What did Rainn Wilson say about The Last of Us? Religion explored amid anti-Christian bias controversy

American actor Rainn Wilson recently sparked controversy online for calling out the apparent anti-Christian bias after watching the latest episode of The Last of Us.

On March 12, the 57-year-old star took to his Twitter handle to share his thoughts on the HBO's drama series' episode that features a Bible-reading preacher, David, who turns into a villain.

"As soon as the David character in 'The Last of Us' started reading from the Bible I knew that he was going to be a horrific villain."

The latest episode of The Last of Us, aired simultaneously during the 95th Academy Awards on March 12. The episode showed a group of cannibals led by a seemingly Christian preacher, as they chanted Bible verses to defend their doings, with the preacher trying to assault Bella Ramsey's character, Ellie.

In a separate Twitter thread, Rainn Wilson stated that his tweet was picked up by Fox News as front-page news that profits from "culture-war outrage."

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Rainn Wilson is not Christian

In his same Twitter thread, Rainn Wilson pointed out that he's not Christian by religion and stated:

"Of course it’s true that the evangelical/political coalition is doing a great deal of damage to our country. Banning books - banning freedoms - denying inconvenient science, taking a grotesque anti-LGBTQ+ platform."

He concluded the thread by adding that most Christians that he knows are "kind, accepting, and loving and seeking to make the world a better place," and that they should be honored in the media.

In December 2020, the The Office actor told Religion Unplugged that he is a member of the Baha’i faith, which began in 1844 in Persia and spread across the world with an estimated 5-7 million followers.

During his interview, Wilson shared that Baha’i culture lays emphasis on meditation and prayer as a way to unite people.

“No matter what your belief system, we can come together and pray. We have Jews, born-again Christians and agnostics who bring a poem. We’ll do just a real simple meditation sometimes and read some Baha’i prayers and read some stuff from the Bible and the Qur’an.”

According to the Religion Unplugged article, members of the Baha'i faith recognize and respect all world faiths and their leaders or prophets, including Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Zoroaster, Krishna, and many others. Baha'is believe that these people are "manifestations of God," or messengers of the one holy God.

As for Rainn Wilson's criticism of Hollywood's anti-Christian bias, several Twitter users pointed out how The Last of Us was hardly the first example of the apparent bias.

Daniel Garza, the LIBRE Initiative president, stated that defamation of Christianity as a religion has become cliched, and "undermines faith and position the secular-minded as only ones with altruistic intentions."

Writer Ed Stetzer stated that showing Christians in a bad light has become a trend these days.

The founder of New Christendom, Eric Conn, gave an example of the way Mr. Collins was portrayed in Pride & Prejudice.

Some other users responded by tweeting:

The Last of Us is currently available to stream on HBO and Disney + Hotstar and stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as the lead characters in a post-apocalyptic world.