One of the more disturbing subplots of the Iraq War is the idea of a majority Christian nation invading, conquering and occupying a majority Muslim nation. Never mind Bush's initial "crusade" reference; no one really thinks Bush knows enough history to understand why people might react badly to such a remark. The real problem has been the ways in which the Koran has been treated and statements made about Islam by members of our government.
Now we can add proselytizing to the list of foolish, counterproductive actions.
FALLUJAH, Iraq — 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."
Evangelicalism is marked by the propensity of its adherents to engage in evangelism - what else? - anytime, any place, without any invitation at all. When you grow up within American Evangelicalism, you're taught that it is your call to spread the Gospel, not just the pastors' call. It is your responsibility to ascertain the spiritual condition of everyone you know and to make sure that those acquaintances that don't know Jesus at least get introduced to him by you.
Part of your training as a young Evangelical is a regular diet of stories about people who talked about Jesus with strangers or in seemingly hostile situations, the result of which was at least one new convert. The Gideons would usually get one Sunday a year to ask for funds for Bibles to distribute, and they were always good for a couple of stories about people in hotel rooms picking up Bibles and miraculously opening them to passages that convicted them of their sin and convinced them of their need for Jesus. So I can understand why people would think that even though there's a lot of tension in the Muslim-Christian relationship right now, even though the people distributing these coins would be doing so at the literal barrel of a gun, perhaps one Iraqi would be convinced of the truth of Christianity by one of these coins and would convert, thereby making the entire enterprise worthwhile.
Again, I can understand that viewpoint. But I can't help but think, at the same time, that while our troops still suffer from a lack of body armor and up-armored Humvees, people spent money on these coins. While the citizens of New Orleans still suffer in a ravaged city, while people still rely on toxic trailers from FEMA, someone decided that these coins were a good use of resources. While the people of China and Myanmar suffer from natural disasters on top of human-manufactured oppression, while people in the US find it hard to afford their homes, their cars, their weekly grocery bill, a group of Evangelical Christians decided that the most important thing for them to do was to make a bunch of coins modeled after the Kennedy Method of evangelism.
The roots of American Evangelicalism lie not only in missionary zeal, but also in a commitment to improving the earthly status of the sick and the poor. The movement's roots go back to the post-millennialism of pre-WWI Christianity - the idea that Jesus would come back only after they had brought about a 1,000 year age of Christian dominance over the whole world. And before you get too shocked by that, the dominance they envisioned was one that resulted in worldwide peace and the end of such problems as hunger and disease.
Now Evangelicalism is reduced to people who, after waving automatic rifles in the face of someone who just wants to get home, hand them a worthless "coin" and expect that to fulfill their duty to the Great Commission found at the end of Matthew in the New Testament. How sad to have fallen so far.
