Dear siblings in Christ,
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We are living through a remarkable moment in human history. Artificial intelligence is developing at a pace that few of us could have imagined even a year ago and this raises profound practical and theological questions.
Humanity’s Worth
The book of Genesis tells us, “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27). We call this imago Dei, or the image of God. This means our worth comes from the Creator. Our worth does not come from our productivity level, our intelligence, our bank account, or anything else the world defines as success. Human beings are valuable because God has declared them valuable.
This means that artificial intelligence must remain in service to humanity. Humanity must never serve the demands of technology.
God has entrusted human beings with the ability and responsibility to make meaningful choices about our lives together. Our theology recognizes that freedom is never merely freedom for oneself. Christian freedom turns us outward toward the neighbor. Decisions about AI should not quietly migrate from human beings to algorithms simply because machines can make those decisions faster.
People must retain meaningful agency over technologies that affect their employment, privacy, relationships, education, health, faith, future, security, etc. This principle is consistent with Lutheran social teaching, which connects participation with the ability of people to make decisions about matters that affect their lives.
The question facing the church is not merely, “What can artificial intelligence do?”
The deeper question is, “What should humans entrust to AI?”
Our concern also extends to God’s creation.
The first chapter of Genesis does not begin with humanity. It begins with God creating light, water, land, vegetation, animals, and an interconnected world that God repeatedly calls good. Human beings were put within that creation, not above it.
Artificial intelligence, like all technology, has a physical footprint. As AI expands, we should ask whether its environmental costs are being considered alongside its economic and technological benefits. We must ask what those systems require from God’s creation and if the cost serves all of humanity and not just a select few.
These concerns have led your Synod Council to act.
At its most recent meeting, the Florida-Bahamas Synod Council adopted a resolution asking the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to join with other Christian traditions in advocating for a pause in the further development of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems until appropriate safeguards can be established.
This request should not be understood as a rejection of artificial intelligence. It is not a call to abandon research. It is not a declaration that technology is evil. It is a call for wisdom.
A pause means asking whether our ability to develop increasingly powerful systems is moving faster than our ability to understand their consequences and establish appropriate protections. A pause is not necessarily fear. Sometimes a pause is good stewardship.
As a society we review medicines to make sure they are safe for us to take. Before our children or grandchildren play with any toy, it is reviewed to make sure it is safe. We are dealing with one of the most powerful technologies the world has ever experienced, a pause would allow for review to make sure it is safe for all of humanity. Why should increasingly powerful artificial intelligence be exempt from that wisdom?
Our Lutheran theology takes sin seriously. Human beings are capable of extraordinary creativity and extraordinary self-deception. From the mastery of fire through the most advanced medical research humanity can use technology for the good of all or for horrible destruction. Technology does not erase sin. It does magnify both our capacity to serve our neighbor and our capacity to harm our neighbor.
There are so many questions.
Our congregations have an important role in addressing the myriad of questions that orbit the AI topic. The church can become a place where people learn about artificial intelligence without hype or fear. It can be a safe place where any questions can be asked.
For that reason, I have asked Pastor Rob Rose, my Assistant for Administration, to host learning opportunities and listening sessions for our synod regarding AI. These gatherings will not begin with predetermined answers. They will create opportunities to learn what AI is becoming, explore its possibilities and risks, listen to the experiences and concerns of people across our synod, and consider these questions through Scripture and Lutheran theology.
I encourage pastors, deacons, congregational leaders, educators, parents, young adults, technology professionals, and anyone interested in this conversation to participate. We need your voice. We need the voices of those who are excited about AI. We need the voices of those who are worried about it.
Artificial intelligence appears to be becoming one of the most consequential technologies humanity has ever developed. We should approach that possibility neither with panic nor with blind optimism. We must remember whose we are, where our true value comes from, and the call upon our lives to serve our neighbors through Christ.
May God grant us wisdom for the questions before us, courage for the decisions we must make, humility about the things we do not yet understand, and love sufficient to place the wellbeing of our neighbor and all creation at the center of our life together.
In Christ,
Bishop Suárez
