ABC has a truly bizarre and disturbing story. Brian Ross reports that a military contractor has encoded hidden New Testament Bible passages on high-powered rifle sites. The contractor is Trijicon, which apparently confirmed the practice.
The biblical references appear as, in one case, 2COR4:6 — an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: “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.”
The company received $660 million under a contract to supply 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps. It has other contracts with the Army.
U.S. regulations prohibits proselytizing of any religion. Moreover, such additions to military equipment should violate the contract which presumably did not ask for biblical citations with gun sights.
The use of biblical citations will only reaffirm the view of many that the U.S. went into Iraq and Afghanistan on a “crusade.” This view was magnified by Bush calling its a crusade and later citing Biblical passages to convince other leaders that this was a worthy, if not divinely ordained, effort. His subordinates appeared to keep Bush in a Biblical mindset by adding prominent quotations from the Bible in reports on the war, here.
In my view, this raises serious legal questions that should result in a review of this contract. As a minimum, the contractor should have to pay for the removal of the citations. We have to able to trust contractors not to carry out their hidden or religious agenda as part of a contract with the American people. Just imagine if these were citation to the Koran. If the company wishes to proselytize it should do so with theocratic governments. Perhaps the Swiss Guards that the Vatican need a few sights and citations.
For the full story, click here.
Mike
“1. The Torah is a holy Book written by Jews and for Jews.”
Yid tested-Hebrew approved.
I really don’t mean offense but I had to go with the rhyming scheme.
Also I guess it’s safe to say you don’t have a God in this fight.
Mike A.,
And hunker down.
With all due respect to all those who contributed the 280+ posts that precede mine, the issue raised by the story has nothing to do with the law or with any particular tenets of Christianity. It has everything to do with the continuing practice of merging religion with patriotism. Students of history will recall that every Confederate victory during the Civil War was related in the southern press as a sign of God’s vengeance against northern agression. Every northern victory was likewise reported in northern papers as further proof of God’s hatred for slavery and its southern apologists. For military contractors, Christianity is a useful sales tool. Tagging military equipment with biblical phrases promotes the idea that the manufacturer employs only loyal, patriotic Americans producing only the finest quality hardware for fighting the good fight. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.
Empirecookie, funny. And yep, thanks.
Ecookie,
That is good. FUNNY.
I admit that after a while it felt like my early days on the Astronomy tech sites, where cults are built around optical designs and are vigorously defended. The followers were the most anal retentive lot I’ve yet to encounter.
Several centuries ago, the Pope decreed that all the Jews had to leave Italy. There was, of course, a huge outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal. He would have a religious debate with a leader of the Jewish community. If the Jewish leader won the debate, the Jews would be permitted to stay in Italy. If the Pope won, the Jews would have to leave.
The Jewish community met and picked an aged Rabbi, Moishe, to represent them in the debate. Rabbi Moishe, however, could not speak Latin and the Pope could not speak Yiddish. So it was decided that this would be a “silent” debate.
On the day of the great debate, the Pope and Rabbi Moishe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers.
Rabbi Moishe looked back and raised one finger.
Next, the Pope waved his finger around his head.
Rabbi Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat.
The Pope then brought out a communion wafer and chalice of wine.
Rabbi Moishe pulled out an apple. With that, the Pope stood up and said, “I concede the debate. This man has bested me. The Jews can stay.”
Later, the Cardinals gathered around the Pope, asking him what had happened.
The Pope said, “First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground to show that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us of our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?”
Meanwhile, the Jewish community crowded around Rabbi Moishe, asking what happened. “Well,” said Moishe, “first he said to me, ‘You Jews have three days to get out of here.’ So I said to him, ‘Up yours’. Then he tells me the whole city would be cleared of Jews. So I said to him, ‘Listen here Mr. Pope, the Jews … we stay right here!”
“And then?” asked a woman.
“Who knows?” said Rabbi Moishe. “We broke for lunch.”
Stephen Pitt:
Unfortunately you have met with the same obstacle to arguing with 30%’er that the rest of us have met. Simply put he has no ability to see English language characters on a screen and understand their obvious meaning.
Mike Spindell. I’m reposting my closing comment from earlier since it was buried by Pitts nonsense. No doubt this troll will continue to taunt me and try to drag this on forever to bury this comment to you, but this time he will do it alone. I will not respond to his lies.
Clearly you or anyone can see his first comments to me. Clearly they were blanket condemnations of the Christian faith without any qualifications that he later added.
And of course he only added the qualification to the one about Hitler. All of the rest of his ugly, bigoted remarks are typical of the bigotry that is driving liberal and independent Christians from these blogs in droves.
And from the polls.
Clearly most of these people will not learn until Newt Gingrich is sitting in the White House with Sarah Palin as his VP.
