Actors Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington pose backstage at the 2012 BET Awards in Los Angeles, July 1, 2012. (REUTERS/Jason Redmond)

Actor Jamie Foxx has sparked outrage among religious activists after branding U.S. President Barack Obama "Our Lord and Saviour".

The Ray star made the controversial comparison onstage at the Soul Train Awards, which were televised on Sunday but recorded in Las Vegas a few days after Obama was re-elected for another term in the White House.

Speaking at the event, he said, "It's like church over here. It's like church in here. First of all, give an honour to God and our Lord and Saviour, Barack Obama."

However, the remark has been branded "startling" by Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights president William Anthony Donohue.

He says, "Foxx's epiphany is startling. It just goes to show that even though Obama did not succeed in stopping the oceans from rising (as he promised to do in 2008), he did succeed in convincing Jamie Foxx, and no doubt legions of others, that God exists. Whether God can survive an ACLU lawsuit accusing him of violating church and state grounds remains to be seen."