An anti-gay Christian actor is begging his Facebook fans to leave positive reviews, after critics savaged his latest film.

41-year-old former child actor Kirk Cameron – who appeared on Growing Pains – has frequently spoken out against homosexuality since growing up.

He said this month: “God hates gay people, god hates fags and you’re going to hell. If we fail to be blunt and straightforward about that sin, we’re doing a disservice to our gay friends.”

Mr Cameron has not worked in mainstream Hollywood for several years, but still makes niche Christian films.

However, his latest effort, ‘Saving Christmas’, was so rejected by critics that the actor has taken to asking his Facebook fans to leaving positive reviews to boost his ratings.

After seeing his film had achieved a lousy 10 percent rating on critic website Rotten Tomatoes, he wrote: “Help me storm the gates of Rotten Tomatoes!

“All of you who love Saving Christmas – go rate it at Rotten Tomatoes right now and send the message to all the critics that WE decide what movies we want our families to see!

“If 2,000 of you (out of almost 2 million on this page) take a minute to rate Saving Christmas, it will give the film a huge boost and more will see it as a result!

“Thank you for all your help and support in putting the joy of Christ back in Christmas!”

As a result of his begging the film now has a 49 percent rating on the site – though it still impressed just 9 percent of professional critics.

The reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times wrote: “This clumsy film is really more like a home movie. This may be one of the least artful holiday films ever made.

“Even devout born-again Christians will find this hard to stomach.”