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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Muslim anger over military 'Jesus' scopes |
| 2010-01-21 |
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Muslim groups reacted angrily Wednesday after it emerged that the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan were using rifle sights inscribed with coded Biblical references. The company producing the sights, which are also used to train Afghan and Iraqi soldiers under contracts with the US Army and the Marine Corps, said it has inscribed references to the New Testament on the metal casings for over two decades. The British Ministry of Defense meanwhile announced it had placed an order for 400 of the gunsights with Trijicon but added it had not been aware of the significance of the inscriptions, in a decision criticized by the opposition Liberal Democrat party. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) called on US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to immediately withdraw from combat use equipment found to have inscriptions of Biblical references after it emerged that Trijicon has contracts to supply over 800,000 of the sights to the US military. The Pentagon sought to defuse the brewing controversy, saying it was "disturbed" by the reports. "If determined to be true, this is clearly inappropriate and we are looking into possible remedies," Commander Darryn James, a Pentagon spokesman, told AFP. The codes were used as "part of our faith and our belief in service to our country," Trijicon said. "As long as we have men and women in danger, we will continue to do everything we can to provide them with both state-of-the-art technology and the never-ending support and prayers of a grateful nation," a company spokesman said on condition of anonymity. The move appeared to be a direct violation of a US Central Command general order issued after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq that strictly prohibits "proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice." A whistleblower group that first alerted ABC News to the issue this week warned the practice was putting troops in harm's way by raising fears of Christian proselytizing in Muslim-majority nations home to militants resentful of US military presence. "This is the worst type of emboldenment of the enemy that you can imagine," Military Religious Freedom Foundation founder and president Michael "Mikey" Weinstein said in an interview. Weinstein, a former White House legal counsel in Ronald Reagan's administration, said his group would submit a filing in US federal court in Kansas City, Missouri by February 4 in a related case. "Having Biblical references on military equipment violates the basic ideals and values our country was founded upon," MPAC Washington director Haris Tarin said in a statement. "Worse still, it provides propaganda ammo to extremists who claim there is a 'Crusader war against Islam' by the United States," he added. The shocking revelation raises fresh fears of Christian fundamentalism seeping through the US military's ranks. "It's got to stop. It's wrong on a million levels," said Weinstein. "This is massively endangering the lives and well-being of our members of the military." His foundation, he added, represents nearly 16,000 troops, the bulk of them Christians. A Muslim-American soldier, who declined to be named due to fears of persecution, said he was "ashamed" and "horrified" by the writings on the gunsights of weapons he used during deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. "There are many other soldiers who feel as I do. Many are Protestant and Catholic and they fear reprisal just as much as I do for trying to stand up to the Christian bullies in uniform who outrank us," he said in a letter dated January 14 and addressed to Weinstein and his foundation. The Secular Coalition for America demanded the US military end its contracts with Trijicon. "Trijicon knew that the scopes they were producing were for the use of the US military and their decision to keep these engravings shows a flagrant disregard by a private contractor of the laws that govern our land," said the group's director Sean Faircloth. According to photographs seen by AFP, the coded inscriptions include JN8:12, an apparent reference to John 8:12: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." Trijicon, a defense contractor founded by devout Christian Glyn Bindon, vows on its website to follow "biblical standards" it says make America great. |
| Posted by:Swanimote |
| #28 Haven't we built up an immunity to "muslim anger" yet? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-01-21 22:15 |
| #27 SELECT * From [Angers_Muslims] And the Geek of the Week award goes to...BP! I'm torn between laughing at that and outrage over this tempest in a part number. I can't think of another example from history where organized murderers had such tender sensibilities. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2010-01-21 22:11 |
| #26 In light of this, shouldn't Dwight Eisenhower be officially declared an unperson? There's reason to believe that the very mention of his name would be offensive to Muslims and provoke additional attacks on western targets bot military and civilian. His choice of words in official statements and literary works was certainly highly insensitive, if not implicitly islamophobic, equating "Islam" with the notion of "Evil" and "Enemy". /sarc |
| Posted by: Elmereter Tojo2646 2010-01-21 21:49 |
| #25 wait until the find out what jello and gummy bears used to be made of....... They are going to hell... oops... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2010-01-21 19:38 |
| #24 |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-01-21 19:02 |
