I don't know this Jesus of whom you speak

So suggests Chris Pratt.  Ah, Mr. Pratt, we hardly knew ye.  

Mr. Pratt exploded on the world stage in the wake of three unlikely mega-hits: The Lego Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Jurassic World.  He had been that big, frumpy, floppy, simple-Simon fellow on the television show Parks and Recreation.  Then he met Anna Faris who whipped him into shape - literally.  In The Lego Movie we didn't see the difference.  It was his voice still being that guy from Parks and Recreation.  But when he appeared in Guardians, muscles and ripped abs and everything, he swept millions of female fans off their feet, and impressed many male fans along the way.

With a self deprecating humor, he wore his religion on his sleeve, spoke openly of his Christian faith, defended conservative views, and came off like everyone's next door dad, husband and good old friend.  His and Anna's open and gentle care of their special needs child endeared him even more to the masses, especially those within the Faith.  

Over time, his antics did grate on the nerves.  His insistence on conveying religious values with the mentality of a Nickelodeon kid's show at times became embarrassing. After his wife left him (the speculated reasons are many, but most I've heard feel it was her inability to watch his career skyrocket while hers floundered (The Emoji Movie?)), he seemed to convey those values less and less.  

My sons, who are more in tune with the goings on in pop culture today, say that Mr. Pratt has been a target of the digital lynch mob for some time.  More than once his failure to appropriately bow before the 90 Foot Left caused him to dodge and parry against one assault after another. 

By the Trump years, Marvel, like Hollywood in general, completely immersed itself in the Left's neo-McCarthyism, while more and more Marvel actors came out to condemn Lenin and Stalin for failing to be leftwing enough.  In such an environment, it isn't hard to imagine how maintaining a traditional set of Christian values would be difficult at best. 

Nonetheless, like so many we've seen in the last couple decades, the pressure was obviously too much.  In a recent interview, he downplays his religious walk, condemns religion in general, and espouses variations on the famous' Religion sucks, but I have some vague sort of kind of thing about something faith you know.' 

It's not renouncing Jesus before the altar of Caesar as much as insisting you never heard of Jesus or Caesar in the first place.  A dodge meant to cover one's own rear.  No doubt it is due to mounting pressure from the always tolerant Left.  It might also be scraping together credibility as the beaming spotlight that once illumined him has begun to dim in the wake of one turkey bomb after another.  

In generations to come, the Church will need to revisit the topic of apostasy and prepare to receive those who may return to the flock.  A good point of reference would be John 21.15-19.  Even if it takes three times, Jesus is forever willing to forgive a denial to save one's stardom, and welcome them, like He welcomes all, back into the sheepfold through the narrow gate.