Hollywood Christians: A large congregation?
It's hard to know what artists believe, based on their careers and secular news reports
I saw a headline the other day in First Things that made me stop and think, in a Rational Sheep kind of way, about Christian faith and the current state of Hollywood.
The headline, on a short essay by Theopolis Institute president Peter J. Leithart, proclaimed, “One Cheer for Hollywood.” Why cheer for Hollywood? Well, the essay offers this hook: “There are thousands of Christians in the entertainment industry, and more conservatives.”
Hold that thought.
This subject matter immediately made me think of superstar Chris Pratt, whose Christian faith has put him in the spotlight on a number of occasions. A year ago, The Deseret News ran a piece — “‘I’ve chosen out of this world’: Once again, Chris Pratt defends his religious beliefs” — that offered this background:
Pratt has a history of being outspoken about his faith, leading to several calls for the “Parks and Recreation” actor to get canceled. During an interview with Page Six … Pratt acknowledged that he has faced criticism for his beliefs.
“I sure do but that’s nothing new, that’s nothing new, you know?” Pratt told Page Six of the backlash he has received over his religious views. “If I was of this world, they would love me just like that but as it is, I’ve chosen out of this world. That’s John 15:18 through 20,” Pratt continued.
“That’s the way it is, nothing new, 2,000 years ago they hated him, too,” he added, referencing Jesus Christ.
That’s the kind of faith language that draws cheers from traditional believers and allows Pratt’s critics to accuse him of having a messiah complex, being paranoia about persecution, or both.
But if we are talking about the lives of Christians in Tinsel Town, what about this language featured latter in the article? It helps to remember that much of the criticism of Pratt focuses on alleged worship in a church that preaches traditional Christian beliefs on marriage and sexuality. Thus, he attends an “anti-LGBTQ” church.
That brings me to this Pratt quote:
“I didn’t know that I would kind of become the face of religion when really I’m not a religious person,” Pratt told Men’s Health.
“I think there’s a distinction between being religious — adhering to the customs created by man, oftentimes appropriating the awe reserved for who I believe is a very real God — and using it to control people, to take money from people, to abuse children, to steal land, to justify hatred.”
Now, what is Pratt saying there? Is he, perhaps, saying to his critics: “Get off my back. I am not one of those BAD Christians. I am a GOOD Christian.”
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the key language in the Leithart mini-essay:
For many Christians and conservatives, California’s economic agenda is less threatening than its cultural agenda, symbolized by Hollywood, the historic heart of the entertainment industry. Hollywood funnels much of its wealth to progressive politicians, while surrounding progressive causes with a halo of glitzy glamour. Hollywood’s political bias is obvious. Executives overwhelmingly support the Democrat Party, and the starriest of movie stars have feted Biden and Harris, raising millions of dollars. There’s blackballing. There’s an overt or covert selection process that allows only those who toe liberal groupthink to rise to the top. Unlike California’s energy policies, Hollywood has already flooded the entire country. It’s hard to find a recent streaming series that doesn’t preach Woke or at least reflect an implicit, unquestioned Woke cosmic order. White men aren’t imagining things: Count the number of strong, good white men the next time you binge a Netflix series. Trust me — you’ll have fingers left over.
That’s not the whole story, of course. It never is. There are thousands of Christians in the entertainment industry, and more conservatives. The Hollywood Prayer Network is one of many Christian ministries focused on entertainment. … “Content won’t change until lives are changed,” announces the network’s website, adding “God is the only one who can touch the lives and hearts of the decision makers and creative community in Hollywood.” The network’s website also links to dozens of Christian ministries, arts organizations, counselors, and churches, and offers resources to help Christians “thrive in L.A.”
Let’s ignore the political language in that. Partisan politics, in this day and age, is — in my opinion — less important than the courage to defend traditional Christian doctrines in a way that is firm, but compassionate.
What kind of doctrines?
Once again, here are the “tmatt trio” questions that, in my experience, almost always surface in disputes among Christians on the left, right and in the middle:
* Are biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus accurate? Did this happen?
* Is salvation found through Jesus, alone? Was Jesus being literal when he said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
* Is sex outside of marriage a sin?
Now, the First Things article never discusses any specific cases — in terms of Hollywood players — and how they shape the “content issues” that affect the lives of millions of consumers in America and around the world.
I was hoping for some specifics. For example, dig into this impressive list of “Christians in Hollywood” posted on the popular IMDb website.
Did you click the link? If so, and you are a doctrinally conservative Christian, I bet that you have some questions. Some of the names are rather obvious, such as the often troubled Mel Gibson and the outspoken Denzel Washington (see my “On Religion” column: “The Book of Denzel”).
Then there is this name — Kim Kardashian.
If you want some additional options, consider this Woman’s Day list of Christians in Hollywood.
My assumption is that many of you will read these lists and ask this question: “OK, we need some more information. What is the definition of ‘Christian’ that’s being used here?”
In other words, we want to know if this or that “Christian” is a “real” Christian, according to our doctrinal, cultural and maybe even political standards. Right?
