Star Wars actor Carrie Fisher has blasted UK cinemas for refusing to show an advert by the Church of England which features the Lord’s Prayer after citing fears that it could offend people.

The 60-second advert was due to be shown before new episode Star Wars: the Force Awakens. But it has been turned down by Digital Cinema Media (DCM), which represents leading chains Odeon, Cineworld and Vue, despite being passed by the Cinema Advertising Authority and the British Board of Film Classification.

Fisher, who reprises her role as Princess Leia Organa (now known as General Organa) in new episode The Force Awakens, told the Mail on Sunday she could not conceive of the short film offending cinemagoers.

“I have no idea why they would do that,” she said. “Offended? No. People should get a life. I don’t think it is offensive to have a ‘power of prayer’ advert before Star Wars.”

Fisher, 59, compared the advert to the presence of a copy of Gideons Bible in a hotel bedroom.

“I have never seen an advertisement like this, but if the theatre is like a hotel room, then they have every right to put up a power of prayer advert,” she said. “It’s advertising, so it has to be advertisers that are objecting.”

AguyJUST followedME2mydoctor&SAID"in UKfilm theaters,theyJUST pulled/aPOWERof PrayerADVERT-doU find thisOFFENSIVE/u? pic.twitter.com/MRIu9ZfzdV — Carrie Fisher (@carrieffisher) November 25, 2015

DCM has come under fire from the UK prime minister and the Equality and Human Rights Commission for refusing to screen the ad on the grounds that it could cause offence. It has cited a policy of not running material that is political or religious in nature as it carried “the risk of upsetting, or offending, audiences”.

DCM says on its website that an advertisement must not “in the reasonable opinion of DCM constitute political or religious advertising”. This means “advertising which wholly or partly advertises any religion, faith or equivalent systems of belief (including any absence of belief) or any part of any religion, faith or such equivalent systems of belief”.

Fisher also took to Twitter to ask her followers whether they agreed with the ban last week. Posting a photograph of an unknown man, she wrote: “AguyJUST followedME2mydoctor&SAID”in UKfilm theaters,theyJUST pulled/aPOWERof PrayerADVERT-doU find thisOFFENSIVE/u?”

Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits UK cinemas on 17 December and debuts in the US a day later. Star Mark Hamill, who reprises his role as Jedi knight Luke Skywalker in the film, has promised fans will be in for a few shocks when the highly anticipated movie finally begins screening.

Hamill – whose character has not been seen on any posters or in any trailers so far, prompting speculation about Skywalker’s whereabouts, appearance and Force loyalty – told Empire: “Obviously you’re seeing him in a very different time in his life. There are lots of surprises in this movie. You’re going to love it.”

The US actor, 64, said shooting scenes for JJ Abrams’ movie on a remote Irish island had reminded him of his experiences on the first Star Wars in 1977.

“It reminded me of when I was in Tunisia on the salt flats,” he said. “If you could get into your own mind and shut out the crew and look at the horizon, you really felt like you were in a galaxy far, far away. I had that same wave of emotion happen to me when I was on Skellig Michael in Ireland. I wasn’t anticipating it.”

Meanwhile, a new Disney Channel video focusing on Daisy Ridley’s Rey has revealed yet more footage from the new film. “It’s been really special,” Rey tells her perky interviewer in the promo. “I love the films but obviously being part of it is really amazing. It’s a lot of fun on set.”

Anticipation for the new movie, which is expected to be the year’s highest-grossing film, continues to inspire pleas for special screening privileges from those not in a position to see it in cinemas themselves. After Texas fan Daniel Fleetwood, 32, was granted a private screening last month just days before his death from an aggressive form of cancer, a Nashville man with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease has issued a public plea to be given a home screening. Nathan Ashley, 34, is bedridden and able to communicate only with a special device that reads his eyelid movements after being diagnosed in 2013. His Facebook video has been viewed 7,000 times since being released on 22 November.