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.
So lets give them something to cackle about.
I challenge anyone here to go back to my original comment in the Robertson thread, and justify the swift and rapid barrage of smug questions, misquoted scriptures, bellicose sarcastic remarks and general condemnations of myself and Christians in general that followed.
Go on. Don’t look for typos.
Don’t try to rewrite events.
Lets just post my original comment, and the slew of ignorance and dishonesty that they were met with.
Lets try that for a while shall we?
Give it about an hour or two, and one of the drones will slip back in to rewrite events, conceal their shame at being caught editing scriptures to attack Christians, and generally insult and taunt me so that when I respond they can sit back with their 9 year old like smugness and say “hey, I thought you were leaving”.
Honestly for a bunch of people who strut their own erudite superiority as if Solomon himself should bow before their caustic comments I could frankly get better comments from a group of schoolkids.
The predictability of their insults and timing almost makes me wonder if I’m not related to Ms Cleo or something.
Byron,
Wait, people still care about baseball? That’s the one thing more boring than a discussion on the difference between agnostics and atheists.
Also, because it seem appropriate:
http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2010/01/17
And Mike? Appleton that is. You might want to look at the original thread where this assault on my faith, character, political affiliation, etc began.
It began in the “Devil” thread about Haiti, where I condemned Pat Robertsons words and explained that what he teaches is not from the gospels, and hence is no real Christian.
That was the comment that brought a slew of insulting and bigoted comments, inquisitions and personal attacks.
Mespo asked around a dozen questions in his first comment to me in response to my comments on Robertson, changing passages of scripture to meet his slurs and attacks of Christians, and then disappeared when caught doing it.
Others joined in one after the other until we have the fiasco you behold before you. Soon we had people arguing with me the meaning of the most mundane and irrelevant nonsense, like you see this drone doing with the word “my Christians”, trying to make something out of a typo.
Trying to start an entire new argument over a typo.
This is what I’ve been dealing with, for days now.
I didn’t say “my Christians”.
As I pointed out that was a typo.
But these bellicose drones cannot help but argue what the meaning of “my” this or “my that” is, even though I’ve already indicated it was nothing more than a couple errant keystrokes.
It meant nothing.
It was a typo.
But that doesn’t matter to the drones.
They grasp at whatever they can to try to get a shot in.
See what did I tell you?
The inane drone is here to fixate on my typo.
30%<:
we would not think they were "your" Christians anymore than when a fan says "my" Red Sox.
St. Thomas was right:
"Thus the intensity of a thing possessed of light depends on its approach to something endowed with light in a supreme degree, to which the nearer a thing approaches the more light it possesses. But in things that relate to defect, intensity depends, not on approach to something supreme, but in receding from that which is perfect; because therein consists the very notion of privation and defect. Wherefore the less a thing recedes from that which stands first, the less intense it is: and the result is that at first we always find some small defect, which afterwards increases as it goes on. Now passion pertains to defect, because it belongs to a thing according as it is in potentiality. Wherefore in those things that approach to the Supreme Perfection, i.e. to God, there is but little potentiality and passion: while in other things, consequently, there is more. Hence also, in the supreme, i.e. the apprehensive, power of the soul, passion is found less than in the other powers."
And PS.
“my Christians” = “Christians”.
The “my” was an obvious typo but given the nature of these tolerant enlightened people I wouldn’t want to spend the next two hours arguing with some inane drone over the meaning of “my Christians”.
Mike Appleton
“Thirtypercenter, we haven’t exchanged views, but from reviewing this thread I have come away with the conclusion that you have simply overreacted.”
Thanks Mike I appreciate your civility and your comment.
Unfortunately you are late to the melee, and missed Mespo’s “Inquisition” in response to a comment of mine pointing out the gospel is actually contained in the gospels.
You also missed his purposeful editing of scriptures where he removed portions to change the meaning to fit his prejudiced attacks on Christians. You also missed Steve Pitts comparing of my Christians (which includes my family, friends etc)to “Supporters of Hitler”.