Consider Tom Hanks, who is active in a Greek Orthodox congregation. For me, as an Orthodox layman, this raises questions about the degree to which he embraces the teachings of our faith — which clash with Hollywood culture quite a bit.
Yes, I wish that I had a chance to ask Hanks some specific questions, whereas I was allowed a mere one question in a press conference with him years ago. Here is a byte from that “On Religion” column:
"The church does feed the poor. It does take care of the hungry. It heals the sick. I think that the grace of God seems to be not only in the eye of the believer, but also in the hands of the believer."
These days, [Hanks] said, he still ponders the big questions, while raising a family with his Greek Orthodox wife, actress Rita Wilson. Miracles are everywhere in daily life, he said, and it's the "mystery of it all" that continues to haunt him.
"I must say that when I go to church — and I do go to church — I ponder the mystery," he said. "I meditate on the, 'why?' of 'Why people are as they are,' and 'Why bad things happen to good people,' and 'Why good things happen to bad people.' ... The mystery is what I think is, almost, the grand unifying theory of all mankind."
You have questions, right? In the Hanks case, quite a few Orthodox believers have questions about the Hollywood-friendly stands he has taken in his public life.
But here is the bottom line: We only know these Christians through the culture that they help create and the questions that they have been asked by — for the most part — mainstream, secular reporters. In other words, it’s hard to know what these believers say and do in their “real lives.” For example: Did you know that Raquel Welch was a rather conservative Presbyterian? I didn’t.
When reading press reports about these believers, I think that we need to read between the line a bit. We can ask critical questions, while avoiding acidic judgements.
With that in mind, let’s return to Chris Pratt. Here is a column that I wrote — “That strange sermonette that Chris Pratt tricked MTV viewers into swallowing” — about one memorable moment when the superstar took some risks while in the spotlight.
Everyone knows what the angelic nanny Mary Poppins meant when she sang: "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down."
Hollywood superstar Chris Pratt put a different spin on that during the recent MTV Movie & TV Awards. After receiving the Generation Award, he told fans to "listen up," because he was speaking "as your elder." Then he recited what CNN called his "Nine Rules for Living."
It was a strange set of commandments — part potty humor, part youth-pastor sermon. But Rule No. 4 said this: "When giving a dog medicine, put the medicine in a little piece of hamburger and they won't even know they're eating medicine."
That's what Pratt was doing. The megastar of Guardians of the Galaxy and the Jurassic Park reboots followed the MTV rules and used some mildly off-color humor – like how to poop at a party without smelling up the bathroom. These MTV celebrity-fests are known for their racy fashion statements and crude language.
That humor was Pratt's "hamburger." What caused a tsunami of Internet clicks was his "medicine," speaking as an out-of-the-closet Hollywood Christian.
Rule No. 2 proclaimed: "You have a soul. Be careful with it."
Rule No. 6 was rather personal: "God is real. God loves you. God wants the best for you. Believe that, I do."
Rule No. 8 was just as blunt: "Learn to pray. It's easy, and it's so good for your soul."
There was more to this drama than the rare chance to hear a "Hollywood A-lister tell people to pray," noted film critic Titus Techera of the Claremont Institute. Pratt was trying to turn celebrity worship upside down.
"Celebrities don't create themselves — nor do they simply come out of the cynical manipulations of Hollywood. They come out of us," he noted, in an Ave Maria Radio essay. "We want something we can worship now, easily. … Above all, we love these celebrations because, unlike church, they don't require that we sacrifice our pride. That's the same as saying that we tend to find church boring rather than exciting. …
"The best celebrities can do is bear well the burden of our wrong-headed worship — not to throw it off, but gently and humorously to point us in the direction of what's truly divine and thus worth worshiping. This is what Chris Pratt did with his nine rules."
It's possible that Pratt was more candid than he appeared to be in MTV's broadcast. In recent years, the actor has become increasingly candid about his faith, even during times of personal turmoil. At last year's Teen Choice Awards — his first public event after announcing his separation from his wife, actress Anna Faris — he said: "I would not be here with the ease and grace that I have in my heart without my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
At the MTV award show, Pratt concluded with rule No. 9, and some complex faith-based language.
"Nobody is perfect. People will tell you that you are perfect just the way that you are. You are not! You are imperfect. You always will be, but there is a powerful force that designed you that way," he said. "If you are willing to accept that, you will have grace. And grace is a gift. … That grace was paid for with somebody else's blood. Do not forget that. Don't take that for granted."
Producers switched from one camera to another after Pratt's reference to "a powerful force that designed you that way."
The MTV press office confirmed that this program was prerecorded and never aired live. The spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about whether Pratt's remarks were edited — perhaps removing an explicit reference to Jesus.
Whatever happened, Pratt's pronouncement "was funny, it was strange and it was moving," said David French, senior writer at National Review. The video "went viral" because Pratt offered sobering advice to a generation of young people that has seen its share of anxiety and depression, even after waves of messages that things are fine just the way they are.
The bottom line, is that millions of "people really like Chris Pratt," said French, reached by email. "Christians always love it when a celebrity publicly embraces Christ, and he did it in a particularly striking way."