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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.
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!
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 company may make their part numbers however they like. These references are part of the part number for the scopes. They have used these for years. This was posted on message boards 5 years ago. And the part numbers have been since the inception of those models. The company makes tritium illuminated sights. And all the bible references in the part numbers contain references to "light". The only story here is that ABC news doesn't have a clue about religion.