Chris Pratt’s comments to Stephen Colbert last week about being a proud member of the vehemently antigay Hillsong Church have caused quite a stir.
Now, in an Instagram story, Pratt has finally responded to the criticism he’s received for affiliating himself with the hate group church.
Over a photo of white lamb standing in a grassy field, Pratt wrote: “It has recently been suggested that i belong to a church which ‘hates people’ and is ‘infamously anti-LGBTQ.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone.”
He continued: “Despite what the Bible says about divorce my church community was there for me every step of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk.”
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“They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender.”
Wrote Pratt: “My faith is important to me but no church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or group of people. My values define who I am. We need less hate in this world, not more.”
“I am a man who believes that everyone is entitled to love who they want free from the judgement of their fellow man.”
He concluded: “Jesus said ‘I give you a new command, love one another.’ This is what guides me in my life. He is a God of Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness. Hate has no place in my or this world.”
In addition to its fierce opposition to all things LGBTQ, Hillsong Church founder Brian Houston is currently under investigation for covering up sexual crimes committed by his father, Frank Houston.
Not only that, but the church has also come under fire for misappropriation of funds, abusive church leadership, and connections to fraudulent faith healer Michael Guglielmucci.
Related: Ellen Page isn’t finished yet, slams Chris Pratt over antigay church in yet another tweet
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
BULLTHIT!! The “church” is quite clear it is anti-Gay. We are “welcome” but prohibited from assuming any roles or positions in the running or leadership…
Could one imagine the outrage and incredibly rapid denuciations and quick resignations of this “church” by Fat Pratt and other vile, noxius celebrities if the same ban was announced regarding Black members????
Vince
Yep. If you just substituted gay for black this would be the biggest story in town. Pratt would be falling all over himself distancing himself from this church.
The takeaway from the story is that it’s still socially acceptable to discriminate against gay people.
I agree with the others comments here too. I mean look at the anti gay Scientology church with Tom Cruise and the other closet case John Travolta as its longtime members.
Kangol
Or if it was a black celebrity saying the same crap Chris Pratt is saying but attending a black homophobic church, everyone on here would be denouncing the celebrity AND the church. adn black people in general. Without a moment’s hesitation, either.
IAMBROWN
His life. His values. His beliefs. Live and let live attitude. Good for him. I don’t see any point in being upset over any of this. He’s done nothing wrong or harmful.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
No harm except advocating discrimination and hatred against the Gay community .. ….
Brian
This is a new church (founded in the 1980s) that caters to celebrities. There’s no proof that he donated money to their programs, but it wouldn’t be a surprising revelation to find out that he did. That’s kind of how this church works.
Brian
It’s basically the new Kaballah, with ambitions of being the new Scientology.
starkraver
Sweet words but it won’t “save” him from losing fans. Who knows? He may end up just working on church-related videos in the future.
Bob LaBlah
Who is Chris Pratt?
Brian
from the show “Parks & Recreation” to a few big franchises like Jurassic World and Marvel comics films
Kangol
He’s beloved by a sizable segment of the population. There’s a whole slew of Hollywood Chrises (Hemsworth, O’Donnell, O’Dowd, Pine, Pratt, etc.), and none of them are that memorable as actors, though most aren’t hard on the eyes either.
inbama
Stop being so bitter.
Chris Pine was absolutely scrumptious singing “Agony” in “Into The Woods.”
klingonkitten
It might be good for all you haters to remember that once we start calling out all the good people who vote for our rights and protections who belong to homophobic churches we are attacking every Catholic ally, every Muslim ally, every Baptist ally and the list goes on. People quite often pick and choose what they believe in their faith and quite often speak out against a church belief seeking reformation. The Kennedys are famously Catholic. Keith Ellison–the second in command of DNC is Muslim. Jesse Jackson is Baptist–are we going to start calling ALL these allies out? And just an aside but WHY was Ellen Page so upset at being revealed as gay? Was she hoping to ride the closet to fame and wealth. There is nothing wrong being gay. Our kids are literally dying for role models. And by the way: the other day Mitch McConnell rammed through 44 lifetime appointments for rightwing judges–Did Ellen tweet about that?
Let’s concentrate on the big stuff–please.
charlie_jackpot
He likely voted Trump and is pro-gun
gymmuscleboy
@klingonkitten Finally, an intelligent, nuanced perspective amongst the hordes of gay sheep wielding pitchforks. Life is not black and white and not everybody is out to get us.
@charlie_jackpot What does that have to do with anything? Gay and straight people alike vote Trump and are pro-gun.
IAMBROWN
Great response!
Littlebum2002
There’s a difference between a Catholic saying “my church is anti gay but I don’t accept that” and “my church isn’t anti-gay”. The second is a blatant lie. Someone who lies to your face isn’t an ally you want.
TheMarc
This is a tricky landscape to navigate. On one hand, Chris Pratt has indeed spoken very positively about the gay community in the past and in fact credits a gay man with one of his first big breaks. On the other hand, it’s problematic for someone to be a member/attendee of an institution that is discriminatory. But honestly, how many churches don’t affirm LGBT realities? And how many celebrities attend such institutions on a regular basis? How about those who associate with not just churches that are anti-gay; but with other celebrities that are well known for being anti-gay?
The problem with this story thread, much like the never-ending Kevin Hart saga, some tend to fixate and obsess over one person when there is an entire culture that needs to be addressed. Chris Pratt is not the only celebrity and certainly not the only person that attends that church; by the way, I believe he attends one “inspired” by Hillsong, not Hillsong itself.
