Blind faith is not a virtue in itself. I think the freeing of all the Korean Christians yesterday showed how sometimes 'faith' is an excuse for not taking realistic and sensible decisions when needed. The Koreans in a surge of blind faith went to Afghanistan to fulfill the great commission, but in the end came away with no conversions, two murdered, a possible ransom paid, and the Korean Government forced to pull out its troops (which were there on humanitarian grounds). Now the second largest missions sending nation on earth has been shamed by its Christian activity and huge anger is being expressed in South Korea about the Christian groups activities.
Christopher Hitchens has a point when he writes today about the damage 'blind faith' has had on the world today
"How do I dislike President George W. Bush? Let me count the ways. Most of them have to do with his contented assumption that "faith" is, in and of itself, a virtue.
This self-satisfied mentality helps explain almost everything, from the smug expression on his face to the way in which, as Governor of Texas, he signed all those death warrants without losing a second's composure." read the rest here
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It would seem in this instance, that this South Korean mission group made some errors in how they went about what they were trying to do, but let us keep clearly in mind that going to hard or dangerous places is still something the church is called to do, regardless of the cost. To do otherwise is to suggest that the church may as well just lay down and give up. There will sometimes be a collateral cost to missions and we can't allow set backs (and weak people who want everything to be safe) to set us back from proclaiming Jesus to a lost world.