New Addition to US Arsenal: Jesus Rifles
The US Military has a $660 million contract with the Michigan company Trijicon, which manufactures rifle sights destined for use in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As it turns out, the company has been surreptitiously placing references to Bible verses on their sights. So much for this not being a holy war.
From the company’s mission statement on their website.
“We believe that America is great when its people are good,” says the Web site. “This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals.”
John 8:12 "Prepare to eat lead, raghead."
Dear God. These people make me shudder.
“It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they’re being shot by Jesus rifles,” he said.
Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they’ve told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as “spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ.”
He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of “those who are calling this a Crusade.”
That’s precisely how this looks to Muslims.
When imperial powers engage in this kind of religious warfare, things can get very nasty. The Sepoy Rebellion was instigated by the same kind of tactics in colonial India, when the British were accused of greasing their bullets with beef tallow and pig fat, which are ritually unclean to the native Hindus and Muslims respectively.
In order to load their rifles, the soldiers had to bite the cartridges. For Hindus, this meant they would lose their caste. For Muslims, it meant that if they were shot by such a ‘tainted’ bullet, they would die unclean and be excluded from paradise.
So they revolted. And much fun ensued.
(h/t Pharyngula)
Tags: christianists, Holy War, Jesus, Rifles, Sepoy Rebellion
January 20th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Slight (hahaha) correction — it’s not a $660,00 contract, it’s a $660 million contract.
My tax dollars are going to pay for this shit? Even if it’s only a penny of my measley tax obligation, I am outraged. This must be stopped now.
Killing Muslims in the name of Christ? Jesus would be rolling over in his grave (if he had one, that is). Why doesn’t he stop this shit done in his name? Is he powerless? Oh, nevermind.
January 20th, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Whoa, you’re right. Correction made.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:01 am
Good luck stopping this sort of thing now. Any company can now legally buy elected officials. We can look forward to more outrageous and disgusting uses of our tax dollars in the future.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am
This makes me a little sick to my stomach. It’s amazing how horribly damaging and destructive a book like the Bible can be to society and to people’s perspective on life. Perhaps the author of James had this sort of thing in mind when he said “If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.” True “religion” is “to look after orphans and widows in their distress,” not kill people and put still more others in distress.
Thanks for this post… I’m sorry that Christians are so stupid.