Almost decided to not post today since I was spending the day with my wife, but I found something interesting to comment on. Here is the story of the day:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794
So the basic gist of this article is the gun sights made by this one company have abbreviated bible verses printed on them. I will deal with each of the issues of this story a point at a time.
The first point they make is the fact that the U.S. military cannot proselytize any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan. The key facts is that they are not trying to spread any faith. The sights have scriptures written on them but that's not proselytizing. Its as harmless as a person handing out Bible tracts in the street. People can ignore them if they want or look them up if they want.
The second major points is that the verses were always a part of the sights. If the military did not know about it than they are neither liable, nor do they have a legal right to cancel the contract. If they wanted sights without bible verses they should have researched the company a little bit more.
Third points is the legal or constitutional issues. Michael Weinstein says it violated federal law. If he feels so strongly about it he should state the statue found in the U.S. Code of Law. There is no real constitutional issue. Even though the separation of church and state is not a constitutional doctrine there is nothing here that violates the first amendment. The use of these sights does not establish a church or religion, nor does it limit the free exercise of one's religion (Which are the only two constitutional issues related when it comes to freedom of religion). The government did not know about the scripture before hand so this is not a true establishment of any religion. To void the contract would be a true violation of the free exercise clause since the manufacturer has the right to practice its religion on its manufacturing process. In the future the U.S. government should check its products more carefully. It is also a drastic and insane step to say these are "pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun."
Fourth point is the argument that the people we are fighting against think this is a Crusade against them since they have bible verses on the guns. Well the people we are fighting against do think their war is a Crusade against us and anyone who is not a follower of Islam. Secondly, this will not embolden the enemy, our way of life emboldens the enemy. The fact that we allow our women to drive and vote, emboldens the enemy. The fact that we have the freedom to speak what we want emboldens the enemy. Even if these gun sights did not have bible verses they would still hate us. Plus, these extremists are our enemies, who cares if we offend them.
Am I off base? Comments. Oh yeah... I LOVE MY WIFE!!!
