Actor Ben Affleck fills void in life by returning to church

Actor Ben Affleck, who stars in the new movie “The Way Back,” also has found the way back to church.

“I go to the Methodist Church, [my] kids [are] baptized, and I got introduced to Christianity a little bit later in life,” the Academy Award winner says.

Affleck’s ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, returned to church four years ago after filming “Miracles from Heaven” and shortly after invited Affleck to attend service with her and their children. He has since kept to the faith.

In “The Way Back,” Affleck plays Jack Cunningham, a man who is down and out and searching for hope. He finds that hope when offered a job to coach basketball at his Catholic high school where he once excelled as a player. The movie is centered around his road to making amends with the people he hurt most by his destructive behavior as a result of alcohol.

Affleck reflected on the “beauty” he’s found in the Christian gifts of grace and forgiveness.

“One of the things that I found most beautiful about it, and I struggle with my faith, I struggle with belief, but I do see there’s something enormously beautiful and elegant about the notion that we are all sinners, and that it’s our job to find our redemption, to find God’s love, to redeem ourselves, to live the best life that we can, to love one another, to not judge one another and to forgive one another,” Affleck said.

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The “Batman v. Superman” actor believes that Jesus’ instructions to forgive one another is a message the world currently needs.

“I think those are extremely powerful ideas and very, very relevant, probably more relevant today than ever,” he said. “Because there’s a little bit more of an attitude of find something somebody did wrong once and get rid of them. And that to me feels unnecessarily judgmental. It’s that ‘he without sin cast the first stone.’ I think that is a very wise proverb.”

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice