Chris Pratt is ready to talk about his church.
Well, recently he's kind of always ready to talk about his church (Zoe Church LA), and God, and religion, and his fasting technique. But now he's ready to talk about Ellen Page's claims that the church he loves so dearly is an anti-LGBTQ establishment.
On Instagram, Pratt shared a lengthy defense of the church. "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, referring directly to Page's tweets. "Nothing could be further from the truth. I go to church that opens their doors to absolutely everyone."
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He adds, "My 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. My values define whoI 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."
Pratt also mentions that even as a divorcee, he didn't feel judged at church.
An off-shoot of Hillsong, Zoe attracts a large celebrity audience, which means that other celebrities are familiar with its reputation. When Pratt was on the Late Show with Colbert, he talked about his fast and his church, which led Page tweeting: "Oh. K. Um. But his church is infamously anti lgbtq so maybe address that too?"
After her initial tweets on Friday, the actress continued to tweet about the topic into the weekend. On Monday, Pratt appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which would have been a great place for him to clear up the supposed misconceptions of his church, but instead he ranked which Chris was hottest.
As of August 2015, Hillsong's (again, not the exact church Pratt attends, but the "granddaddy" of Zoe Church) stance on "gay marriage and gay lifestyles" is this: "We are a gay welcoming church but we are not a church that affirms a gay lifestyle."
Refinery29 has reached out to Page and Zoe Church for comment.