Maher asked Pratt if the Lutheran denomination is the closest Protestant denomination to Catholicism. “I believe so,” said Pratt, “and I’m not an expert on this stuff.” He noted that Lutherans and Catholics have “a lot of the same traditions.”
“Protestantism originally was all trying to get away from that,” Maher said, “and they…stripped it of all the bells and the whistles and the magic.”
“Like I said, I’m not an expert on this,” Pratt continued, “but I know Martin Luther was this German guy, the printing press, he created this printing press.”
“No, no, no,” Maher interjected. “Gutenberg created the printing press. But soon after the printing press came on the scene, [Luther] printed his 95 Theses, which was the criticism of Catholicism.”
“Right,” Pratt said, “rooted in the Bible.” He went on to point out that Luther objected to mass being in Latin, a language most people could not understand. “They didn’t even understand Latin, and they were kind of just looking to their priest to say, ‘What is this book saying?’”
“And the priest could kind of say whatever he wanted,” said Pratt. “And so Martin Luther was like, ‘Actually, let’s look at the Gospels. What do they really say? None of this stuff in there.’”
Referring to Maher’s comment that Pratt is Catholic, the actor acknowledged that he has collaborated with the Catholic prayer app Hallow. In fact, in an Aug. 14 Instagram post partnering with Hallow, Pratt encouraged people who had come across the video to “stop scrolling” and instead to read Scripture with him “real quick.”
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“That’s why you picked up your phone today,” Pratt said. “Isn’t that interesting?” He then read Joshua 1:9, after which he invited people to join him on Hallow to pray and read the Bible.
In June, Pratt said on his social media that Jesus is one of the life essentials he can’t live without. Earlier this year on “FOX & Friends,” Pratt described the impact the birth of his son, Jack, had on his faith.
Jack was born “early and had some health scares,” said Pratt. “In that moment, [I] really made some deals with God, as you do when you’re praying. And I felt like, ‘If you save my son, I will give you everything.’”
“I’ll give you my life. I’ll give you my platform,” he said. “I won’t be ashamed to talk to you, talk about you.’”
“And he did save my son,” said Pratt, “and I’ve been trying to make good on that promise ever since.”
Jack is now healthy, and Pratt celebrated his son’s 13th birthday last weekend. ““I have a teenager???” Pratt said on Instagram. “Jack, I can’t believe you are 13 today. I’ve watched you grow into such an incredible young man, and am truly proud of the person you are becoming. I love you! Jesus is King!”
