When I started to read “The Power of Modern Prayer Wheels” all I could think about was ” isn’t that cheating?” Does prayer work if it isn’t being completed my a human and a human who believes that prayer is worth something? I truly believe that if prayer does actually work the act must be conceived and carried out by a sentient being of free will. Forced prayer goes against all religion in my opinion, and therefore  the creation of a device that will pray for you is to force the device to do your work. Part of prayer is work, does a robotic wheel choose to do work?

The gimmick of Ganesha as a robot is just that, gimmick. But it attracts viewers and that is better than loosing a whole generation of people to non-religious or spiritual life, or at least that’s my take on why this type of spectacle is allowed to occur.

As someone who does not consider myself to be religious, quite the opposite in fact, I find a lot of these instances of robots or A.I. in religion to be grasping at straws. Elders are afraid that new generations are losing faith and contact with their spiritual roots. But I’m not sure the way religion is using robots will pull them back into the folds. Religion needs to be updated but I don’t think this is the answer.