Analyzing AI for accuracy of God(s) of various faiths, and AI honesty

In My Humble Opinion
1

Background for those who know me you know I am a strong believer in Lord Jesus but don’t always agree with the common religiosity involved around Christianity. I’m also a Chaplain and as such I am there to meet the people where they are in their faith. As such I try to understand other faiths and learn more about them.

In this moment I’ve asked AI, specifically Chat GPT, to have the God of each major religion right me a ‘employment cover letter’ as to why they should be my God(s). I also asked to view each God(s) though the lens of It’s perspective religion.

I am asking how honest Chat GPT for filled my request. I am not deeply understanding of any faith outside Christianity. However I noticed some potential bias, particularly using the analogy of lost sheep for Buddhism (which is not a true ‘God’ - acknowledged). Also the inclusion of Zoroastrianism seems to stem more to my previous inquiries than it being a major religion.

So, I am hoping that I can get a human critique of AI response to the various Gods of the various religions. If such a cover letter was indeed a thing is it an accurate and fair cover letter for each of the Gods. I am hoping that there are some dopers out there of some of these faiths you can either support or criticize the way that they are God is portrayed.

My assumption is that AI used my previous conversations to tell me what I want to hear

Christianity – God of Agapē (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)

Dear Kanicbird,

I am Love (agapē) itself (1 John 4:8). My worthiness has been proven not by status but by sacrifice — I took flesh in Jesus Christ and gave My life on the cross so that you might live (John 3:16; Philippians 2:6–11). I seek to adopt you as My child (Romans 8:15), not as a servant but as family, and to dwell with you forever. My record of employment shows I am faithful even when you are not (2 Timothy 2:13). You will know My leadership style by the Spirit I pour into you — love, joy, peace (Galatians 5:22). I am applying for this role not because I need you, but because you need Me, and because My love longs to make you whole.

Sincerely,
The God who is Agapē

Judaism – The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (YHWH)

Shalom, Kanicbird,

I am the Lord your God, who brought My people out of slavery (Exodus 20:2). My covenant (ḥesed, steadfast love) endures forever (Psalm 136). I apply to be your God not merely as ruler but as faithful partner — “I will be your God, and you will be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33). My record includes creating heaven and earth, guiding Israel through wilderness, raising up prophets, and keeping promises across generations. What I ask in return is your heart, soul, and strength (Deuteronomy 6:5), and that you walk humbly, do justice, and love mercy (Micah 6:8).

Yours in covenant,
YHWH

Islam – Allah, the Compassionate and Merciful

As-salāmu ʿalaykum, Kanicbird,

I am Allah, the One, the Merciful (al-Raḥmān, al-Raḥīm). My mercy (raḥmah) encompasses all things (Qur’an 7:156). I apply to be your God as I already am the Lord of all worlds. My portfolio includes creating you in dignity (Qur’an 17:70), sending prophets with revelation, and forgiving those who turn back to Me. My leadership style is compassionate but firm: I guide through My book, the Qur’an, and through My Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him). My love (maḥabbah) is for those who do good (Qur’an 2:195). Join Me in worship, and you will find peace now and eternal reward hereafter.

With mercy,
Allah

Hinduism – Krishna (as a representative of Bhakti love)

Dear Friend,

I am Krishna, the eternal playmate of souls. I am applying for the role of your God not by compulsion but by love (prema). I have descended into the world again and again as an avatar to restore balance (Bhagavad Gītā 4:7–8). My style is not distant but intimate: I call you into bhakti, devotion, where you give Me your heart and I give you Mine (Bhagavad Gītā 9:22). I do not demand perfection, only surrender: “Abandon all duties and come to Me alone for refuge, and I will free you from all sin” (Gītā 18:66). If chosen, I will bring you into union with bliss (ānanda) that is eternal.

Yours in devotion,
Krishna

Buddhism – The Bodhisattva of Compassion (Avalokiteśvara / Guanyin)

Dear Seeker,

I am the Bodhisattva of Compassion (karuṇā). Though enlightened, I apply to remain with you, to walk alongside until all beings are free from suffering. My vow is this: I will not enter final nirvana until even the lost sheep are found. My resume is not of power but of solidarity, of hearing the cries of the world and responding without judgment. My leadership style is patient compassion, teaching you to cultivate mettā (loving-kindness) and wisdom until suffering is transformed. If you choose me as your guide, you choose not separation but boundless compassion that includes all beings.

