With His Church Espousing Anti-Gay Views, Will Chris Pratt Be Playing Bi Star-Lord?

Earlier this week it was announced that Quill, also known as Star-Lord, and the protagonist in the series "Guardians of the Galaxy" is bisexual.

In the mega-hit movie franchise, Star-Lord is played by Chris Pratt with just the right mix of self-effacing comedy and action hero swagger. But how comfortable will he be playing a bi-character?

That question rises due to //www.edgemedianetwork.com/story.php?ch=news&sc=politics&sc2=&id=298379|Pratt's right-leaning politics. and his relationship with The Hillsong Church, the not-super-gay-friendly church he attends. HIs faith and conservative views have been a meme since he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in February, 2017 and addressed why he was fasting.

"He revealed that he has just emerged from a 21-day Daniel Fast that he participated in through his church," reported The Hollywood Reporter. "Daniel was a guy who only ate fruits, vegetables and grains," explained Pratt, adding that he was inspired by his pastor to complete it.

"Running with the religious angle, Pratt gave a quote from his pastor about the pressures of fame and the struggle to maintain one's inner self. 'If the spotlight that is shining on you is brighter than the light that's within you, it will kill you.'"

Immediately after Pratt's appearance, Elliot Page called out Colbert for not asking Pratt about the Hillside's anti-gay views.

For his part, Pratt responded to Page with an Instagram statement that read (in part):

"It has recently been suggested that I belong to a church which 'hates a certain group of people' and is 'infamously anti-LGBTQ,'" he wrote over a photo of a lamb standing on a rock. "Nothing could be further from the truth.

"I go to a church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone. 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," Pratt went on to say, referencing his split with actress Anna Farris. "They helped me tremendously offering love and support."

More recently, Pratt's politics were questioned on Twitter when TV producer and writer Amy Berg tweeted a picture of the four Hollywood Chris's (in addition to Pratt, there is Hemsworth, Pine and Evans) with the words, "One has to go." "The post was intended to be a joke playing on a popular candy bar meme, which asks users to vote out one type of candy," writes the website The Conversation.

Overwhelmingly Pratt was the choice to go. "Twitter users brought up Pratt's association with the evangelical Hillsong Church, whose founder has made anti-LGBT statements. Plus the fact that Pratt follows several conservative commentators, politicians and organizations on social media – yet has remained silent on his views leading up to the presidential election – has led many to assume he is a supporter of President Trump," adds the Washington Post.

In a Fact Check on the controversy, Newsweek wrote that the reason for such a response was a "number of Twitter users have pointed out that Pratt follows right-wing pundit Ben Shapiro and Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Instagram and Twitter. However, he also follows famously left-leaning talk show hosts such as Stephen Colbert and Conan O'Brien."

In a deep-dig on the Hillside Church and its views on LGBTQ issues, the Washington Post located a 2017 statement by Pastor Brian Houston, Senior Pastor, Hillsong Church that urged Australians to vote against the same sex marriage postal plebiscite.

"For Christians, the issue is also a matter of faith and biblical teaching, something that should never be mocked or downplayed by those with opposing views," he wrote. "I believe God's word is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman. The writings of the apostle Paul in Scripture on the subject of homosexuality are also clear, as I have mentioned in previous public statements."

The website Church Clarity, a crowd-sourced database of local congregations that we score based on how clearly they communicate their actively enforced policies, looked into the LGBTQ policies of the LA congregation – Zoe Church – that Pratt is a member. Asking questions like does the church permit women to preach, or they allow same-sex weddings, http://churchclarity.org/updates/church-clarity-profile-zoe-church-la|CC couldn't find anything conclusive. "This doesn't mean that Zoe Church does not have an actively enforced policy–it certainly does–but it means we cannot find any online information about it."

What they did learn is that Chad Veach, the "church's pastor served as executive producer for a film ("The Heart of Man") that refers to 'same-sex attraction' as 'sexual brokenness.' He has also stated in an article that he does not like to talk about controversial issues like 'lifestyle stuff' because they are a distraction from the message of Jesus."

Digging deeper Church Clarity located a pdf file of the Zoe Church's Doctrine of Faith that says the following about marriage: "We believe in the sanctity of marriage as established by the Holy Scriptures, that God created marriage, and that the only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man and one woman."

"This PDF was sent to us by someone who had emailed [email protected] to ask about their LGBTQ policies. This person received the PDF from that email address as a response, and then sent the PDF to us," writes CC.

"Veach said in an interview with The Christian Post, though, that he prefers not to wade into 'lifestyle stuff,' which can draw focus from Jesus. It's in keeping with these churches' tendency to, when pressed, fall back on anodyne Bible verses to insist that they love and 'welcome' LGBTQ people, even as they don't grant queer people full equality," writes the Washington Post.