Algorithms vs. Angels: Who’s Running Your Church?
Is Church-AI training on Mother Theresa or on pedophiles & Christian Nationalists? Church-plant culture, take notice.
Hey, here’s a cool new trend coming to your spiritual world — AI-driven online church! Writers with a background in religion on Upwork were greeted with this post recently, asking for help in setting up an AI-driven online church:
TBH, this reminds me of college friends back in the day who wanted to start their own religion. As you can see, someone’s taken on the challenge, and they’re now looking for writers to bring this vision to life.
Our vision is to create a seamless and immersive AI church experience, complete with AI-generated sermons, music playlists, and a lifelike AI persona to lead services.—AI Church Development Specialist on Upwork
Though I’m not going to pitch for this gig, I haven’t been able to forget the premise.
Someone out there will be bringing AI Church to the public in the near future, and right alongside will be AI-Dharma Talk, AI-Shabbat, AI-Puja, AI-Jumu'ah prayer, AI-Ritual, AI-Circle.
Let’s do a quick Ben Franklin on this mother.
Pro:
Personalized Worship: Imagine telling the AI your spiritual struggles, and it offers a sermon, scripture, or meditation tailored just for you.
Convenience: Attend “services” from the comfort of your couch at any time. Perfect for night owls or those with unpredictable schedules.
Accessibility: Need spiritual guidance at 3 a.m.? No problem. AI is always available.
Global Reach: AI services could bring together people from around the world, regardless of time zones or physical barriers.
Con:
Stagnation of Growth: If AI only tells us what we want to hear, does it really challenge us to grow spiritually? Are we building faith or just an echo chamber?
Risk of Exploitation: Let’s face it—humans are at their most vulnerable on a spiritual path. Who’s holding the reins of the AI? Can they be trusted not to manipulate or radicalize users?
No Human Connection: AI doesn’t do potlucks, fellowship retreats, or game nights. Real spiritual communities are built on face-to-face warmth and shared experiences.
Lack of Real-World Help: When life gets tough, AI won’t deliver groceries to your door or pitch in to cover a water bill. Human congregations show love through action.
A Question of Trust
As intriguing as this must sound to the organizers, I have trust issues.
We already live in a world awash in bad information, with online bots driving human opinions.
Who’s programming this, and what is their agenda? How much of this AI experience will reflects the app creators’ biases versus the user’s needs?
I can’t help but remember how Microsoft had to shut down its AI chatbot after it turned into a Nazi in fewer than 24 hours. Sure, that was 2016 and the world was young, but six years later we were still beset with racist and sexist AI-driven robots.
Even in 2024 we see that Chatbot AI makes racist judgements on the basis of dialect, and apparently “Some large language models harbour hidden biases that cannot be removed using standard methods,” according to Elizabeth Gibney in the science magazine Nature.
So, as a female owner of a dialect that linguistically places me somewhere between the bayous and the Appalachian foothills, I’ll assume a phalanx of AI Chatbots are standing by to harass me.
I also worry about I-Dated-A-Robot Syndrome—remember the Futurama episode in which Fry became addicted to his robot girlfriend? Even now, people are forming personal relationships with AI-based technology. Am I right to wonder if this is healthy? Or will future generations, well-integrated with their AI companions, consider me a basist (yes, I just created a neologism here) for preferring relationships with flesh-based personalities?
I have no future-sight, but it seems AI is stepping in to take over the role of traditional human clergy. Unfortunately, it seems to have learned more from pedophile priests and sexual-assaulting pastors than it did from Mother Theresa. If it starts conning its followers and buying private jets, we’ll know it’s gunning for Joel Ostend’s gig.
Let’s hope it’s not learning from the online radicalizes, too. We have enough Christian Nationalists already. Please, just no.
I have trust issues, for sure.
The Future smacks us in the face
AI and church are not hypothetical. Religious organizations are already experimenting with AI in surprising ways:
Religious groups in the U.S. are already using AI for logistical support and outreach as well as experimenting with entire AI-driven services.
Church tech platforms like Church.AI, AI for Churches, and Church Tech are helping leaders streamline sermon prep and administrative tasks.
This German church hosted a service entirely led by AI, which attracted a crowd of curious worshippers.
For now, most uses of AI in religion seem focused on assisting leaders rather than replacing them. But that might not last long, given the job description in Upwork.
Is there a line to be drawn here? If so, where do we draw it?
I wonder how our descendants in the next century view what we are doing today.
…
Gating Questions:
Does AI-drive spirituality provide—
Food for spiritual growth and development?
Opportunity for genuine human community?
Protections against radicalization?
If the answer is “no” to any of these, we’d better throw the brakes on this movement for now.
No matter what we might think, AI and church have already been in contract negotiations. Much of this is in the “church plant” sector of Christianity.
I’m a Progressive Christian, so your view may be different, but here’s my take: “Church Plant” churches fill a demographic that’s already theologically weak, based as it is on expansion and worldly power rather than the humanistic and humanizing mission of Jesus. AI would suck whatever tiny spark of Jesus out of the plastic, happy-clappy churches.
I don’t even know how to feel about that.
So having said all this, I’d love to know what you’re thinking.
Hello, Enthusiasts! I’m a writer specializing in world religions. With M.Div. in hand, I’ve spent the past couple of decades exploring Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, and Shinto, as well as traditional Incan practice. Check out some of my other Religion and Spirituality stories here.
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