Along with a slew of other insults, smug sarcastic dismissive comments bathed in the tepid glow of faux sincerity, and the apparently coordinated efforts to drive me out.
Which by the way have worked which is why you don’t see my comments in other threads. I’m merely lingering long enough to address any of the little “pilot fish” like Mespo who wish to come in after I’ve indicated I was exiting, to get their parting shots in and distort my words.
Once that has concluded you shall not hear from me again.
UPDATE:
WASHINGTON – A Wixom company will stop putting biblical references on weapon scopes and other products made for the U.S. military and is sending the Pentagon kits to remove the references from weaponry already in the hands of American troops.
http://www.freep.com/article/20100121/NEWS03/100121038/1319/Wixom-company-to-remove-Bible-verses-from-rifles
“30 FFLEO probably hasn’t read all of your comments, please refrain from attacking him. Next thing you’ll be calling him a troll.” Bdaman
Yes.
How utterly insensitive of me for not responding politely and submissively to his insults and name calling.
The nerve of me.
empirecookie, great joke.
Mike S., great post, and you are certainly correct. Much of the hysterics from both skeptics and atheists is a reaction to fundamentalism. Bill Maher seems to be growing increasingly cynical. I believe that Richard Dawkins is especially perturbed over the fundamentalist disdain for science. He needs to remember that Christian fundamentalism is of recent vintage, the reaction of a few people terrified at the implications of “The Origin of Species.” It is characterized by poor theological underpinnings, broad ignorance and suspicion of learning in general, which leads its adherents to join Pat Robertson in viewing every natural disaster not as a product of physical forces, but as an affirmative act of a vengeful God.
Thirtypercenter, we haven’t exchanged views, but from reviewing this thread I have come away with the conclusion that you have simply overreacted. I have expressed my thoughts on this site for a couple of years. If you reviewed the various posts over a period of time, I think you would find that what you perceive to be anti-Christian attacks are largely comments on the latest religious absurdity, and Muslims and Jews are not spared.
30 FFLEO probably hasn’t read all of your comments, please refrain from attacking him. Next thing you’ll be calling him a troll.
Or perhaps a medical one based on your failing eyesight.
Failing eyesight that precludes you from actually reading what you comment on.
So I take it I was wrong about you being fired.
Now I’m leaning towards a psychiatric discharge.
“Former Federal LEO 1, January 21, 2010 at 3:22 pm
30%r,
There should be no reason for you to leave as long as people are responding to you. I think you are crackers, although you elicit enough comments to extend threads past 200 entries.
If you continue to consider yourself as Palin’s religious bulldog, then you should have a fruitful tenure herein with your insane proselytizations because some people versed in biblical scripture will continue to rebuke your misunderstandings.”
So let me get this straight.
Even though I’ve made it abundantly clear I am an independent.
Even though I’ve condemned Sarah Palin and the Neoconservative Christians repeatedly, ….my plain and clear protests of the bigotry towards Christians in here, and my attempts to try to get you people to see the sheer wrongness of labeling ALL people for the actions of SOME, ….that in your brain equals me being “Sarah Palins Bulldog”?
That’s the best you can do?
And other than one pathetic “well not all but many” qualification made LONG AFTER LAMBASTING CHRISTIANS IN GENERAL, most comments in here are of the latter in nature.
30%r,
There should be no reason for you to leave as long as people are responding to you. I think you are crackers, although you elicit enough comments to extend threads past 200 entries.
If you continue to consider yourself as Palin’s religious bulldog, then you should have a fruitful tenure herein with your insane proselytizations because some people versed in biblical scripture will continue to rebuke your misunderstandings.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MGBmGmnca0&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
If you say “the Black Panthers were violent criminals” that’s one thing.
If you say “Black People are violent criminals”, then that’s bigotry.
And if you say “Neoconservative Christians and certain sects and branches over the centuries were corrupt and warlike”, that’s a valid point.
But when you say “Christians are warlike and corrupt”, that’s bigotry.
That’s prejudice, in all its ugly glory.