[1] Earlier this year, I was asked to serve as a co-investigator on a research project aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of spiritual care in helping emergency trauma nurses cope with experiences of moral injury in their work experiences. As I am currently serving as a chaplain, I eagerly accepted the invitation to participate. However, I soon learned there was one catch in the research project.\u00a0 The project leaders asserted that Artificial Intelligence-based (AI) chaplain avatars would be sufficient to deliver spiritual care, rather than human ones.\u00a0 However, after other chaplains and I raised several concerns about this approach, the decision was made to suspend the project indefinitely.<\/p>\n
[2] In September, the Christian Century<\/em> published Prof. Danielle Tummino Hansen\u2019s reflection about using several AI spiritual counselor applications, or \u201capps,\u201d during her hospitalization.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Her reflection, like the discussion that led to the suspension of the forementioned research project, explores the question: Could AI ever replace human beings in providing pastoral and spiritual care?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n What is pastoral care?<\/strong><\/p>\n [3] In the Introduction to the Evangelical Lutheran Worship \u2013 Pastoral Care, <\/em>it describes pastoral, or spiritual[2]<\/a> care as \u201c\u2026the church\u2019s ministry of care\u2026for people outside the primary worshipping assembly: in times of crisis, when confronting matters of sickness and health, in the time of dying and after death, and on many other occasions.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Most recall the practical applications of pastoral care when defining it: prayer, ritual, specialized worship, \u201ca ministry of presence\u201d[4]<\/a> and listening.\u00a0 However, pastoral care also includes exploring deeper questions of meaning, purpose, identity, and goodness in relation to the divine, the world, and oneself.<\/p>\n There\u2019s an app for that,\u201d \u2013 but is it any good?<\/strong><\/p>\n [4] During her hospitalization, Tummino Hansen asked two questions to the various spiritual apps she explored: \u201cWas her injury a result of sin?\u201d and \u201cWould you pray for me?\u201d\u00a0 The responses to the first question ranged from offering sympathetic platitudes to repeating the doctrinal stances of various religious traditions.\u00a0 The responses to the second question were more satisfactory, but they lacked specificity regarding what she was experiencing and feeling in her situation.\u00a0 In the research project I participated in, I raised several concerns.\u00a0 What faith tradition would the chaplain avatar represent? Despite the inclusion of evidence-based moral injury counseling methods in the avatar\u2019s development, how would they ensure it was free from religious bias, as mandated by the organization\u2019s policies and the U.S. Constitution? Could the same privilege of confidentiality when speaking to a human chaplain be maintained when speaking with the chaplain avatar? What others and I discovered is that the project designers were able to adequately address technical questions of protecting confidentiality and tailoring the avatar\u2019s responses to a nurse\u2019s faith preferences; however, they could not address more complex issues concerning the individuals\u2019 morality and pluralistic belief systems.<\/p>\n [5] These examples are not shared to discredit how <\/em>AI platforms perform their functions and the ethics associated with them.\u00a0 Rather, they demonstrate what <\/em>AI does.\u00a0 While the types of functions AI performs are wide-ranging, all of them are based on large language models that quickly analyze large amounts of data to generate an output.\u00a0 In the application of pastoral care, apps perform what is known as pattern recognition, which involves sifting through the data they have access to and generating a response to a user\u2019s question.<\/p>\n [6]\u00a0 Performing pattern recognition, spiritual and pastoral care apps can provide responses that a human could not.\u00a0 Capable of accessing and analyzing a vast array of data, apps can offer multiple perspectives on religious, spiritual, and moral struggles, as well as subsequent pathways of care and healing that were previously unconsidered. Said another way, AI can offer more expansive and diverse insights, prayers, and rituals for pastoral care and support.<\/p>\n [7] Yet, AI pattern recognition tools are primarily predictive and lack any deep conceptual understanding of the present context.[5]<\/a>\u00a0 In other words, the app cannot truly get to \u201cknow\u201d a person or their situation but merely makes assumptions based on the data it has access to. What about the quality of that data?\u00a0 Regarding pastoral care, apps may suggest forgiveness as a means to overcome deep hurt and provide the user the therapeutic benefits associated with forgiveness.\u00a0 However, AI cannot weigh the moral and ethical considerations of forgiving in the user\u2019s specific situation.\u00a0 In Tummino Hansen\u2019s experience, AI responded to questions of theodicy with a summary of what theodicy is and what various faith traditions say about it.\u00a0 AI can\u2019t fully explore what the question means to the individual.