The first thing to remember about Faith Under Fire in reviewing it is that this film came out in 1992. Way before gay marriage, transgender rights, etc. were issues on the scene. I did expect to see a condemnation of gays in the military. But this particular documentary film did stick to Christianity being persecuted abroad.
No doubt about it, there are places where being Christian is a dangerous thing. Interviews from believers in the People's Republic of China, from Cambodia, from Pakistan, show people evangelizing for Christianity are facing a lot of danger. The interviews play like episodes from the 700 Club.
At least they didn't have the chutzpah to compare some baker refusing to bake a cake for a same sex wedding or a pair of twin do it yourself home repair guys or a family of beards who make duck calls as suffering the same persecution. Not to mention someone who feels that they have the right to condemn women to be brood mares because of his religious belief. I was expecting to see that and was happy I didn't.
To a non-religious audience the film does raise questions about evangelism and the right anyone has to just go into a different area with a different culture and tell them they're all wrong. To hold up your particular belief system as the only true one. It's the cause of most of the conflict in human history.
Faith Under Fire will be fine for church audiences. The rest will feel sorry for what the subjects endured and ask why did they endure it?