Clearly these people are too ignorant to learn.
So life will have to teach them.
On to my comments to you.
I wanted to take a moment and thank you for your comment. (wish it had come a few hours earlier but no complaint). It’s well said and is clear and concise.
But you may have missed the part where I pointed out I was not going to linger any further here. I stopped in this afternoon to see if any other sincere questions were posed for me, which I see none were, but other than that I’m going to look for another blog where a little less religious bigotry exists.
Now you’re a Druid did you say? (lol). Just kidding. Being a Deist\Jewish you probably don’t feel the direct point of the knife as each day in these blogs the Christian faith is decimated, ridiculed and outright condemned. Page after page of would be arm chair scholars expound countless hours on how the actions of a few albeit vocal group of Christians, defines us all.
Its therefore vexing to me to see the only group of people left in this country who claim to support tolerance and condemn intolerance, so wantonly bigoted as to label all Christians and their beliefs evil, because of the actions of some.
This is the very soul of bigotry. The very heart of it. Defining an entire group of people based on the actions of a few. Given the majority of the country is Christian I wonder who these people think were standing alongside them for 8 years protesting the Bush regime and the corruption of our democracy?
Did they not know we were Christians too?
Do they not realize that Christians, particularly independent Christians are leaving the democrats in droves?
Yesterday a Democrat lost in Mass. because she offended the independents with a dismissive and apathetic campaign. She did not reach out and thus the independents left her in droves. Some did not vote. Others voted against her. And the result is the republicans now have shifted the balance of power in the Senate. Soon the same will happen with the House, and then the White House.
And it will happen not because of policies as much as the majority of Christians in this country who are not evangelicals and neoconservatives, but moderates and independents who value their beliefs and who are afraid of these new, pro-atheist anti-Christian democrats.
Here, let me say that again. They are AFRAID of these new pro-atheist, anti-Christian democrats.
As much as we fear the corruption of our beliefs by the neoconservative right, many of us fear as much and some even more the idea of being ruled by anti-Christians (anti-Christs lol). See what I’m saying?
Now I myself don’t believe that the democrats will be rounding any of us up any time soon to shove into cattle cars or something. Although I have heard the following in liberal and progressive blogs over the past year.
1. Make Christians wear name tags to identify them.
2. Christians should be compelled to seek psychiatric treatment to cure them of their hallucinations
3. Christians should be taxed for being a burden to our system of government
4. Christians should be lined up and shot
5. Christians should be moved to the south and the north be made a free atheist nation
And in here?
Religion is a Pox. We believe in fairy tales and story books. We support Hitler.
And those are just samples. From the moment I started reading this blog I’ve seen nothing but anti Christian sentiment. Now obviously Antisemitism is not tolerated but AntiChristianism is. Other than you I’ve not seen anyone step up and condemn this sort of hateful prejudice against a group of people.
The blog owner seems content to tolerate it. The other bloggers show no outrage and voice no condemnation of it. Were the things that are said in this and other blogs said about Gay and Lesbian people, African Americans, etc, the outrage would be swift and sure.
But when they mock, ridicule and condemn an entire group of people, millions and millions of people, for the actions of a few, few if any speak up.
Now I vote (or don’t vote) based on my conscience and I am old enough and hopefully smart enough to know that the vocal bloggers who seem to dominate these blogs are not necessarily voicing the opinions of the leaders they elect. And that’s good. But the fact is there is an ever growing movement of progressives, democrats and independents who are Christian in faith who have had enough with the new progressive movement and their rampant hatred and reviling of what is sacred to them. It is difficult if not impossible for those who embrace the Christian faith to find any sort of fellowship in liberal or progressive blogs, websites chat rooms etc and even many public venues.
And no doubt my voicing these concerns will be met with a barrage of insults about my whining and complaining but the fact is I am doing neither.
I’m trying to educate.
Because like it or not, accept it or not, face up to it or not, what happened last night in Massachusetts is just the tip of the iceberg.
Believe it or not but a big fall out is coming. Moderates. Independents. Christian progressives and liberals. All falling by the wayside as it were, who will either not vote, or will vote republican or independent ticket. Thus democrats will lose seats in droves.
Of course there are many factors involved. President Obama’s failure to follow through on his campaign promises and ideals. The democrats cow towing to the republicans on health care and other issues. All of these things play a huge role.
But the fact is at the end of the day it was the independents and the moderates who shored up the democratic votes in states across the nation to help shoe in democrats in both houses and in the White House. And those people are by and large Christians. And those people see the democrats, these new democrats, progressives, etc with their Bill Maher movies, their mocking of Christianity as fairy tales and Christians as stupid, deceived, etc, and they are afraid. Afraid of the bigots on the left as much as they are the bigots on the right.
So when election times come, they just will not show. And if they do, it won’t be to vote for the democrats.
