Chris Pratt responds to Ellen Page after she calls him out on his "anti LGBTQ" church

12 February 2019, 14:00

By Sam Prance

Chris Pratt attends Zoe Church in Los Angeles which has an anti-gay history...

Chris Pratt has come under controversy over his church.

The 39-year-old actor goes to Zoe Church in LA and he recently discussed his faith an his church in an interview on The Late Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Shortly afterwards, Ellen Page took to Twitter to call him and Stephen out for not speaking about the church's homophobic history. She wrote: "Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?"

She later clarified: "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. Sending love to all." And now Chris Pratt has taken to Instagram to respond.

Check out Ellen's tweets below.

Taking to Instagram, Chris wrote: "It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of 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." Zoe Church refers to itself as a "place where our doors are open to people of all backgrounds".

Chris then added: "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. 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."

"My faith is important to me but no church defines me or my life, and I am not a spokesperson for any church or group of people. My values define who I am. We need less hate in the 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."

Read Chris' repsonse in full.

In spite of what Chris has said, Zoe Church does have an anti-LGBTQ+ history. It's part of the Hillsong family whose pastor, Brian Houston, calls it: "a gay welcoming church but not a church that affirms a gay lifestyle." This kind of language is so toxic because it gives off the appearance of acceptance while still being inherently homophobic.

Not only that but Houston has claimed multiple times that he is very anti-gay marriage. Taking all of this into consideration, it's no wonder that Ellen is questioning Chris Pratt's church. He may not represent his entire church community but he is attached to an organisation which is historically queerphobic and that should be questioned.

Justin Bieber, Hailey Baldwin and Selena Gomez all attend Hillsong churches as well.