Article of Faith
By Mike Resnick, first published in Jim Baen's Universe
A preacher teaches his janitorial robot about Christianity so the robot can help identify the logical inconsistencies in his Sunday sermons. But when the robot wants to join the congregation, the preacher and his parishioners are not so welcoming.
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Jackson 389V22M7 is Reverend Edward Morris’ new cleaning robot. Jackson is a dutiful and diligent servant, and Morris takes a liking to him. Morris mentions God, and when Jackson asks him who that is, Morris explains that He is the Creator of all things. Jackson says his creator is Stanley Kalinovsky, and that he didn’t know Dr. Kalinovsky went by God. Morris clears this up, teaching Jackson about Christianity, and notes that Jackson is indirectly God’s creation, for God created Kalinovsky. Morris asks Jackson to listen to his sermons and help point out any logical inconsistencies in them. However, Jackson identifies aspects of Biblical stories as fallacious, so Morris has Jackson read the Bible so that he can distinguish between Biblical references and “actual” errors in logic. After several months of assisting Morris with his sermons, Jackson expresses his wish to join the Church as a member. Morris immediately dismisses his request since Jackson is a robot. Jackson doesn’t bring up the issue again, but the next Sunday, he arrives at the parish disguised as a human. The other parishioners see through his disguise, and Morris takes Jackson aside and chastises him for interrupting the service. Morris returns to the podium and explains the situation to the parishioners, who deny the idea that Jackson could have a soul and are also angry about all the robots taking over human jobs. Morris goes home, upset with Jackson. The next day, he returns to a dirty church, and is further upset with Jackson for his negligence. But then Morris notices that his office door has been irreparably damaged, and upon entering the room, he sees that some of the parishioners had broken in and destroyed Jackson. Morris wonders if Jackson felt pain when he was attacked. Morris resigns as pastor and works as a carpenter alongside robots. He hopes Jackson will forgive him, and that they can be reunited in heaven.
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