See this. Don’t see this. Believe it. Don’t believe it. But its a fact nonetheless and one that’s going to be made quite evident over the coming months and years.
Presenting itself as the erudite party of tolerance and inclusiveness, then proceeding to offend and drive off the largest single demographic in the country is counterproductive to winning elections. It is however a sure way to lose them.
Tolerance means tolerance. Not intolerance. And religious intolerance has become the new badge of progressivism with Bill Maher leading the way. Mocking the faith of everyone who’s votes you need to win neither points to the progressive party as progressive, tolerant or even smart.
It just doesn’t make sense.
Anyway I wanted to respond to your excellent comment and point out to you that the religious argument has ended. As I said I will not tarry long in a blog like this where the religious intolerance and bigotry is the rule of the majority, which clearly in this blog it is. (Although the minority does seem to at least exist). Not that I cannot defend my beliefs against the onslaught of uninformed attacks. I can. But to what end?
When clearly the overwhelming majority of people in here rally to shout down and drive off Christians then what good would I accomplish? Whom would my presence benefit? These sort of attacks bring out the worst in people, myself not excluded.
And that is not going to help anyone.
So the religious argument shall not continue. Not with me at least. I’m sure I’ll hear more laughter and ridicule for bothering to respond to your comment but I made it clear last night that any sincere comments I would still make an effort to respond to, and yours was the most sincere comment I’ve read in a long long time.
Shibboleth my friend. Shibboleth.
Mike S:
C’mon on Mike, ol’ 30%’er is one of those “hit and runners” who reads nothing and autopilots everything else, all the while claiming outrage and hurt feelings as he spouts ad populum and (as Gyges points out) “No true Scotsman” arguments. It’s just tiresome to respond to such a mean intellect who doesn’t have the curiosity to even read the responding posts. I have directly answered her inane rant about not including every phrase in the Bible since “In the beginning,…,” yet still I am met with repeated requests to reply. Following the “I vont to be alone” moment following a bludgeoning by Gyges, Byron, and Rafflaw, he sheepishly returns to see if there are any questions worthy of a response. Curiously my inquiry into whether it is morally right to kill those who curse their parents is conspicuously ignored. Guess that didn’t tickle the intellectual taste buds of our voracious faith-based dragon. All in all, I find 30’er irrational, lazy, semi-literate, a craver of victim-hood, and protesting entirely too much — an apt description, methinks, of your typical neo-con Christian soldier that 30&’er claims to despise. When 30%’er finally does go –and I have no illusions it will be anytime soon given the self-congratulatory nature of his rants–it will be none too soon.
I have nothing more to say to you Pitt. You’re really one individual who is clearly nothing more than a liar.
I should have never responded to your ignorant bigoted attacks in the first place and I surely should not have responded to your filthy bigoted slurs this morning.
Your attempts to bury my last comment to Mike Spindell are clear. You want to make Christians look bad so you kick at them.
Lie.
Ignore your own comments.
Lie about me not reading them.
Anything you can do to drag me into your silly juvenile attempt to slur and slander a few hundred million peoples faith.
So of you my friend, I dust my feet. I have nothing more to say to you troll. And I will ignore you from now on.
Lie all you want.
Its over.
Then you should try a helmet.
It’s cut down on those head injuries you’re obviously suffering from.
No thanks, I ride a road bike for mind and body.
I think a good dose of Haldol might help you.
I can’t help you. You must help yourself.
Apparently it was you who didn’t read your own post troll.
–
– Stephen Pitt 1, January 20, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I don’t start wars, or join totalitarian movements, intractable one. –
That ones from today.
Really troll?
Then how did I reference it?
ThirtyPercenter 1, January 20, 2010 at 3:34 pm
I read your posts Stephen. You said nothing about “Not all but too many” when you were bashing Christianity. You said that in relation to who supported Hitler.
And in your recent comment you didn’t say anything about “not all of them” either.
You just implied that Christians start wars and are totalitarians.
Condemning all for the actions of a few.
And that is being a bigot.
–
No, you didn’t read my posts.
Clearly you saw my civil comment to Mike and your bigoted ignorant juvenile brain couldn’t handle it.
So you insist on lying through your teeth just to try to keep this going.
By lying consistently and dragging this out you hope to get a rise out of me and paint me in a negative light. After all, liars like yourself bring out the worst in people.
Silly semantic games.
Lies about what you said.
Ignoring your own comments today.
Ignoring your original comments.
Pretending that your comment about supporting Hitler was the only one you made by ignoring all the rest of your filth.
And you’re also ignoring your ignorant bigoted remark that you JUST MADE TODAY.
Here it is again bigot.
– Stephen Pitt 1, January 20, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I don’t start wars, or join totalitarian movements, intractable one. –