Audacity

In his latest production, apologist Ray Comfort has the audacity to challenge the church to reach out to the homosexual community. He does realize every Christian faces a dilemma. “If I say homosexuals won’t inherit the kingdom of God,” Comfort explains on camera to a thin young man with dark sunglasses and a darker goatee, “I’m called a hater. But if I say they will, I’m lying.” Melding a fictional story with real, unscripted interviews, Audacity lays out a blueprint for evangelizing gay friends and strangers.

In his 2011 documentary 180, Comfort synthesized 40 years of pro-life rhetoric into a half hour of powerful and inspiring street-level conversations. Pro-lifers handed out hundreds of thousands of copies of the DVD to nonbelievers across the country.

But Audacity takes an approach that will initially disappoint viewers who were hoping Comfort would again blow them away. Comfort weaves three segments of interviews into a modern Pilgrim’s Progress, in which Peter (Travis Owens) journeys from fearful witness to confident apologist. Some of the plot’s elements run a bit over the top (Peter rescues two gay men during a convenience store stickup), but Owens and Molly Ritter (who plays Diana) deftly execute a genuine and clean dialogue. Still, with just 11 of the film’s 49 minutes dedicated to interviews, Comfort doesn’t fully play to his strength.

Audacity is, therefore, not necessarily a cinematic tract to give away to ideological opponents. But Comfort is sending an urgent message to the church, encouraging her to do her job. His interviews model godly conversation with gay strangers, and Peter portrays how a Christian might interact with a gay friend. Interestingly, neither Comfort nor Peter ever appeals to arguments against same-sex marriage from social science. In his winsome manner, Comfort relies on the words of Scripture alone—which never return void.