Army Orders Bible Verses on Scopes Removed

The Army has put out instructions that Bible verses etched into scopes on military rifles by the company that produces them be removed. Todd Starnes, who is paid by Fox News to turn every molehill he finds into a mountain, is predictably outraged.





Here’s my favorite part:

Trijicon did not return phone calls seeking comment. A company spokesman told ABC News in 2010 that the inscriptions had always been on the sights and there was nothing wrong or illegal with including them.

The company told ABC they believed the issue had been raised by a group that is “not Christian.”

Yeah, that’s relevant. Imagine that, a non-Christian having an opinion on something, and a correct one at that.

26 comments on this post.
  1. Kevin:

    Seriously, if I were a Christian, I’d be outraged that bible verses were put on an instrument of death.

    That Jesus fellow never said anything like “pop a cap in his ass”, or “make sure you account for crosswinds when sighting your scope — then shoot your target in the head.”

    These people are seriously fucking scary.

  2. whirligig:

    I wonder why they didn’t choose EXO 20:13.

  3. Larry:

    Book of Winchester, V30.06: And thus Jesus did say, “Yea, and ye shall bust a cap in thy brother’s ass”.

  4. Gregory in Seattle:

    Because weapons etched with Bible references could NEVER offend the Muslims who already see US troops as imperialist Crusaders.

  5. d.c.wilson:

    John 8:12
    King James Version (KJV)

    2nd Corinthians 4:6


    I guess in these cases “light” is a poetic way of saying “eat hot lead motherfucker!”

  6. Kevin:





  7. Didaktylos:

    I seem to recall that when it was decided to name one of the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarines after Corpus Christi, Texas, the official name of the vessel was “City of Corpus Christi” in order to forestall possible protests from the Catholic Church.

  8. Gregory in Seattle:

    @d.c.wilson #5 – Maybe they are intended as magical incantations to grant night vision?

  9. Raging Bee:


    …or the Muslim US troops.

  10. Marcus Ranum:

    The crusaders used to pray using the cross-shaped hilts of their swords. Because: god is love.

    Someone must have been inspired by the bible-quoting redneck sniper in “Saving Private Ryan” – so inspired they forgot their oath to defend the constitution.

  11. Kevin:

    In order, the religious preferences of US Troops:

    1. Roman Catholic — 284,000
    3. No Religious Preference — 283,000

    Yes, No Religious Preference is the second-most popular listing. If you add in atheists and agnostics, which are separate categories, it’s 292,000. Out of a total of 1.4 million (wow, that’s a lot of soldiers).

    From US Department of Defense 2009 data, reported by CNN.

  12. slc1:

    Hey Ranum and Bee, how does this grab you?

  13. theophontes (恶缓步动物):

    …shall have the light of life…

    This on that component of a weapon, that uses light to aid in the killing of people. Welcome to goddist doublespeak.

  14. weaver:

    What’s outrageous is that this order came out more than 5 years ago, when I was in Iraq, with much wailing and gnashing of teeth. That we STILL haven’t corrected the problem speaks volumes about the real desire of the bible thumpers to keep their privileges intact.

  15. blf:

    I presume Mr Starnes also wants the Army to use square bullets in Muslim-dominate locales.

  16. baal:

    I presume the army didn’t ask for bible verses in the spec to the manufacture. As such, they should just ship them all back and demand replacements. Were I still christian, I would still be offended.

  17. reverendrodney:

    blf # 15:
    Interesting link. So Puckle, being a typical arms manufacturer, designed bullets for both sides!

  18. composer99:

    The manufacturer may be correct, when referring to private clients (and perhaps other national clients with differing constitutional arrangements regarding religion), about the legality of the inscription.

    But as far as I can see citing Christian New Testament verses on hardware intended for the US Army violates the US Constitution, and is therefore illegal, full stop.

  19. Reginald Selkirk:

    Kevin #1: Seriously, if I were a Christian, I’d be outraged that bible verses were put on an instrument of death.

    Uh, Kevin: these are people whose primary symbol is an instrument of torture.

  20. Brain Hertz:

    Obviously, the correct bible verse in this case should be Ezikiel 25:17

  21. Pierce R. Butler:

    …“The biblical verse (JN8:12) must be removed …” read instructions …

    So the verse from Corinthians will remain?

  22. eamick:

    So the verse from Corinthians will remain?

    No, it’s just that the scope pictured in the instructions has the verse from John. The instructions specifically mention the other verse and even throw in “will include, but not be limited to” in case there are other verses to deal with.

  23. democommie:

    Every time I read about this sort of foolishness I think of that late 20th century crusader, Jerry Boingboningboykin. And, when I think of Boykin, I imagine him acting like Rod Steiger’s character in “Mars Attacks”.

  24. Raging Bee:

    Hey, slc1, it “grabs” me as totally irrelevant to this thread.

  25. peterh:

    @ #10,

    Somehow I recall the sniper in Ryan as being Jewish. I was indeed reminded of him as I read this thread’s opening.

  26. Nomad:

    Just to make it totally clear what Trijicon did, and how amazing it is that all the touchy feely moderate Christians out there that want us to believe that they’re not all bible thumping lunatics aren’t up in arms over this, you have to understand the nature of the sights they make.

    They’re not the traditional rifle scope style sight with black crosshairs over the target. They use an illuminated reticle, the target point glows. One of their distinguishing features is that they use a fiber optic line to let sunlight illuminate the reticle in daylight so you don’t need to burn up batteries illuminating it constantly, which can be a problem with a competing sight that uses a simple red dot. So light plays a significant part in the design of their scope, they use light to assist in killing people.

    So, moderate Christians, how do you feel about a reference to your god being “the light of life” being imprinted on a device that uses light to help in killing people? Is it your understanding that a verse talking about making the light of your god’s glory shine in people’s hearts means aiming an assault rifle at people’s hearts using that light?

    How about you, Catholic church? You’re so upset at the thought of your tax dollars paying for contraception even though they never were, you get so up in arms over a made up controversy like that. But you’re totally cool with the concept of the light of your god meaning the aiming device on a weapon of war, and your tax dollars paying to support that concept. Go fuck yourselves you hypocritical douchebags. You’ve forever given up the rights to the term “pro life”.

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