\u00a0 In summary, AI gives the perception that it \u201cknows\u201d the user by predicting what \u201cfacts\u201d or information it predicts the user wants in response.\u00a0 However, it does not \u201cknow\u201d the user in the sense that it can assess how those responses will affect the user or others in the present situation.<\/p>\n Pastoral Care as Reducing Pain?<\/strong><\/p>\n [8] Despite the limitations of AI in knowing a person deeply, the question remains whether its pattern-finding and generative processes might be helpful in pastoral care for those dealing with moral injury.\u00a0 Moral injury includes experiences of inner conflict where one\u2019s deeply held moral values and beliefs are violated, resulting in devastating suffering, including physical, psychological, social, and spiritual distress.[6]<\/a>\u00a0 Referring to the research project at the beginning of this discussion, trauma unit nurses experience moral injury in situations when they make choices about providing life-saving care that violate their personal and professional moral codes.\u00a0 Another example of moral injury is the experience of sexual assault, where the survivor feels betrayed by someone they previously trusted.\u00a0 When unresolved, moral injury creates emotions of betrayal, shame, and guilt that result in devastating pain that resembles that of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).\u00a0 However, moral injury is different than PTSD in that in the violation of one\u2019s moral codes, whether by another or oneself, there is an awareness of one\u2019s moral compass.<\/p>\n [9] David Rodin explains,<\/p>\n But clearly it is possible that psychic responses which, from the perspective of psychological health, present as a disorder, from a moral perspective may potentially be an appropriate and therefore morally healthy reaction to the commission of a grave moral wrong. Far from a problem to be solved, moral injury may in certain circumstances be a necessary and appropriate form of internal moral regulation.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n Thus generally, moral injury is a helpful term to encompass issues arising from one\u2019s life experiences and relationships that pastoral and spiritual care routinely address: God\u2019s goodness, suffering in the world, and the loss of identity, meaning and purpose.<\/p>\n [9] With respect to pastoral care, the concept of moral injury underscores the importance of examining both the \u201cmoral\u201d and \u201cinjury\u201d aspects.\u00a0 Pastoral care that explores deeper questions within one\u2019s experience not only reveals its meaning, but also the presence of a loving and just God and who we are in relation to God.\u00a0 The practices of pastoral care can aid individuals in exploring and finding answers to their questions and can also have a therapeutic effect on their physical, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.<\/p>\n [10] However, pastoral care that focuses solely on alleviating the pain of the \u201cinjury\u201d is transactional, commodified, and strictly therapeutic. This type of care pathologizes the human experience of the pain that arises from it. Thus, pastoral care becomes strictly about reducing pain, if not eliminating it altogether. While reducing pain is important, it doesn\u2019t require any deeper understanding of one\u2019s experience and context. Importantly, it actually avoids this critical component of pastoral care.<\/p>\n [11] Furthermore, the potential of spiritual abuse and trauma caused by AI-generated responses must also be considered.\u00a0 But, ultimately, \u00a0if pastoral care is solely about alleviating pain, then AI may be sufficient in providing solutions. If all we need is information, suggestions, and solutions to reducing pain \u2013 \u201cthere\u2019s an app for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Engaging Despair \u2013 A Collective Approach to Pastoral Care<\/strong><\/p>\n [12] I\u2019ve explored what AI does, including its capabilities and limitations.\u00a0 Revisiting the question of whether AI could replace human beings in providing pastoral and spiritual care, my answer is no.\u00a0 However, we must also acknowledge that AI is becoming an increasingly inevitable part of our daily lives.\u00a0 Therefore, we must ask: how must ordained leaders, laypersons, and faith communities who provide pastoral care prepare for a future with it?<\/em><\/p>\n [13] While a future of pastoral care that includes AI might be cause for despair, Martin Luther wrote that engagement with despair is \u201ca godly and holy\u201d thing.[8]<\/a>\u00a0 Despair can invite us into a theologically ethical reflection that involves both honesty and practical reasoning.\u00a0 We ought reflect on the best practices and approaches to include AI in our approach to tending to the spiritual needs of those we care for.<\/p>\n A Note for Pastoral Caregivers Engaging Despair over AI<\/strong><\/p>\n [14] Like others, my concerns about AI sometimes manifest as fear, making me resistant and defensive when I learn people are using spiritual care apps.\u00a0 Instead, we can engage our despair over AI and see this as an opportunity for a renewed, focused engagement.\u00a0 Pastoral caregivers can accompany those they care for as interpreters of the information and responses AI provides, responding to ethical considerations that affect their relationships with themselves, others, and the Triune God.