Christianity Today (CT) is a widely read publication of high journalistic repute in the global Christian church. Its website receives over 7 million hits a month, the majority of which are overseas.
Over the years CT has published a considerable range of articles about technology and faith, usually authored by theologians or social commentators. CT’s new president has a strong background in technology and its new editor-in-chief has written frequently about science and faith issues.
In the spring of 2019, CT covered the release of the Evangelical Statement of AI Principles, the first faith-related AI “creed”. (It is discussed further in one of our features this month.) The reporter of that article reached out and included comments from three of our Founding Experts. Subsequently, the main drafter of the Principles, Jason Thacker, joined us as a Founding Expert.
CT’s January issue includes a review of our Founding Expert Joshua Swamidass’ book, The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry. Professor Swamidass is a computational biologist who works in AI-empowered medical research.
One of our goals in developing a connection to CT has been to enhance its background knowledge around both AI technology and ethics. A recent article in CT on church design trends surfaced significant issues concerning surveillance technologies without any significant ethical, or even theological, reflection. Our Founding Expert Michael Paulus pointed this out in a tweet, which was retweeted by CT and has been seen by more than 10,000 readers.
We’re currently working on other ideas with CT for accessing the deep knowledge and interests not only of our own expert community but people of faith working on all aspects of the AI challenge. We’d be delighted to do the same with journals reporting on other faith traditions.
