Actor JOHN BARROWMAN has blasted "bigoted" church leaders - for alienating congregation members with their strict stance on homosexuality.
The star of cult sci-fi TV show Doctor Who lashed out after Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester in the U.K., urged gays to "repent and be changed".
Openly gay Barrowman slammed the comments, insisting any high-ranking church official who agrees is damaging Christianity.
He says, "From a gay man, weren't the actions of Jesus Christ supposed to be about compassion and love and understanding? And here you have a man who is supposed to be teaching that and he is teaching bigotry.
"I think more gay men would go to church if the teachers weren't as bigoted as they are. Now, I'm not saying all Christians believe like that, because there's a lot out there who don't.
"But these kind of men and women who are preaching that, they are going to lose their congregation because mums and dads are going to realise they have gay siblings - or children or family members who are gay - and they are not evil. Stop talking rubbish."