\u00a0 In an era of increasing pluralism in people\u2019s spiritual beliefs, AI apps can be utilized to provide a quick spiritual assessment \u2014a practice commonly employed in clinical spiritual care \u2014to align pastoral care with the individual\u2019s identity and understanding.\u00a0 When individuals raise questions regarding other religious and theological perspectives, consulting AI could provide an opportunity for continued care for caregivers who are not well-versed in those perspectives.<\/p>\n [15] As a chaplain, I\u2019ve regularly heard people share frustration and hurt due to past experiences with pastoral caregivers who were authoritative and more interested in reinforcing the usefulness and primacy of their specific faith tradition or theology.\u00a0 In chaplaincy, one goal of pastoral care is to support positive spiritual coping by helping people better understand their core beliefs and theological commitments in relation to their lived experience. The other goal is to represent our faith tradition in an ethical manner so that those in need can trust and continue to seek pastoral care in their lives.\u00a0 If AI can assist pastoral caregivers towards achieving these goals, then it is in our interest to consider how it can do so, ethically.<\/p>\n A Note for Faith Communities Engaging the Despair of Those in Need<\/strong><\/p>\n [16] As a chaplain, one unfortunate trend I encounter is the moral distress and injury that people experience because faith communities often fail to provide pastoral care during times of need.\u00a0 Furthermore, we also live in a time of \u201ctherapeutic culture\u201d in North America, where science and evidence-based practice have shifted care to an already overwhelmed mental health care system.[9]<\/a>\u00a0 As a pastor who has served multiple congregations over the course of 12 years, I\u2019ve noticed a trend where proximity to experiences of despair has become something to avoid rather than engage with and bear collectively.<\/p>\n [17] As a chaplain specializing in integrating pastoral care with psychiatric and psychological care, there is a distinct line between the types of care that faith communities and medical professionals provide.\u00a0 However, it has been the mistake of faith communities to conclude that this means all care needs require professional, clinical care.\u00a0 Specific to moral injury and deeper questions of meaning, identity, and goodness, pastoral care has been proven to be just as, if not more, effective especially when accompanied by clinical mental health care.[10]<\/a>\u00a0 For faith communities, this presents a challenge.\u00a0 In this time of growing social, emotional, and spiritual need, is the church able to provide pastoral care, or will it be outsourced to AI? This is a question the church must grapple with.<\/p>\n [18] In conclusion, AI is already an integral part of society, and like previous technological advancements, it will become an integral part of our lives, shaping our communities and cultures. While it is certainly important and crucial to reflect on and weigh the ethics of AI and advocate for its just use in the world, we must not forget about our own ethical commitments as God\u2019s disciples and Christ\u2019s church.\u00a0 Through a robust and thoughtful exploration of the ethics of pastoral care, faith leaders and communities can continue to meet the deep needs of God\u2019s people in ways for which there is no \u201capp for that.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Danielle Tumminio Hansen, \u201cMy Artificial Chaplains,\u201d The Christian Century. <\/em>(2025) https:\/\/www.christiancentury.org\/features\/my-artificial-chaplains<\/a> (accessed Oct 10, 2025).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> For the sake of consistency, I will use \u201cpastoral\u201d to refer to both pastoral and spiritual care.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> \u201cIntroduction,\u201d Evangelical Lutheran Worship \u2013 Pastoral Care<\/em>, \u00a0(Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2009), 9.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> The Atlantic Podcast, \u201cAutocracy in America,\u201d https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/podcasts\/archive\/2025\/09\/ai-and-the-fight-between-democracy-and-autocracy\/684095\/<\/a> (accessed September 12, 2025).<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> J. M. Pyne, J. Currier, and K. D. \u00a0Hinkson,\u00a0et al.<\/em>\u00a0\u201cAddressing Religious and Spiritual Diversity in Moral Injury Care: Five Perspectives,\u201d\u00a0Curr Treat Options Psych<\/em>\u00a010<\/em>, (2023) 446\u2013462.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> David Rodin, \u201cThe Ethics of Moral Injury,\u201d Moral Injury in the Humanities, <\/em>(Abingdon: Routledge, 2024), 75.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Martin Luther, \u201c<\/em>Lectures on Galatians, 1535\u201d Luther\u2019s Works, Vol. 27: <\/em>ed. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann, (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 73\u201374.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> J. L. Herman and F. W. Putnam, \u201cOur Broken Mental Health Care System,\u201d \u00a0Psychology Today. <\/em>(2023) https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/mental-health-care-today\/202310\/our-broken-mental-health-care-system?msockid=38b277f1a5cc6d533dd26235a4656c3f<\/a> (accessed October 16, 2025).<\/p>\n