Programmers, computer scientists and software, mechanical, data and prompt engineers — these are some of the professions behind the creation of artificial intelligence. Should theologians and faith leaders also be involved?

Meghan Sullivan, a Roman Catholic who teaches philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, says yes. That’s why she was glad to attend a meeting in March at the invitation of Anthropic, the creator of Claude AI, about the role religion can play in the creation of this life-changing technology.

Sullivan, who also directs the university’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, was there with 15 other Christian philosophers, theologians and leaders to discuss the implications of AI for society today — and how it can be taught to behave ethically and morally using religion as a guide.

I spoke with Sullivan this week about that meeting. “I’m very grateful for Anthropic’s leadership in this area with faith communities,” she said, noting that most AI companies are not doing that. “It should have happened sooner, but better late than never.”

Amal Elsana Alhjooj is not a person to sit idly by when she encounters a challenge, conflict or situation that needs correcting. Over the years, that attitude and activism have led her to establish several innovative social justice and civil society initiatives that, among other achievements, have enhanced the livelihood and independence of Bedouin women in Israel, where Alhjooj was raised, and the relationship between Jews and Arabs both in Israel, Palestine and in Canada, where Alhjooj now lives.

Alhjooj’s most recent venture is a series of workshops called Solidarity Dialogues.

Solidarity Dialogues is an offshoot of PLEDJ, a social change non-profit that Alhjooj, who is Muslim, co-established in 2021 with Brian Bronfman, the Jewish president of the Peace Network for Social Harmony, to empower and organize marginalized communities to address systematic injustices that impede their lives.

Solidarity Dialogues is more narrow in scope, as it is designed specifically to address the deep seated polarization currently permeating Canadian workplaces, schools and society in general. Solidarity Dialogues’ series of workshops provide participants with the tools to navigate that polarization and the heated, intolerant and uncomfortable exchanges that tend to characterize that polarization. By differentiating between dialogue and debate, and hurt and harm, the workshops provide participants with safe spaces in which to step out of their comfort zones, listen empathetically and openly to others’ lived experiences, and develop mutual understanding and an ability to respond to conflict.

North Americans still can’t find out who was in the Epstein files. But those of German descent who live in Canada and the U.S. can now easily learn if their ancestors were Nazis.

In March, the U.S. National Archives released a searchable database containing the records of millions of Germans who joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazi Party, from 1929-43.

Through the records, which were seized by the Americans following the second World War, those who want to know can find out if grandpa or grandma was a Nazi.

Prior to the online release of the records, getting that information was a laborious process that involved making a written request to the Berlin Document Centre in Germany or the German federal archives. It could take months to get a response.

In 2018, the Winnipeg Free Press announced it wanted to do a better job of engaging the various communities in Winnipeg. Did that include the faith community? I decided to find out.

I went to see editor Paul Samyn and then-publisher Bob Cox. As the faith page columnist at the Free Press since 2003, I knew that people in the faith community were disappointed by religion coverage in the newspaper. If there was news about religion, it was usually something bad — a priest involved in scandal or someone blowing things up in the name of God in a far-away country.

The daily life of people of faith, including the many positive contributions they made in Winnipeg and around the world, was mostly absent from the newspaper.

I told Paul and Bob if they wanted to do a better job of serving all the communities in the city, one place to start would be by creating a faith beat. They agreed. But, they said, the newspaper had no money for that. “What if I go out and raise it?” I asked. If I could do that, the Free Press would create the beat, they said.

Bill C-9, the government’s anti-hate legislation, also known as the Combatting Hate Act, has prompted criticism from some religious groups due to its removal of what is called the “good faith religious belief defence.”

That defence, which currently exists in the Criminal Code, states that something is not hate “if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”

It has never been put to the test in a court of law.

The defence was removed from Bill C-9 by the government at the request of the Bloc Quebecois, who offered to support it in what was then a minority Parliament — but only if the defence was taken out of the legislation.

Does God feel far away? Does your spiritual life feel flat? Is your prayer life unsatisfying? Or maybe things are going well, but you just want to feel closer to God or the divine in your life.

If that describes your situation, you might want to consider meeting with a spiritual director.

Spiritual direction is a practice where a trained guide helps people enter into a deeper relationship with God — however they describe God — in order to grow spiritually. It’s like having a spiritual mentor and companion.

Through spiritual direction, people can become more aware of God’s movement in their lives, and how they can respond to the promptings of the spirit. The goal is not to solve problems, but to hear what God might be saying — in good times, and also in times of crisis.