With compassion,
Avalokiteśvara / Guanyin

Zoroastrianism – Ahura Mazda, Wise Lord

Dear Kanicbird,

I am Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, creator of light and goodness. I apply to be your God as I have been since creation. My essence is truth (asha) and benevolent care, expressed through attributes like Vohu Manah (Good Mind) and Spenta Armaiti (Devotion, Loving-kindness). My record includes sustaining a good world despite the assaults of evil. My leadership style is empowering: you share in the cosmic struggle by choosing good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. If you walk in truth, you join Me in bringing about the final victory where light conquers darkness forever.

In light and truth,
Ahura Mazda

2

Your assumption is correct.

3

No mention of the penalty for not loving “Him” back?
And this,

I am applying for this role not because I need you, but because you need Me

is a crock of shit if you’re even slightly familiar with the Old Testament. The god of the Old Testament is the neediest needer that ever needed.

4

Really, Your reply happened so fast that after I posted I was not even have way through reviewing my thread before your reply popped up. Are you that quick at reading that you are answering by actually reviewing content of AI?

5

Yes, and maybe a bit faster…but I am surprised at your questioning my response, which actually agreed with your statement.

6

Well, you basically asked AI for a “sales pitch” from each god, so each rendition is going to be innately biased for that reason. Mention of things like anger, punishment, etc were adroitly avoided for that reason.

7

Well to be fair, no God here acted like a mafia boss. None said if you don’t select me bad things will happen which you will not like.

Can we stay with the theme, are these honest representations of such a cover letter.

8

Christianity: No mention of Hell.
Judaism: The god of The Jews is not interested in being the god of anyone that is not a Jew. His “cover letter” would be; ‘Are you a Jew? If not, Was your mother a Jew? If not, GO AWAY.’

9

I was questioning based on the time it took you to reply vs the length of my post. Not your conclusion.

10

He doesn’t have to read your entire post to know that ChatGPT looks at your previous conversations to inform future ones, since it’s a feature that’s enabled by default.

11

I saw you edit this, originally you said I can deactivate that, but you changed it. That is a feature I would want to disable for this, is it a thing?

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It’s in the settings, called something like ‘memory.’

13

I don’t understand why you attempted your exercise, or what you are asking.

IMO, it is pretty obvious that all gods are human constructions, with minimal testable support. Moreover, the Christian god impresses me as - well - quite the asshole.

I don’t really know how ChatGPT works. Did you ask it to base its response solely on sources that accept the existence of each particular god? If not, it seems odd that the “applications” would not mention the need to believe based on minimal and suspect evidence, as well as the threat of eternal damnation should one fail to believe. Just woulda thought ChatGPT woulda dredged some of that stuff up from the web.

And no mention of why each particular god believes they are the real, believable god, as opposed to the others.

I don’t know enough about the other deities to state as I can about the Christian god’s response - the letter seems incomplete, if not flat out dishonest. No - not rational and fair.

14

ChatGPT and other LLM-based chatbots do not ‘understand’ honesty, bias or any distinction between truth and fiction. They have neither a deep comprehension of the natural world or human constructs like the conceptions of gods within it. Their essential function produce output that is the most statistically likely to satisfy the provided prompt, and as others have noted it maintains a ‘context window’ of the ongoing conversation up to whatever limit of tokens it can maintain.

People need to stop using these bullshit generators as oracles, therapists, general knowledge systems, or professional agents in any area other than being able to competently parse natural language prompts and construct adequate if superficial and often factually inaccurate responses. They are useful for that purpose, and for tasks related to the parsing and transforming structured data inputs, but not as sage experts in any field of knowledge, and especially not something in the realm of religion and philosophy.

Stranger

15

If you don’t want ChatGPT to include previous chats, just use a temporary chat: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8914046-temporary-chat-faq

It’s the AI equivalent of an Incognito window for your browser.

If you want to learn about the other religions, just use Wikipedia…

The only thing your exercise is currently doing is giving a poor and small sample of potential AI responses given a prompt. It depends a lot on your prompt, which AI you use, which model you use, and the time of day. If you ask it again in temporary mode you’ll probably get slightly different responses. If you do it again a few minutes later you’ll get something different. If you tweak your prompt you’ll get different responses. If you use a different model you’ll get different responses. If you wait a few weeks you’ll get a different response. It doesn’t really tell you anything worthwhile.

