John Rhys-Davies
Franciszek Vetulani/WikiCommons

Actor John Rhys-Davies who starred in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy is speaking out in defense of the Christian faith.

The Welsh actor who played “Gimli” in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy says the world owes Christianity a great debt of thanks for “making the world a better place.”

He also urges people to view Christianity as a force of good in the world.

“I count myself a rationalist and a skeptic, and I find myself constantly defending Christians and Christianity,” Rhys-Davies told The Christian Post during a red carpet appearance at the 28th annual Movieguide Awards.

“We seem to forget that Christian civilization has made the world a better place than it ever was.”

Rhys-Davies said that the abolition of slavery was one of the great glories of the Christian faith. He also referenced the championing of the “right of free speech” and “the right of the individual conscience.”

“These evolved in first and second century Roman Christendom, where the individual Christian said, ‘I have a right to believe, what I believe and not what the Emperor tells me.’ From that our whole idea of democracy and the equality that we have has developed,” the actor expressed.

“We owe Christianity the greatest debt of thanks that a generation can ever have and to slight it and to dismiss it as being irrelevant is the detritus of rather ill read minds, I think.”

The actor has appeared in a number of faith roles. His voice was featured as an Evangelist in the animated film “Pilgrims Progress.”

He will also star in the upcoming faith-based film “I Am Patrick” which is set to release on St. Patrick’s Day.

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