Are Apple, Amazon, and Google Denying Jesus Christ?

Christmas is almost here! Do you have all of your shopping done? One of the hot items you can buy for a loved one this year is an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) device. Two popular examples would be the “Google Home” or the “Amazon Echo.” Rather than typing the information in the search box on their websites, you can vocally ask questions and get fast answers. This has made life much easier and more convenient through the use and gift of technology. 

In the case of the “Google Home” device, you command it, “Hey Google!” Then state your request or question. In the case of the “Amazon Echo,” the virtual assistant whom you address out loud is named “Alexa.” Finally, in the case of Apple products, the name of its virtual assistant whom you speak to is “Siri.”

There is virtually an infinite amount of questions one can ask and almost an infinite amount of answers one can glean from these A.I. devices. So before you click the “Buy” button on your computer or cell phone with the simple press of a finger and have one of these devices shipped to your doorstep, hold off just a few moments, because your purchase may lead to the delivery of a device that denies the central person in our Catholic Christian faith, Jesus Christ.

While one can ask and receive solid, thorough answers from any of these devices about important religious figures over the course of history, there have been strange and lacking responses by these electronic devices in the recent past when it comes to the person of Jesus Christ. For example, when one may ask the question on “Google Home,” “who is Jesus Christ?” One may get a response like “Sorry. I can’t help you with that yet.” Another question posed when using “Google Home” is “Who is Jesus?” The response was “Sorry. I don’t understand.” Really? (my words :))

Amazon and Siri have been known to have similar responses. When addressing “Alexa” on Amazon’s “Echo” device about who Jesus Christ is, her response was Jesus Christ is a “fictional character.” I find that to be very disturbing, especially the negative impact it can have on our young people who use this technology like drinking water, and it could potentially destroy the small spark of faith for someone who is waffling in faith or not well rooted in his or her relationship with Jesus.

Finally, I took the liberty and initiative to ask the virtual assistant, “Siri” on my own Apple MacBook of who Jesus Christ is, and the response was an abbreviated wikipedia page. Ok. I got something there. But another response in a youtube video that was communicated from a cell phone was “My policy is the separation of spirit and silicon.” What? That doesn’t make any sense. Siri was also asked on the same cell phone by the same person and again on the same video, “Did Jesus die for our sins?” Her response was “It’s all a mystery to me.” Hmm??? Interesting…

To listen and watch theses examples I just mentioned (with the exception of my own vocal example of asking Siri), please click the following Youtube link which shows a video demonstration that is not even seven minutes long:

(WARNING: I recommend that adults watch this video first before they choose to show it to their kids since there is one example of vulgar language used, one expletive that is “beeped,” and there is one unfortunate hand gesture of someone giving the camera “the bird.”)

“AI (Google, Alexa, Siri) Won’t Answer Who Jesus is! ‘Hey Google Who is Jesus?’”

I find these A.I. responses frustrating, eerie, nefarious, and hypocritical. It’s hypocritical in the sense that if you are going to recognize certain religious figures, why not recognize the largest and most important figure, Jesus Christ, in one of the largest world religions in Christianity? If you leave out Jesus, you leave out Christianity. This denial of Jesus, as a form of corporate, religious discrimination is a threat to our faith, especially to the younger generations who use this technology, because the truth of who Jesus is, his identity, is being kept hidden from us in these devices.

What does our faith teach us through the Bible? Mt. 10:33 states: “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” In addition, 1 Jn reads “…No one who denies the Son has the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well” (1 Jn. 2:22-23). If we deny Jesus we are at risk of losing our salvation. So the truth of our faith of who Jesus is has been deceptively kept hidden from us in these A.I. devices, which is dangerous for the soul. But we must not lose hope, especially from the greater good that Jesus Christ brings from crises or situations like this in which the truth is denied. For example, remember what happened to Peter on Holy Thursday night when Jesus shared the Last Supper with his disciples? Peter denied Jesus not once, not twice, but three times. But the good news is that Peter repented and was reconciled back into relationship with Jesus (Mk.14:27-31, 66-73; Lk 22:31-34, 54-65; Jn. 21:15-19).

During the first few centuries of the Roman Empire after Jesus’ Resurrection, some of the early Christians stood firm against the lighting of incense as a form of worship to the emperor. For denying proper honor to the emperor, many Christians were persecuted and brutally martyred like the dramatic account of St. Polycarp, for example, who was a disciple of St. John the Apostle (Read the testimony, THE SAINT WHO REFUSED TO BOW DOWN TO CAESAR).

