Theology for the 21st Century

As you may or may not know, our UMC Social Principles have been revised and will be up for adoption by the General Conference this May. While I don't personally believe everything in it, I love the good changes and especially the way it starts:

We affirm that all creation belongs to God and is a manifestation of God’s goodness and providential care. Human beings, nonhuman animals, plants, and other sentient and non sentient beings participate in the community of creation, and their flourishing depends on the care of all God’s creation. (emphasis added)

Artificial Intelligence is here. Interacting with non sentient beings is not a thing of science fiction, it is a thing for 2020. I am very pleased that the UMC is adding this now in our updated Social Principles.

I am predicting that we will, in the very near future, be discussing such things as:

• AI companion robots that accompany congregants to worship (do we count them at worship attendees?)
• Being promoted by AI when a congregant needs spiritual care provided for them in the home or nursing facility/hospital
• Using driver-less cars to bring congregants to/from church
• Leveraging AI to tailor religious education for the individual congregant/family setting (taking into account various learning styles and abilities) 
• Allowing AI to manage church finances to maximize impact of resources
• Tailoring AI to instruct congregants to be better stewards of their resources (i.e. plugging them into volunteer services opportunities, assisting in giving 10% of income to the Kingdom building of the church, making Christ-centered ethical decisions, etc.) 
• AI in the pulpit...allowing congregational feedback in real time to help direct preaching

What an interesting time to be the church!

For the whole document in English, click here:

 https://www.umcjustice.org/documents/124