Chris Pratt Talks Religion, Says He Has Never Attended Hillsong Church

Famous “Jurassic Park” actor Chris Pratt just got candid about his stance on religion and his relationship or lack of with an infamously anti-LGBTQ religious group.

The actor was criticized in 2019 for allegedly being part of a religious group who were anti-LGBTQ+. In response, he claimed that the statements were untrue and he had never openly identified with any church.

Pratt shed some light on the time and revealed that he wasn’t a religious person. He instead described himself as someone who had faith. The 43-year-old also differentiated religion from its counterpart, which was constantly used to oppress people.

Pratt recently came under fire for being associated with religion in the past years. He appeared in an interview with Men’s Health for their July/August issue and cleared the air on the situation and, apparently, misunderstanding.

During the interview, Pratt seemed genuinely perplexed concerning why he was getting the online criticism. Several social media users took it upon themselves to troll the actor’s every move, linking it to his alleged association with religion.

The Marvel star revealed that the response was due to a public misconception that stemmed from a speech he gave at an award show in 2018. The infamous speech painted him as a religious person and gave rise to the recent comments.

While receiving the Life Achievement Honor award at the MTV Movie and TV award show, Pratt acknowledged God and encouraged people in the audience to believe in him. In his acceptance speech, the 43-year-old said, “God is real, God loves you, God wants the best for you. Believe that. I do.”

Still, on the topic of his speech, Pratt revealed that it was most likely “hubris” which made him say such in front of so many people. “Maybe it was hubris,” he said. “For me to stand up on the stage and say the things that I said, I’m not sure I touched anybody.”

Pratt further said that he was, overall, not a religious person and how he became the face of religion confused him. He then cited what he referred to as a “distinction” between being religious and using religion as a means to control people.

“I think there’s a distinction between being religious— adhering to the customs by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God — and using it to control people,” the actor said. “To take money from people to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred. Whatever it is. The evil that’s in the heart of every single man has glommed on to the back of religion and come along for the ride.”

Besides the claims Pratt was religious, in 2019, several people claimed that the actor was affiliated with the Hillsong Church, which is allegedly anti LGBTQ+. Famous actor Elliot Page seemingly joined the herd of people to slam the actor after he appeared in an episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and talked about religion.

He posted, “If you are a famous actor and you belong to an organization that hates a certain group of people, don’t be surprised if someone simply wonders why it’s not addressed. Being anti-LGBTQ is wrong; there aren’t two sides. The damage it causes is severe. Full stop.”

At the time, Pratt responded to the comment, saying that the claims “could be nothing further from the truth.” “Faith is important to me, but no church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesman for any church or any group of people,” he said. “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 judgment of their fellow man.”

While addressing the 2019 issue, Pratt said he had never been to the church or even knew anyone who went there. His reason for not revealing his lack of ties with the church initially was because he didn’t think it was necessary to “throw a church under the bus.”

The actor revealed that when he felt the need to go to a church, he attended the Zoe Church or a Catholic Church his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, went to as a child. According to him, over time, religion had shown itself as “oppressive as f--k” to people.

The director of “Guardians of the Galaxy,” James Gunn, also has some words to say about the comments against Pratt, claiming that they infuriated him and the actor was “unspeakably kind.” The “Jurassic Park” actor is in an Amazon prime series titled “The Terminal List.” “Jurassic World Domination” is currently in theaters, and Pratt will star in “Thor: Love and Thunder” on July 8 as his “Guardian of the Galaxies” character.