what?, adding religious inscribtions is bad news indeed. Enough wars are over religion, just do not go there. I can tell you if you even think you are doing "Gods Work" you need your head testing and need to get a reality check. War is NOT funny! I have already been slotted a few times and am still suffering the consequences physically, however I try and remain optimistic and I am still deeply traumatised by war and have terrible flashbacks.
a.k.a. Ezekiel 25:17.
19 January nydailynews.com/ had the news correct. 2 days ago Trijicon was in news as rushing replacement optics mounts to USA (US Army). Now you can't use Google to find the correct news that Samsenpus took his slanted writings from?
Do you hate God so much that you must make wild accusations? Aggressive stupidity on your part only inflames situation within the US of A. All Christian haters are not Islamic. Many are indoctrinated in our colleges to crusade against our Christian heritage.
If you don't like the script on the scope.. buy another and leave your anti-religious nonsense at the door.
Bottom line.. it sounds good on these scopes.
I would like a little customization etched in mine personally.
People complaining about this being unconstitutional are blowing smoke. Find something from the text of the constitution that says a business cannot put references to a passage of a book on their products. If the complaint only exists because this product is being used by the government, then go complain to the government for buying that product instead of a different one. Don't put all the heat on the company when the government is the one that chose to spend money on it. And anyone who says this infringes upon freedom of religion is quite wrong. Not allowing them to do this would be instead infringing upon the scope makers' freedom of religion.
My philosophy on "offensive products" is simple. Don't buy it or support the company. If it offends YOU, then YOU just don't have to buy it. If it offends you that someone else is buying it, well that's just your problem. If it offends you that someone else is using your money to buy it (gov't using your tax $) then take issue with the ones spending your money (this means if you want to do anything, let gov't know. Until you at least try that, quit complaining). If it offends you, but it's otherwise the best choice for your application, then you have to choose between the importance of your beliefs and the importance of your goods.
And on a side note, to the comments about how this makes Muslims think it's an America vs Islam war... While that's not what America fights specifically against, that's what it ends up being anyways. This is due to the fact that Islam teaches that all who don't convert to Islam must be killed. In order to be a good Muslim, you must convert others and kill those that won't convert. Therefore, I can quite easily predict that there will never be a resolution.
No, there is no "-1 I'LL NEVER ADMIT BEING WRONG!!!" mod.