OPINION:
Without a doubt, Hollywood’s Chris Pratt is an anomaly.
He’s not only a Christian in Hollywood. He’s an open Christian in an anti-Christian Hollywood crowd — and just recently, he took that Christian message to Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show,” of all places.
It’s “of all places” because Colbert is a reformed atheist — a returner to his Catholic faith. And what better place for Pratt to preach it than to a guy who’s seen the dark but turned back to the light — but is sitting before an audience of people who maybe have, maybe have not?
This is TV at its finest. This is celebrity-ism at its best.
Colbert: So how do you get in shape for your movies?
Pratt: The Daniel fast has helped. And then he said the “c” word.
“This is something I did just this year, I just came off it this year, it’s a 21-day fast that’s kind of — a lot of people are doing it, I did it through my church,” Pratt said.
Let the Bible discussion ensue.
Colbert: “The book of Daniel, the prophet, Daniel?”
Yes, that’s the one.
“The prophet Daniel from the Old Testament, the book of Daniel,” Pratt said. “He was a guy who only ate fruits and vegetables and grains. … I was inspired by my pastor.”
Tossing around the church talk on network television is one thing. Speaking of even deeper spiritual truths is another. Yet Pratt went there.
“There’s this great quote that I actually heard in church and it felt really appropriate. … ’If the spotlight that’s shining on you is brighter than the light that comes from within you, it’ll kill you,’ ” he said.
He was talking about Jesus. The light of the spirit. On live TV. On CBS late night.
“And you see it all the time, people in our position, people who are actors,” Pratt said.
He was warning against becoming too consumed with self. He was speaking of pursuing the things of the flesh instead of the things of the spirit.
He could just as easily have quoted James: “For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.” Or Philippians, “whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.”
And Colbert, meanwhile, sat raptly.
That’s not as big a surprise as one might imagine. Back in November, Colbert went on Faith in Focus and told the host, the Rev. James Martin, that he had floundered in his faith and wandered from his beliefs, but today, stood once again on solid Catholic ground.
“It’s Jesus Christ,” Colbert said, Premier reported. “Not an old man with a beard.”
Who knew television’s must-see for Christians would be “The Late Show” on CBS. But then again, God does work in mysterious ways.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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