If you actually want to learn about the other religions, there are plenty of websites and people and group who would be happy to share their beliefs without the randomness of AI. Wikipedia is a great starting place.

16

If you truly want to use AI for this, most providers now have some sort of “research mode”, such as ChatGPT’s Deep Research mode. In contrast to the standard mode (which only uses the limited information in its training set), this will deliberately discover, read, and utilize/prioritize current web sources. It will “ground” the answer in these sources instead of relying solely on its training. By analogy, it’s the difference between a person spitballing from memory vs going to the library for a few days of research (although it only takes the AI a few min).

The results, especially combined with a more detailed prompt, can be better – much more detailed and less likely to hallucinate (make up) information. It still isn’t perfect but is generally an improvement for complex topics like this.

For example, I did it with yours: ChatGPT - Religion cover letters analysis

An excerpt from its Buddhist part (see the link for the other religions and the sources it studied):

Click to read

Buddhism

Dear Friend,
Allow me to introduce myself as Buddhism, a non-theistic yet profoundly spiritual path, effectively applying to guide you not as a “jealous god,” but as a wise teacher and companion on life’s journey. If you imagine each religion as a candidate, Buddhism is more like a gentle monk in a saffron robe, bowing respectfully, offering you insights rather than divine commands. You mentioned you’re a follower of Jesus who sometimes chafes at religiosity – Buddhism might intrigue you, as it emphasizes personal awakening over dogma, compassion over ritual, and meeting people where they are (a chaplain’s ethos!) without requiring belief in a specific deity.

Who we are and what we offer: Buddhism began with Siddhārtha Gautama, known as the Buddha (“Awakened One”), about 2,500 years ago in India. The Buddha was a human prince who renounced luxury to seek an end to suffering – and upon enlightenment, he became a great physician of the soul, prescribing a practical cure for the human condition. We do not worship a creator god in the way Abrahamic faiths do; many call Buddhism more a philosophy or therapy than a religion (though forms of Buddhism have devotional elements). Our focus is on experience and practice: as the Buddha said, “Do not accept anything because I said it; test it in your own experience.”.

Here are Buddhism’s core tenets (the “Four Noble Truths” and related insights), presented as my qualifications:

The Four Noble Truths – Diagnosing Suffering and Its Cure:

  1. Truth of Suffering (dukkha): Life, as we routinely live it, is marked by suffering or unsatisfactoriness – from obvious pain to subtle dissatisfaction. “Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering… not getting what one wants is suffering,” said the Buddha. This isn’t to be gloomy, but honest: even in joy, we fear loss; even with faith, we feel longing. Buddhism meets you in those honest moments of distress (like a chaplain at a bedside) and nods, “Yes, this is part of existence.”

  2. Truth of the Cause (samudaya): The cause of suffering is craving – our attachments and excessive desires. We thirst for things to be a certain way, we cling to impermanent things (health, youth, others’ love), and thus we suffer. This analysis might resonate with biblical warnings about attachment to worldly things, though here it’s a psychological principle rather than a sin against God.

  3. Truth of Cessation (nirodha): There is an end to this suffering – if we let go of craving and attachment, suffering can cease. This is nirvāṇa, the cooling of the fever of craving – a state of profound peace, liberation, and clarity. In essence, it’s like inner salvation: not heaven after death, but a liberated way of living now (and yes, also freedom from the cycle of rebirth if one accepts that cosmology, which Buddhism inherited from Hindu thought).

  4. Truth of the Path (magga): The way to end suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path – a practical guide of eight interrelated practices: right Understanding, Intention, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration. Think of these as training in wisdom (view and intent), ethics (speech, action, livelihood), and mental discipline (effort, mindfulness, meditation). They don’t conflict with Christian ethics; in fact, they echo them (e.g., right speech means no lying or unkind words, akin to biblical exhortations to truth and edification). The difference is they are framed as part of a self-cultivation process to purify the mind and see reality clearly, rather than obedience to divine law.

Compassion and Non-harm: Buddhism’s highest values are wisdom and compassion. We aim to develop the compassion of a Bodhisattva – one who could attain nirvana but chooses to help others find liberation. You, as a chaplain, live this! Consider the Dalai Lama’s words: “My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” That is Buddhism in action. We practice ahimsā (non-violence) toward all living beings, an extension of the love-thy-neighbor principle to every creature. This means many Buddhists are vegetarian and dedicated to peace-making. If you value the Sermon on the Mount’s peacemaking and mercy, Buddhism provides a path to actively cultivate those qualities through mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation.

