Divine Algorithms: Religion and Faith in the Era of Artificial Intelligence

Dear Colleague,

The widespread advent of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies—from machine learning models to social robots—has begun to transform many aspects of life, including religious belief and practice (Alexander, 2020). Because religion and society are deeply interconnected, technological change inevitably raises profound questions for faith communities. For example, Singler (2018) argues that AI’s societal impact will have significant implications for religious traditions and may even reinvigorate faith or inspire new spiritual movements. As Singler (2024) notes, AI is “rarely out of the news or the public imagination,” and its advances “are transforming society” and people’s lived experiences. Likewise, Dorobantu (2024) suggests that as AI becomes more prevalent, religious settings could become testing grounds for how we view machine intelligence and moral agency. Understanding these trends is both timely and important for scholars and practitioners. In light of these trends, it is vital to explore how religious traditions engage with AI, and how theology and practice may evolve.

This Special Issue thus aims to explore the intersections of AI and religion, from historical roots to future horizons. We invite historical, theoretical, and empirical studies on topics such as (a) the historical and conceptual foundations of AI in religious thought (e.g., ancient and medieval ideas of artificial life and automata, religious myths about created beings, and theological debates on human creativity and divine “creation”) (Iglesias et al., 2025; Voinea et al., 2025); (b) contemporary AI applications in religious contexts (e.g., AI-powered chaplains, prayer or scripture chatbots, AI-generated liturgy or music, robotic icons or worship assistants, and online spiritual platforms) and their social impact (Vestrucci, 2022); (c) future implications of AI for faith communities (e.g., how AI challenges notions of the sacred and spiritual agency, shifts patterns of religious authority and community life, or inspires new forms of theology or spirituality such as AI-authored sermons or “virtual saints”) (Papakostas, 2025).

Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Algorithmic Theologies: Divine agency, creation, and theodicy in the age of machine intelligence.
• Faith and the Posthuman: Moral agency, Imago Dei, and human dignity amid algorithmic automation.
• Digital Religion: AI-mediated worship, pastoral care, and questions of authenticity and authority.
• Epistemology and Revelation: Machine learning, Dataism, and the reconfiguration of sacred knowledge.
• Ethics and Eschatology: Algorithmic justice, redemption, and theological critiques of technological transcendence.
• Comparative Perspectives: Abrahamic, Eastern, Indigenous, and hybrid approaches to technology, consciousness, and spirituality.

We encourage comparative and interdisciplinary approaches (Christian, Buddhist, Daoist, Islamic, indigenous and folk religions, etc.). For example, studies in “digital religion” stress how new media shape spiritual practice (Campbell & Tsuria, 2021; Tsuria & Tsuria, 2024), and scholars like Geraci (2010) have shown that AI discourses often draw upon religious imagery. Ethically, voices like Barth (2025) and Earp et al. (2025) call for embedding human values—fairness, dignity, justice—into AI systems, a concern echoed in religious ethics. By bridging together religious studies, theology, anthropology, philosophy, AI ethics, and digital humanities, this issue aims to chart new directions in understanding how faith and AI shape each other and address the resulting ethical, social, and spiritual questions as religious practice adapts in the AI era.

References:

Alexander, J. K. (2020). Introduction: The entanglement of technology and religion. History and Technology, 36(2), 165-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2020.1814513

Barth, W. (2025). Religious Actors as Friction Creators Shaping the AI Dialogue. Laws, 14(5), 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/laws14050067

Campbell, H. A., & Tsuria, R. (Eds.). (2021). Digital religion: Understanding religious practice in digital media. Routledge.

Dorobantu, M. (ed). (2024). Religious robots: AI as religious subject and object. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 59(e), 661-787. https://www.zygonjournal.org/issue/1324/info/

Earp, B. D., Mann, S. P., Aboy, M., Awad, E., Betzler, M., Botes, M., ... & Clark, M. S. (2025). Relational norms for human-AI cooperation. arXiv preprint arXiv:2502.12102. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2502.12102

Geraci, R. M. (2010). Apocalyptic AI: Visions of heaven in robotics, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. Oxford University Press, USA.

Iglesias, S., Earp, B. D., Voinea, C., Mann, S. P., Zahiu, A., Jecker, N. S., & Savulescu, J. (2025). Digital doppelgängers and lifespan extension: What matters?. The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(2), 95-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2024.2416133

Papakostas, C. (2025). Artificial Intelligence in Religious Education: Ethical, Pedagogical, and Theological Perspectives. Religions, 16(5), 563. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel16050563

Singler, B. (2017). An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Religion For the Religious Studies Scholar. Implicit Religion, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.35901

Singler, B. (2024). Religion and artificial intelligence: An introduction. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003256113

Tsuria, R., & Tsuria, Y. (2024). Artificial intelligence’s understanding of religion: investigating the moralistic approaches presented by generative artificial intelligence tools. Religions, 15(3), 375. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15030375

Vestrucci, A. (2022). Artificial Intelligence and in God’s Existence: Connecting Philosophy of Religion and Computation. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, 57(4), 1000-18. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12829

Voinea, C., Mann, S. P., & Earp, B. D. (2025). Digital twins or AI SIMs? What to call generative AI systems designed to emulate specific individuals, in healthcare settings and beyond. Journal of Medical Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2025-111300

Dr. Xiaojun Ding
Prof. Dr. Young E. Rhee
Dr. Peter Harteloh
Prof. Dr. Balaganapathi Devarakonda
Guest Editors

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• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• generative AI
• AI ethics
• AI and religion
• AI and spirituality
• digital religion
• algorithmic
• theology faith and the posthuman faith
• transformation religious practice
• AI in religious education