Marines pushing Jesus in Fallujah?

Jamal Naji / MCT

Residents of the Iraqi city of Fallujah claim that U.S. Marines are trying to convert them to Christianity. McClatchy‘s Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel report:

At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. “Where will you spend eternity?” it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16.”

Quite a few locals say they have received the coins and the U.S. military is investigating the claims. It shouldn’t even need repeating, but stories like this don’t exactly help fight the perception of many Muslims that the U.S.-led war on terror is actually a war on Islam. This literal proselytization at gunpoint is understandably humiliating for the people on the other end and, if it is going on, the Marine Corps ought to put a stop to it immediately.