Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Says Fellow Christians Call Him Out: ‘How Dare You Have Unmarried Sex Scenes on TV and Then Talk About Jesus?’
“Reacher” star Alan Ritchson is a devout Christian, but apparently he’s rubbed people of the same faith the wrong way with his acting. Speaking to GQ magazine, the action star said that some Christians have a hard time separating him from his characters and their actions on screen.
“People have this weird relationship with fictional characters, and sort of equate that to the real human being,” Ritchson said. “I don’t have that problem, making that distinction. I get criticized a lot by Christians who are like, ‘How dare you have an unmarried sex scene on TV and then talk about Jesus?’ I’m sorry—I doubt that’s going to be part of the conversation when I’m standing at the pearly gates!”
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Ritchson explained his faith in a THR cover story last year, saying that he is “a Christian quite simply because of what Jesus calls us to do.” But Ritchson also noted at the time that his religion had become “the most vitriolic tribe,” which is “so antithetical to what Jesus was calling us to be and to do.”
“Trump is a rapist and a con man, and yet the entire Christian church seems to be treat him like he’s their poster child and it’s unreal. I don’t understand it,” the actor said as an example.
Ritchson also called out the “atrocities that are happening in the church that are being actively covered up, even to this day with people not being held accountable,” calling such actions “repulsive.”
“I can’t for one second support the Catholic Church while there are still cardinals, bishops and priests being passed around with known pedophilic tendencies,” he added.
Ritchson, who will be reprising Reacher in the third season of Amazon Prime Video’s hit action series, is known to speak his mind. In his GQ magazine, he spoke out against his former classmate Matt Gaetz. Ritchson and the politician attended school together after the actor’s family moved from Illinois to Niceville, Florida.
“That motherfucker. We are adversaries,” Ritchson said. “It’s shocking to me that the panhandle of Florida continues to vote for somebody—knowing everything we know about him and the promises that he’s made behind closed doors about pardoning certain criminals—he’s just not a good dude! There’s part of me that wants to get into politics to outdo somebody like him for good, and there’s part of me that’s like, I’m not duplicitous enough to succeed in politics. There are certain people that do a good job of staying true to who they are, but they’re ineffective. I think Bernie Sanders is a hero. But it’s like, what has he accomplished?”
“Reacher” Season 3 kicks off Feb. 20 on Prime Video. Head over to GQ’s website to read Ritchson’s interview in its entirety.
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