Aside from the creepy aesthetic of the robot, the very idea of programming a computer to bless people is itself a searing indictment of the collapse of Christianity in Europe. Stephan Krebs of the Protestant church in Hesse and Nassau, which came up with the robot idea, told The Guardian, “We wanted people to consider if it is possible to be blessed by a machine, or if a human being is needed.”

Given the rapid disappearance of Christianity in Europe, that seems like an odd way to mark the quincentennial of the Reformation. More than odd: it seems like a deliberate attempt to talk about something other than what Christianity is and why Europeans, like all people, desperately need to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ for their eternal salvation.