However, other Christians caved in cowardice. By offering incense to the emperor, they denied Jesus. These Christians were known as the lapsi, which refers to the “lapsed,” and it’s where we get the name “lapsed Catholics.” These people, who were weaker in faith, were once excommunicated and thought to have needed to be rebaptized. But Pope Stephen (254-257 A.D.) put a stop to that as he welcomed the lapsi back into the Church, a sign of God’s mercy, but not without penance (Source: Church History: Persecution, Penance And “The Lapsed,”). The examples of Peter and the early Christians who lapsed in their faith should inspire us that when we sin, and even deny Jesus, there is hope for all of us, especially if we repent and turn back to Jesus’ unconditional love, mercy and forgiveness. 

This message of hope even continues as we prepare ever closer for Christmas. We may be familiar with how the magi rightfully offered frankincense as well as myrrh and gold, not to the false god of the Roman Emperor, but to God who became flesh like one us in the form of an innocent baby found with his mother Mary (Is. 60:6, Mt. 2:11).

There is even hope for Google too! What may come as a surprise is Google Corporation invited Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron to speak for nearly an hour back in May of this year at their headquarters. He delivered an excellent presentation on the topic of “Religion and The Opening Up of the Mind.”

Another truth of the matter is that technology, whether used as a tool for the good or bad, can create unhealthy attachment as well. It makes me wonder of not only an unhealthy dependence on technology and electronics, but in a spiritual way, this dependence can lead to addiction as a form of idolatry – putting the devices, the websites, or the corporations ahead of God in terms of of worship and priority. Whether offering incense to the Roman Emperor or worshipping technology as the “end all-be all” is a form of idolatry that we can’t look past. It goes against the first commandment (Ex. 20:2-6, Dt. 5:6-10) for worship is given and due to God alone in the Most Holy Trinity.

Despite asking a simple question and not getting a simple answer from these A.I. devices, below is a short, three-part Q & A:

Q1: Are Apple, Google, and Amazon denying Jesus with their A.I. devices? 

A1: Based on this video and others…Yes.

Q2: Have Apple, Google, and Amazon updated or made changes to these responses?

A2: Inconclusive

Q3: If you have one of these devices, has your experience(s) of asking this question been the same or different? If different, how?

* If you have one of these devices or have access to one, try it, and ask, “Who is Jesus Christ?” Then send a reply back to this blog.

The Big 3 Tech Giants (Google, Amazon, and Apple) have a lot of answers to give, but not much when it comes to who Jesus is. Perhaps that is intentional, or perhaps it is a technical glitch…I’m not convinced of the latter…at least for the moment until proven otherwise. The irony of all of this is that while any of these A.I. devices could be found as a gift under the tree on Christmas morning, the one, true gift that this season of Christmas signifies is Jesus Christ who is being denied and yet absent under the tree through these devices. 

If these A.I. devices are denying Jesus and continue to do so, then maybe we need to have second thoughts about buying these devices this Christmas and in the future. We could even stop from using their technology, and therefore stop from supporting these large corporations. There’s also power in numbers… more power in the voices of real, human voices. In business money talks, and if people stop buying merchandise, corporations listen. So be careful what you purchase this Christmas, and don’t be afraid to use your voice and buying power.

One thing all of us could do this Christmas is to pray for the conversion of the hard hearts of the decision makers of these large corporations who are denying Jesus through these devices that their hearts may be open to know, welcome, believe, and follow Jesus Christ. When Jesus posed the question to the disciples of who they thought Jesus was, inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter replied revealing Jesus’ identity saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Mt. 16:16). This Christmas may we never deny the one true gift given to all of us, but always joyfully and boldly proclaim with our voices that Jesus Christ truly is the Son of God.  Amen.

– Fr. Jeff

Resources:

1. “AI (Google, Alexa, Siri) Won’t Answer Who Jesus is! ‘Hey Google Who is Jesus?’” – on YouTube

2. “Church History: Persecution, Penance And ‘The Lapsed,'” by Paul Kroll

3. “Is Google Censoring Jesus? It Knows Buddha, Satan, Muhammad But Not Christian Savior” – by Newsweek

4. “Religion and The Opening Up of the Mind,” – on YoutTube; talk given by Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron at Google Headquarters

5. “Tennessee Man Very Concerned His Google Home Doesn’t Know Who Jesus Is” – by New York Magazine: Intelligencer

6. “THE SAINT WHO REFUSED TO BOW DOWN TO CAESAR” – by Fr. Steve Grunow

7. “What are the dangers of artificial intelligence in our brave new world of self-driving cars?” – by America Magazine

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NOTES: 2 Resources of Consequences for Christians Who Did Not Light Incense As A Form of Worship to The Roman Emperor: