AKWA IBOM STATE UNIVERSITY JOUNAL OF ARTS

One of the fundamental breakthroughs in the 21st century among the contemporary churches not only in Nigeria but the world over is the systematic integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in combating terrorism. Terrorism has been a cankerworm to church growth and freedom to worship in various Christian religious centers across the country. Christian religious centers and worshipers in recent times have continued to witness an unprecedented level terrorist act resulting to loss of lives, destruction of church structure and musical gadgets worth billions of naira, kidnapping and outright displacement from residential areas owing to the fears of being killed. As a measure to terrorists’ acts, the Federal Government of Nigeria has criminalized terrorism by passing the Anti-Terrorism Act in 2021. Churches are not also left of out this arrangement. Internal security measures are behind put in place by various Christian religious centers as means to counter terrorism. Despite these efforts, the high rate and level of terrorism is on the increase on daily basis. Therefore, the paper attempted to shed more light to Christians’ response to the use of Artificial Intelligence in combating terrorism in Christian worship centers in Nigeria. It basically focused on how the church can use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 21st century to fight terrorism and minimize its dastard acts. The paper made use of qualitative research method so as to also trace the biblical basis of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to show that its use is not foreign to Christianity. This became imperative because the research discovered that a lot of Christian worship centers in Nigeria do not have adequate knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its advantages. Thus, there is a need to create awareness of its existence and how it can be effectively used to counter terrorism. The paper recommended to the church that Artificial Intelligence (AI) should be embraced to curb terrorism, protect the various Christian religious centers and worshipers across the nation, make possible freedom to freely worship, advance the gospel truth and to avoid been left behind in the 21st century

Open Full Text (PDF)