“Reacher” star Alan Ritchson says that Christians who have criticized him for starring in the popular show are missing what the Bible reveals about how God works in our lives and what he wants from us.
“I love playing Reacher. I love telling this story. I love playing a character who creates a kind of moral ambiguity that we should struggle against as we consider whether or not what he’s doing is good all the time or morally right,” said Ritchson in a video posted to social media. “I think that kind of thing is fun and fascinating, and I think escaping to that world as an audience, hopefully it’s as enjoyable for you as it is for me to help bring it to life.”
“But it’s funny to me how a lot of people criticize me, supposed Christians especially criticize me for playing Reacher,” he continued, “as if the only TV that should exist is seeing people silently folding their hands in the pew of a church. I mean, what kind of stories are we supposed to tell?”
RELATED: Christians ‘Were the Worst’—Kat Von D Responds to Criticism About Her Baptism
Alan Ritchson on the Stories God Tells
Alan Ritchson is an actor whose credits include “Fast X” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” He stars with Hilary Swank in the upcoming film, “Ordinary Angels,” set to release Feb. 23. Ritchson is not shy about sharing his Christian faith. In August, he responded to a Satanist on TikTok who accused God of being evil.
On Jan. 7, Ritchson addressed his critics by challenging them to look at the stories contained in Scripture. “What do you find?” he asked. “You see a thousand years of an infinitely holy God holding tension with human beings as he tells the story of who he is, reveals who he is through an imperfect people.”
Far from being neat and tidy, many of the biblical accounts are quite raw. Ritchson said the Bible contains “stories of paganism and war and bloodshed and ghost stories, mysticism.”
“We see miracles and magic,” he said, “and we see life and resurrection and death, and we see this incredible canvas where God is completely unafraid to tell the story of who he is through less than morally ambiguous characters, through pure evil sometimes.”
Ritchson thinks it’s “laughable” when people criticize him for playing a morally questionable character. “That’s not my job,” he said, “and I don’t think God cares about telling only those kinds of stories.” In fact, Christians can use media like “Reacher” to start conversations with people “in a way that I think God enjoys.”
