The Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic will hold a free online webinar on 9 November 2026 asking how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way people look for God. Running from 10:00 to about 13:00 CET over Zoom, the session is titled “Faith, Reason and AI — the opportunities and risks of AI, not least in the search for God”. Registration closes on 5 November and the number of participants is capped at 100.
Announced through the Czech free-church network, including the Church of the Brethren (Církev bratrská), the webinar brings a university theologian together with the head of a Czech online service for spiritual seekers. The Czech Republic is widely counted among Europe’s most secular societies, with regular church attendance among the lowest on the continent — the setting in which the organisers are asking whether the church, or a machine, will be where the next generation takes its religious questions. The council’s study days are open to members and non-members alike and are intended for pastors, teachers and laypeople rather than specialists alone.
The first speaker, František Štěch, Th.D., coordinates the research group on theology and contemporary culture at the Protestant Theological Faculty of Charles University and teaches hermeneutics at the Ecumenical Institute. His paper, “Faith, reason and humanity in the age of artificial intelligence”, notes that AI already interprets biblical texts, answers theological questions, drafts prayers and offers advice in existential situations. He asks why information about God is not the same thing as faith, and why intelligence is not the same thing as wisdom, arguing that the question of AI finally becomes a question of human responsibility and spirituality.
The second speaker, Marek Chvátal, directs HledamBoha.cz (“I seek God”), a service that connects people searching for faith with real people online. His contribution asks what happens if people stop looking for answers in church and begin looking for them with the help of AI, and opens the wider question of what the arrival of artificial intelligence means for evangelism, for congregations and for their future. Both talks are followed by discussion, with a closing session presenting the work of HledamBoha.cz.
(Originally published in Czech. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Ecumenical Council of Churches in the Czech Republic (ERC) / Církev bratrská — ekumenickarada.cz/in/3422
