‘The Terminal List’ Star, Chris Pratt, Discusses Why The Church Isn’t Always A Great Representation Of God: “Mankind Is Broken & Flawed”

Chris Pratt and Bill Maher managed to talk about the two things that everyone hates to hear brought up at the dinner table: Politics and Religion.

For the most part, the Hollywood star tries to avoid talking about politics… even though he had some select things to say in the most recent episode of Club Random with Bill Maher. But one conversation that Chris Pratt doesn’t avoid is the topic of faith. That’s something that the 46-year-old is always happy to talk about, and I believe that’s because he’s had a very blessed life thus far.

His story from rags to riches is fascinating, and if you’ve never heard it, I’ll give you the short version. Pratt was living out of a van in Hawaii at the age of 19, and was waiting tables at a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. He wasn’t even really trying to get into acting, yet one fateful day, a director came into the restaurant, was waited on by Pratt, and that director later gave Chris his first role in Hollywood.

I think that origin story alone is enough to make you think that a higher power must exist. Why in the world would a director be suddenly entranced by a server at a chain restaurant? And how odd is it that a movie star that’s been the glue of huge blockbuster films like Avengers: Endgame and Jurassic World just so happened to be waiting on that director’s table in Hawaii of all places?

So Pratt is one of the rare faces in Hollywood that stars in the biggest projects while also not shying away from speaking about his faith in God. Not too long ago, he sat down for an interview with Leah Klett and talked about why he continues to shine a light on the Lord, and how he leans on a couple of different scriptures (Proverbs 26:20, Matthew 5:14) to guide his life.

Matthew 5:14 is the one that Pratt says holds the upmost importance to him:

“The biggest one I think in this season (of my life) is Matthew 5:14. It really feels like being a light in this world and not putting a bushel basket over a light… a city on a hill cannot be hidden, and I’m being called to be that city on a hill at this moment in my life.

You take a risk, I think, being vocal about anything that’s divisive in the entertainment world. Religion is divisive, and so is politics. I don’t care enough about politics to take a stance one way or the other at the expense of my career. But I do care enough about Jesus to take a stand, even if it costs me everything.”

So when Bill Maher brought up religion – specifically Catholicism – during his time with Pratt, the actor was perfectly comfortable navigating the sometimes tricky conversational waters of faith. And that’s even after Bill Maher talked about the fear that he feels walking into a church because of things that happened to him at a young age, and questioned why Chris Pratt calls himself a Catholic.

Pratt clarified that he’s more Catholic-adjacent than he is a practicing Catholic, and considers himself more of a non-denominational believer:

“I did a collaboration with a Catholic app HALO, and I go to a Catholic church, and my wife is Catholic. But I would probably consider myself to be more Christian than Catholic.”

That’s when Maher turned the discussion towards his disbelief, or rather, his questioning of everyone else’s belief in a higher power. The political commentator and comedian referenced his 2008 documentary titled Religulous, which questioned some aspects of modern religion and, as he put it, preached the gospel of “I don’t know.”

Maher says he didn’t set out to prove anyone wrong with the movie. Rather, he just wanted to question some of the things about religion that are widely (and sometimes blindly) accepted. But at the end of the day, it certainly seems like Bill has more of a problem with the church than he does with God:

“You can believe in Jesus as a God and still be critical of the things his minions have done on Earth.”

Chris Pratt accepted that statement, and conceded that those who call themselves religious and preach about a Christian lifestyle aren’t always the pristine image and representation of what they’re preaching:

“Mankind has been messing this up since the dawn of time. Because mankind is broken and flawed and when you give them absolute power, they ruin it.”

All in all, it was an interesting conversation between two people that might not see eye-to-eye on religion. But that’s one thing that Bill Maher has really worked to perfect: having discussions with people that might not think exactly like he does. It was interesting to hear the pair’s back and forth on religion, and you can hear more of what they had to say in the interview below:

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