| #23 Just wondering - have any of these groups ever demanded that St. Louis be renamed? |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2010-01-21 17:32 |
| #22 I'm sure that if there was some sura engraved on them, they'd have no problem with it whatsoever. I think sura 5:81 might work. Had they believed in GOD, and the prophet, and in what was revealed to him herein, they would not have befriended them. But many of them are evil. Yeah, I know, it needs to have something about everybody else being the sons of pigs and monkeys, and how fabulous Islam is, blah blah blah...but since they keep telling us all these guys named Abdul and Mohammed aren't representative of oh-so-peaceful Islam, wouldn't this be appropriate for these tender, easily inflamed flowers? (Yeah, I know. Especially coming from a woman who walks around without a male escort and has flashed ankle from time to time....) |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2010-01-21 17:16 |
| #21 Strike that re the Kiwis, apologies all round. |
| Posted by: Rhodesiafever 2010-01-21 17:11 |
| #20 I must have missed the outcry from the athiests over the shouting of 'Allan's Snack-bar' by the splodey-dopes. And New Zealand can p!ss off, I used to think better of them. |
| Posted by: Rhodesiafever 2010-01-21 16:56 |
| #19 > SELECT * From [Angers_Muslims] ERROR: ResultSet too large. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2010-01-21 16:37 |
| #18 I urge these Bible passages be engraved on all US ports of entry. Oh, and all taxicabs and 7-11s. Like this kind of thinking ed. We should also start an airlines called "When Pigs Fly" and make sure there is an oinker on every flight. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-01-21 16:17 |
| #17 Thes *&^#ers don't mind beheading innocent people, restricting religious beliefs, suppressing women, strapping bombs to kids, or blowing up planes but they do mind religious inscriptions on scopes. Screw em. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-01-21 16:15 |
| #16 Yeesh! Imagine how upset they'll be when they find out that the army uses pork fat to lubricate the bullets when they slide them into the casing. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-01-21 15:45 |
| #15 Seething makes them easier to spot and be put out of their misery. As far as the atheist Mikey Weinstein goes, pound sand. |
| Posted by: Muggsy Glink 2010-01-21 15:38 |
| #14 Sad! America, bending over a little lower each day. |
| Posted by: Shineng Ebbolush2214 2010-01-21 15:12 |
| #13 Keep haring about Muslims saying that Jesys is recognized as a prophet but when "Jesus" verses pop up any where their panties get into a wad. But what's new... |
| Posted by: Boss Snomotle8280 2010-01-21 13:56 |
| #12 on ONE of their ACOGs. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2010-01-21 12:23 |
| #11 I am here at the SHOT Show in Vegas. I will go by the Trijicon booth and thank them for pissing off these whining wankers. And try to get a decent discount on on of their ACOGs, suckers cost muchly. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2010-01-21 12:21 |
| #10 I urge these Bible passages be engraved on all US ports of entry. Oh, and all taxicabs and 7-11s. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-01-21 12:14 |
| #9 EZ25:17 |
| Posted by: mojo 2010-01-21 12:13 |
| #8 Well, I am glad that there is nothing else about us the Muslim groups are mad about. Maybe if they will go and burn down a girls' school or blow up a kindergarten, they will feel better. Perhaps I should etch "JN8:12" on my shotgun, in case they should want to come and discuss the matter further. |
| Posted by: whatadeal 2010-01-21 12:08 |
| #7 Not sure how a few alphanumerics at the end of a part number counts as proselytizing. Most of the offended ones are either lawyers or illiterate anyway. Certainly none of the offended would ever look at the part number unless they were so directed and had the meaning explained. This whole thing is bogus. If the offended ones would focus their "anger" on the Muslim extremists who keep killing innocent people, then there would be no need for "crusader" weapons to kill said extremists. |
| Posted by: rwv 2010-01-21 12:05 |
| #6 It is a sign of great weakness that we are even listening to this nonsense. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-01-21 11:43 |
| #5 |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-01-21 11:38 |
| #4 Regardless of the intentions of the scope company, American and other western soldiers have been placed firmly into a greater danger than ever. They never liked us anyway. Next controversy will be about firemen wearing their suspenders to form a cross on their books, LIKE CRUSADERS. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-01-21 11:38 |
| #3 The (night) shot that was heard around the world. The number of suicide bombers is going to, well, explode. pity is, regardless of how one feels about the scripture on scopes, the islamists are going to be mad enough to, well, explode. Regardless of the intentions of the scope company, American and other western soldiers have been placed firmly into a greater danger than ever. |
| Posted by: Swanimote 2010-01-21 11:28 |
| #2 Heart and minds, gentlemen. Two in the chest, one in the head. |
| Posted by: ed 2010-01-21 11:15 |
| #1 How about telling them that they are free to A Muslim-American soldier, who declined to be named due to fears of persecution, said he was "ashamed" and "horrified" by the writings on the gunsights of weapons he used during deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He should better keep his shock and horror for events like Fort Hood. |
| Posted by: JFM 2010-01-21 11:13 |