Chris Pratt Comes Under Fire For Attending ‘Anti-Gay’ Church

While actor Chris Pratt has been garnering attention from his recent proposal to Katherine Schwarzenegger — per reporting by the Inquisitr— the Guardians of the Galaxy star has also recently come under fire for his chosen place of worship.

As originally reported by Queerty, Pratt — who has become more open and public about his Christian faith — attends Hillsong Church.

Originally founded in 1983, Hillsong Church is best described as belonging to the Evangelical charismatic movement. While the church got its start in New South Wales, Australia, it arrived in the United States in 2010, setting up multiple locations — per Pop Culture.

Over the past few years, Hillsong Church has come under fire for its stance on homosexuality — and by extension, its gay congregants — as well as for the promotion of conversion therapy. Carl Lentz, who leads New York City’s Hillsong Church, spoke to GQ in 2015, explaining that he believes that homosexuality is a sin. Lentz also went on to state that an openly gay congregant would never be able to hold a leadership position within the church.

One former congregant, Alex Pittaway, is still wary of Hillsong. Speaking to Queerty, Pittaway reaffirmed his stance, warning members of the LGBT community that they will never be fully accepted by the church.

“Gay people need to know that when they go to Hillsong, they have to go to the back of the bus. Hillsong is hip and attractive and contemporary, but there’s certainly nothing contemporary about what LGBT people will face if they want to be a leader in the church or offer themselves up for service. That’s something [Hillsong] will have to be upfront with, and they haven’t been so far,” Pittaway explains.

Pittaway’s statement echoes sentiments put forth by Hillsong Church staff. In a blog post from 2015, senior pastor Brian Houston explained that while the church is accepting of gay members, there is a limit to how high they can rise within the church’s hierarchy.

“Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles. Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid,” Houston wrote.

Unsurprisingly, some took issue with Chris Pratt’s chosen place of worship and took to Twitter to express their outrage.

For alllll those people wondering why folks are not a fan of #ChrisPratt anymore…. start with this:https://t.co/d6No6QPw0Z

— Simone Rene'e (Taylor's Version) (@frenchifry) January 15, 2019

Hi @prattprattpratt. I’m usually not one to question people’s choices in life, but I find it highly objectionable that you attend a church which supports conversion therapy. If you respect your fans, you might wanna clear the air on this. Many thanks!

— ally ? (@allywiIIow) January 15, 2019

Pratt is by no means the only celebrity member that belongs to Hillsong Church. Other famous congregants include singer and actress Selena Gomez, model Kendall Jenner, professional basketball player Kevin Durant, along with Nick Jonas and Vanessa Hudgens.

One of the more famous celebrity couples that attend the church is Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey Baldwin. Hailey is the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, who became a born-again Christian after the September 11 terrorist attacks.