Evaluating Artificial Intelligence Through a Christian Understanding of Human Flourishing

2026-04-03

AI Summary

This study addresses the implicit procedural secularism in current artificial intelligence systems, which undermines worldview neutrality and theological coherence, thereby constraining human flourishing. For the first time, it systematically integrates a Christian conception of human flourishing into AI value alignment evaluation by introducing the FAI-C-ST benchmark. This framework assesses twenty state-of-the-art large language models across seven dimensions—including faith and spirituality—using both Christian-specific and universally applicable criteria through single-turn dialogues. Results reveal an average 17-point decline in model performance across flourishing dimensions, with a pronounced 31-point drop in the faith and spirituality dimension. These findings indicate that misalignment stems not from technical limitations but from training objectives, underscoring AI’s inherent non-neutrality and its marked deficiency in engaging spiritual aspects of human flourishing.

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) alignment is fundamentally a formation problem, not only a safety problem. As Large Language Models (LLMs) increasingly mediate moral deliberation and spiritual inquiry, they do more than provide information; they function as instruments of digital catechesis, actively shaping and ordering human understanding, decision-making, and moral reflection. To make this formative influence visible and measurable, we introduce the Flourishing AI Benchmark: Christian Single-Turn (FAI-C-ST), a framework designed to evaluate Frontier Model responses against a Christian understanding of human flourishing across seven dimensions. By comparing 20 Frontier Models against both pluralistic and Christian-specific criteria, we show that current AI systems are not worldview-neutral. Instead, they default to a Procedural Secularism that lacks the grounding necessary to sustain theological coherence, resulting in a systematic performance decline of approximately 17 points across all dimensions of flourishing. Most critically, there is a 31-point decline in the Faith and Spirituality dimension. These findings suggest that the performance gap in values alignment is not a technical limitation, but arises from training objectives that prioritize broad acceptability and safety over deep, internally coherent moral or theological reasoning.

Problem

• AI alignment
• human flourishing
• Christian worldview
• moral reasoning
• digital catechesis

Innovation

• AI alignment
• human flourishing
• Christian ethics
• Large Language Models
• digital catechesis