Army tells troops to scrape Bible verses off weapons

[VBshooter]

Willing to bet that Trijicon used it as the "light" reference only and never intended any religious intent.

[Wallace]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Unless I am uninformed, the Constitution protects EVERY citizen correct? If I was a Marine and wanted a Bible verse on my scope, I damn well better be able to have one. And If every other enlisted man wanted one, and the procurement department (or whoever) wanted them, then what is the issue? They are freely exercising their beliefs.

If the marine had taped some words with religious significance to the optics then it wouldn't be an issue. The thing is that it isn't the marine's scope, that scope belongs to us. That is property of these United States purchased by us the tax payers. That is what makes this country so amazing, we have these rules that are written in such a way that not only protect the majority but the minority is protected at the same time. I acknowledge that this is a fairly insignificant issue (verse reference on a limited set of military optics) but the moment you allow the government to get away with the infringement no matter how small you start setting a precedent for further infringements.

With this group and the current state of gun legislation you would think it would be easy to see how giving up any ground can result in serious unforgivable infringement on our rights down the road.

So if Federal Reserve Notes (aka taxpayer money) are used to purchase/fund something it automatically becomes property of the Federal Government?

[dusterdude]

Just as infringe is the key word in the 2a,law is the keyword in the 1a.afaik,there is no law in place as far as these scopes are concerned

[WBlacklidge]

Wallace -

Federal Reserve notes aka our currency aka dollars and coins... no ... not even sure where you are trying to go with that. It should have the old motto 'E pluribus unum' which is Latin for 'Out of many, one' back on it as the founding fathers intended but that is another discussion. We pay our club (the USA) dues (taxes) to provide us with certain services (courts, defense, etc). One of these services is our currency which allows our economy to translate skills and services into clearly quantifiable compensation. So if you are suggesting the currency we allow the government to make for us to purchase goods and services of our own somehow translates into the government owning those goods and services we purchase... I think you are off track. Those Federal Reserve notes represent OUR goods and services.

Dusterdude -

Ultimately all funds for federal government programs must be authorized by a congressional committee by means of legislation. When the government makes a decision to put that budget money (which they took from all of us to buy stuff) to purchase optics with a reference to a bible verse that is clearly the government respecting the establishment of only a single religion through legislation. Not to mention it violates our military's own rules.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG7LjVCj50Y[/youtube]

Now I feel ridiculous for having put so much effort into a dead topic. The military took acceptable corrective action. I think all of us agree that the reference on the scope isn't a huge deal, was blown out of proportion and probably resulted in far too much of our tax money spent to resolve it. I also doubt anyone realized it was even there or had a passing thought about it being religious and finally some ass (like me) noticed it and made a big deal out of a small issue.

[Kreutz]

So if Federal Reserve Notes (aka taxpayer money) are used to purchase/fund something it automatically becomes property of the Federal Government?

Drive your car into a government owned building and they'll charge you with destruction of government property...so yeah, at least they think its theirs.

[Wallace]

Wallace -

Federal Reserve notes aka our currency aka dollars and coins... no ... not even sure where you are trying to go with that. It should have the old motto 'E pluribus unum' which is Latin for 'Out of many, one' back on it as the founding fathers intended but that is another discussion. We pay our club (the USA) dues (taxes) to provide us with certain services (courts, defense, etc). One of these services is our currency which allows our economy to translate skills and services into clearly quantifiable compensation. So if you are suggesting the currency we allow the government to make for us to purchase goods and services of our own somehow translates into the government owning those goods and services we purchase... I think you are off track. Those Federal Reserve notes represent OUR goods and services.

Dusterdude -

Ultimately all funds for federal government programs must be authorized by a congressional committee by means of legislation. When the government makes a decision to put that budget money (which they took from all of us to buy stuff) to purchase optics with a reference to a bible verse that is clearly the government respecting the establishment of only a single religion through legislation. Not to mention it violates our military's own rules.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG7LjVCj50Y[/youtube]

Now I feel ridiculous for having put so much effort into a dead topic. The military took acceptable corrective action. I think all of us agree that the reference on the scope isn't a huge deal, was blown out of proportion and probably resulted in far too much of our tax money spent to resolve it. I also doubt anyone realized it was even there or had a passing thought about it being religious and finally some ass (like me) noticed it and made a big deal out of a small issue.

Ok, so just because the Federal Gov gives money to individual states to fund education programs, does not give the Fed Gov authority to tell local school boards that prayer or a display of the 10 commandments violates anything, at all, right?