Canon Fodder

Was watching The Rise of Empires: The Ottoman this evening. The part of the series most fascinating was when King Mehmed of the Ottoman Empire meets a weapons maker who attempts to sell him on his latest technology—the super cannon.

The sales folks, Orban and Munir Ali, close the deal and prepare to make a batch of them for Mehmed’s raid against Constantine the XI of Constantinople (who btw, according to Orban and Munir, was too broke to buy the canons from them first). What struck me most in the dialogue, though, was that Balkan church bells were melted down to make some of the weapons.

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How powerful a symbol, to take religious artifacts and turn them into weapons of war, into death machines. In fact, that would not be the end of church bells becoming weapons. About 44% of German church bells were melted down for the war efforts in WWI. I wonder what it felt like to surrender, or pledge, ones faith to war?

In regards to the latter, an ABC News investigation in 2010 found biblical references were “inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the U.S. military by a Michigan company,” named Trijicon. Trijicon maintained a $660 million multi-year contract for 800,000 sights, even though the inscriptions are prohibited by law. You know, lest they aid in an image of a religious “crusade” in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military.

The investigation found current members of the military (at that time) described these sights as, “spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."

fig. 2 instructions for removal

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Now back to the super cannon tab, if we look closely at the muzzle on this cannon, one can see an inscription stamped on the threshold:

fig. 3

Translated as “Help O Allah. The Sultan Mohammed Khan son of Murad. The work of Kamina Ali in the month of Rejeb. In the year 868 (CE. 1464).”¹

Church bells transformed into a flaming arm of Allah.

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I am deeply fascinated by how humanity attempts to extend divine will/decree/power through technology. Whether through the materiality of a cannon, creative technologies like language, or ambient technology like belief systems. We don’t often see the religious undercurrents of war because, much like the instructions for removal in fig. 2, these are scrubbed and blacked out from history.

Language, in the hands of the right person, can bring something as big as an empire to a black out. It’s said a hadith from the prophet Muhammad PBUH led Mehmed into battle and out a victor. Who won Constantinople, the prophecy or the prophet? Would there be a prophet without the prophecy?

Does this story sound at all familiar?

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Upon diving into these stories, I am reminded of brontë velez’s work with Lead to Life. I can do no justice to the depth and breadth of Lead to Life. I was fortunate to hear them speak and dialogue in class some weeks ago—their site is worth sitting with. I truly love the organization’s practice of applied alchemy:

As the material technology transforms into molten metal in a crucible, so too does the spirit, the story and the belief system around it. They melt, ready to be re-shaped, re-formed and re-storied. What can we all learn from applied alchemy?

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"They will speak a different language in the future," Deacon Karl Munzinger said in his sermon on July 22, 1917 about the loss [in WWI]. "It goes against any feelings, that they, who like no other preach peace and should heal wounded hearts, should tear apart bodies in gruesome murders and open wounds that will never heal."²

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Remaining questions:

• Is it possible to declare a Peace on Terror?

• What are the conditions to make it so?

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I straddled midnight writing this, so consider this Wednesday/Thursday’s daily posts in one!

In other news, Reality Streaming is officially one year old! In my culture, the person in reception of abundance or accomplishment shares that with others through a ~gift of sweetness~ or shirnee. May I suggest joining me in a donation to Lead to Life for their programming and community healing efforts as a celebration of life this holiday season?

1. “The Cannon of Mehmed II” by Selim Ayduz

2. When church bells were transformed into weapons of war by DW