Chatbots, LLMs, and Religion: Human Flourishing in an AI Age

Dear Colleagues,

Large language models (LLMs) and conversational chatbots are transforming how humans seek meaning, connection, and transcendence—core concerns of both religious tradition and spirituality. AI tools now generate scripture commentary, provide spiritual care, simulate deceased loved ones, and serve as companions for the lonely and grieving. These developments touch not only formal religious communities but the growing population of people who identify as spiritual but not religious, who draw on multiple traditions, and who locate meaning outside institutional frameworks entirely.

Religious communities and spiritual seekers are actively deciding how to integrate or resist these technologies, while AI developers increasingly confront the ethical and existential dimensions of what they build. Questions once reserved for theologians and philosophers—What does it mean to be human? What constitutes a meaningful relationship? What do we owe the dead?—are now embedded in design decisions and policy debates. Scholars of religion and spirituality are well positioned to examine how AI is changing inner and communal life and how spiritual and religious traditions might shape the development and governance of AI.

This Special Issue examines the relationship between chatbots and LLMs and religion and spirituality, with a focus on human flourishing. It welcomes interdisciplinary scholarship that critically analyzes how these specific AI technologies are reshaping religious and spiritual experience, identity, and practice—and what religious and spiritual traditions contribute to their ethical evaluation. Submissions should maintain a clear focus on conversational and generative AI rather than AI broadly conceived.

Original research articles, theoretical essays, and scoping reviews are welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Religious and spiritual chatbots across traditions: design, use, reception, and critique.
• LLMs and theological reasoning: scripture, doctrine, and religious authority.
• Chatbots and spiritual care in healthcare, correctional, military, and campus settings.
• Griefbots, deadbots, and digital afterlife: theological and ethical analyses.
• AI companionship: chatbots as friends and confidants—implications for loneliness, relationality, and religious understandings of love and community.
• LLMs and human simulation: what AI's capacity to mimic human thought and emotion reveals about personhood, soul, and consciousness.
• Spirituality beyond institutions: chatbots and the "spiritual but not religious," pluralists, and seekers.
• AI-generated religious content: sermons, prayers, and liturgies—questions of authenticity, authorship, and spiritual efficacy.
• Bias and representation: how LLMs encode or distort religious and spiritual traditions, particularly minority and Indigenous voices.
• Teaching religion and theology with and about LLMs: pedagogical challenges and opportunities.
• Consent, dignity, and the digital self: religious perspectives on data ethics and digital resurrection.
• Human flourishing frameworks: what religious and spiritual traditions contribute to the ethics of conversational AI.

This Special Issue addresses a research area that is growing rapidly but remains undertheorized. We aim to produce a focused, rigorous collection that moves beyond both uncritical enthusiasm and reflexive resistance, offering tradition-informed scholarship for researchers, educators, spiritual care providers, religious leaders, and policymakers.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to  the editor of the Religions Special Issue, Sam Zang at sam.zhang@mdpi.com. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purpose of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Calvin Mercer
Prof. Dr. Randall Reed
Prof. Dr. Tracy J. Trothen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• artificial intelligence
• large language models
• chatbots
• religion
• spirituality
• human flourishing
• digital afterlife
• AI ethics
• spiritual care
• transhumanism