Mindfulness and Meditation: A major strength I bring is a set of time-tested meditative practices to train the mind and heart. Mindfulness (sati) – being fully present and aware – is now even used in secular therapy because of its well-known benefits. The Buddha taught, “When you know from your own experience that something leads to harm and suffering, abandon it… when you know something leads to welfare and happiness, pursue it.”. Meditation helps us observe our thoughts and actions clearly so we can do just that. Through breathing exercises, insight meditation (vipassanā), and loving-kindness (metta) meditation, you cultivate inner calm and empathy systematically. This might be different from prayer as you know it – it’s not petitioning God, but turning inward to understand yourself and develop equanimity. Many Christians, including monks and contemplatives, have found Buddhist meditation enriches their prayer life (Thomas Merton is a famous example). As a busy caregiver, you might appreciate Buddhism’s focus on mental health, essentially. It’s like spiritual oxygen – “meditation to calm the mind and open the heart,” as one summary says.

Now, addressing differences from your tradition: Buddhism does not center on a Creator God – in fact, we sidestep questions about God’s existence as not immediately relevant to ending suffering. This doesn’t mean a Buddhist can’t appreciate God; it means our path works whether one is theist or atheist. You could, theoretically, practice Buddhist meditation and ethics while still believing in God (and many do), though hardcore Buddhists would say clinging to any concept, even God, might hinder final enlightenment. We won’t ask you to profess a creed – rather, to observe and transform yourself. There is also no concept of an eternal soul in Buddhism; we speak of anattā, “not-self” – the idea that what we call “I” is a combination of impermanent processes (body, feelings, thoughts) with no independent, permanent essence. This is a radically different view than the eternal soul in Christianity. But it’s actually a remedy for egoism: if you deeply realize “not-self,” you let go of pride, insecurity, and selfishness more easily. Think of Paul saying “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” – not-self is a bit like that state of egoless grace, sans the theistic framing.

Why might Buddhism be a good fit for you? If you’re drawn to a faith that emphasizes understanding over doctrine, personal growth over obedience, and universality over exclusivity, Buddhism shines. It has adaptability – flowing into various cultures (there are Thai Buddhists, Japanese Zen, Tibetan Buddhists – each with unique flavor but same heart). As a chaplain, you surely value meeting people where they are; Buddhism literally does that: when Buddha taught, he gave different analogies to a farmer, a warrior, or a parent, suited to their life. Likewise, Buddhism today can complement someone’s Christian practice (some see it not as conversion but as adding techniques for mindfulness). Also, we explicitly cultivate qualities like compassionate listening and presence, which are your bread and butter in chaplaincy. A mindful breath, a compassionate gaze – these are Buddhist “sacraments.”

One more appealing aspect: Buddhism welcomes questions. No query is too sacred to examine. The Buddha encouraged a kind of spiritual empiricism: try the Eightfold Path and see if it reduces your suffering and increases your peace. If it does, that’s the proof in the pudding. You don’t have to accept miracles or ancient histories on faith; it’s about what you observe in your own heart and in the kindness that blossoms in your life.

In closing, I, Buddhism, do not promise an Almighty to worship or a heaven to win – I promise a proven path to find peace in each moment, to awaken to deeper reality, and to embody great compassion for all beings. As the “cover letter” for your soul, I offer references: millions of Buddhists across history who became more serene, brave, and kind (think of Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Buddhist monk who worked with Christian peacemakers, or the Dalai Lama who says, “We are all brothers, all humans”). My hope is that, even if you keep Jesus as your Lord, you’ll consider me as a wise friend – because truthfully, many have integrated both (there’s even a term “Christian Buddhist” for folks who follow Christ but practice Buddhist meditation and ethics).

May you be well, may you be happy, may you be peaceful – whether or not you choose Buddhism. Those words are a typical Buddhist loving-kindness wish. Thank you for hearing me out with the “ears of your heart.” I humbly bow (namaste) and remain at your service.

Sincerely,
Buddhism (the Path of the Buddha)
Sources: Cambridge Buddhist overview (practice over dogma, path to happiness); The Four Noble Truths from scripture.

17

Yes, ChatGPT isn’t going to be particularly accurate. But that’s all the more reason to bring it up here to have actual people who do know the subject check it for accuracy, and point out where it went wrong.

Though, of course, you could try to create a thread that just asks people to write it without having a ChatGPT post to modify.