I don’t like going after a person, especially one who may only be guilty by association. This story should be about the church and its founders, preachers, etc. Do we ignore who attends? No, but we don’t let the story end there nor should it start there. As some have pointed out, logically, what about those celebrities of the Muslim faith? How many LGBT-affirming mosques are there? This issue does indeed deserve to be brought to light at every opportunity; but it needs to be handled in the most effective sense; not one designed mostly for click bait and rage-fuel.
gymmuscleboy
We should count ourselves lucky to be living in a time when religious tradition is reinterpreting itself to accomodate us. We need only look at the polls of Christian attitudes towards homosexuality to see that is undeniably occurring at a rapid pace.
So when us gay people come out with pitchforks to cannibalise well-intentioned folk like Chris Pratt, what is there to gain when acceptance of homosexuality by Christians is already trending steeply up? We stand only to lose our currently good position in the culture war by complaining about everything.
DarkZephyr
I have mixed feelings about the way Chris Pratt is being singled out.
I mean his Church IS Anti-LGBTQ despite how he might try to spin it. BUT he himself *is not* and he has always been very supportive of LGBTQ people and LGBTQ rights. His Church isn’t any more anti-LGBTQ than any mainstream Christian or Pseudo-Christian sect. Catholicism, Baptism, sects of Lutheranism, Mormonism, etc. Also, scores and scores of celebs attend the anti-LGBTQ Scientology religion.
But at the same time, it is important for us to very publicly acknowledge the harm that anti-LGBTQ religion does to LGBTQ rights and even personal well being. I just don’t know if singling out pro-LGBTQ people like Chris Pratt is the best way to go about it.
pavel20
I think the points you are making about many other churches not being affirming of LGBTQ. are valid. What I believe is now problematic for Chris Pratt is that rather than acknowledge the aspects of the church that are clearly anti-LGBTQ and disavowing them, he chose to defend the church and claim that it is accepting of all type of people. He became part of the issue by making this choice. Also, rather than affirm LGBTQ people and state that who we are is not a mistake or “against God’s will,” he decided instead to make some vague statement about his church not defining him or his life. Having been a part of evangelical churches in the past, I am pretty confident if he used language that indicated that being LGBTQ is honorable and embraced by our Creator in equal measure as it is for being heterosexual, he might not find the church leadership as welcoming of his views as he claims.
gymmuscleboy
@pavel20 At this point in the game, the gay community does not need any church to tell us “being LGBTQ is honourable”. We should always be looking for opportunities to build allies, not enemies. With the online backlash Chris has received, whether or not you think his response goes far enough, it means he is currently sitting at the table with us. We can either say “Thank you for your words of support. Let’s continue further” and build an ally, or we can say “Cause a fuss with your church – or better yet, leave!” and gain an enemy.
pavel20
gymmuscleboy, unfortunately, you missed my point entirely. i was not asking for these churches to affirm me or anyone else who is LGBTQ. i was commenting that these type of churches do real damage to people who are questioning and seeking to find their truth. we don’t need someone who you think can be an ally defending them and saying that they are welcoming and inclusive as his own defense for his involvement in one. all evidence points to the contrary. if he’s not willing to confront the truth about the church he is a part of, how effective an ally could he possibly be?
gymmuscleboy
@pavel20 Perhaps the church is not “the truth” for everyone. Get over it. Are you saying that Chris Pratt is worth overlooking as an ally to the gay community? The current discourse is framing him as an enemy and it is not helping us.
heyace37
This is such a shallow, irritating reply from Chris Pratt. I’m so disappointed in him; it’s so intellectually dishonest to simply regurgitate evangelical marketing rather than look into what they actually DO.
Rather than look into the pastor’s practices and statements, and what his church fundamentally believes when it comes to gay people, we just get the common “everyone is welcome” response, like that’s some kind of evidence they’re gay-friendly, or gay supportive.
Every Mormon chapel has a “Visitors Welcome” sign out front, and they’ll tell you everyone is welcome, but they’re still one of the worst anti-LGBT churches out there, having spent millions and millions of dollars on anti-gay causes over the years.
(It would be nice if some reporting outlet could actually pin down Zoe Church’s actual positions on LGBTQ, rather than just saying it’s modeled after Hillsong and assuming they inherited that church’s positions, which are CLEARLY non-supportive if we are to believe what their pastor has publically said.)
And, Chris, we’re not stupid. We’ve lived with the dog whistles for years, and we’ve learned to be rightly skeptical of evangelical churches that claim to “love everyone” but actually do the opposite. When you dig deeper, you find it’s just a marketing thing. Deeper, you’ll find the “love the sinner, hate the sin” nugget they subscribe to, which they believe requires them to NOT support gay marriage, not allow gay people to hold positions within their church, reject the “lifestyle”, etc.
Sick to the throat of it.
OzJosh
You don’t get to “call out hate” when you’re a member of the organisation responsible for the hate – and discrimination – in the first place. Of course, Pratt may be one of those celebrities too stupid to see that the face of the church he’s shown may not be exactly what everybody else gets to see. Maybe he and Tom Cruise could get together and compare the disparities between the celebrity-eye-view and the vast body of evidence that their chosen churches are evil, hate-fuelled cults.
niles
He’s the one who constantly brays about his religion even in the most inappropriate places, so Pratt needs to be called on his BS. It’s not like he privately worships there; he openly promotes the church and Christianity.
Jack Meoff
Of course, they supported him through his divorce because they want the high profile famous members in their church just like Scientology.
I used to be a fan of his but now I have lost all respect.
djmcgamester
I never knew this about Hillsong. I’ve had people ask if I wanted to go but I always declined. Going to ask about it when I see one of my friends who is a regular attendee of Hillsong and see what she has to say on the subject. I’m going to guess that she is unaware of their stance on LGBT people.
baal61
Dear Bratt’ I mean Pratt’ who’s the Haters? Why should I care what a video game ” B ” fundi movie celebrity thinks?