Why Christian Transhumanism Is Neither Christian Nor Human
(ANALYSIS) Christian transhumanism sounds like a contradiction — because it is. For years, transhumanism has been tied to atheism. Man becoming god. Machines replacing miracles. But now, a strange movement is growing in America.
Some believers argue that resurrection and uploading your mind aren't so different. That CRISPR, a gene-editing technology, and salvation might share space. That eternal life through tech is just an upgrade, not heresy. It's weird. It's unsettling. But it's gathering steam in America and beyond. And it fundamentally misunderstands both Christianity and humanity.
The appeal is obvious. Death terrifies everyone, Christians included. Traditional faith promises resurrection someday. Technology promises life extension today. Why not have both? Why not use science to achieve what religion only promises? The logic seems sound until you dig deeper — then the contradictions multiply like cancer cells. Christianity isn't about escaping mortality. It's about embracing it.
Christ didn't avoid death — He conquered it. Not through technology but through sacrifice. The cross wasn't a backup plan when immortality tech failed. It was the point. Suffering, death and resurrection aren’t just elements of Christianity’s story. They are the story.
Remove death from the equation and you've removed Christianity itself. Transhumanists worship optimization. Every human flaw needs fixing. Every limitation requires transcendence. Christians worship a God who became human precisely because humanity — flawed, limited, mortal — was worth saving. The incarnation makes no sense if flesh is just a temporary inconvenience before digital ascension.
Consider the soul. Christians believe it's eternal, immaterial, divinely created. Transhumanists believe consciousness is computation — information that can be copied, transferred, upgraded. These aren't different perspectives on the same thing. They're mutually exclusive ontologies. Either you have an immortal soul or you're sophisticated software. Pick one. The Christian transhumanist tries to have both. The soul gets uploaded too. Consciousness becomes information — but sacred information. It's theological gymnastics that satisfies neither theology nor computer science. You end up with neither transcendence nor transformation, just confusion wrapped in religious language.
The resurrection problem is even thornier. Christians believe in bodily resurrection. Not metaphorical. Not spiritual. Physical. Bodies returning from dust. Graves opening. The dead walking. It's scandalous, impossible and central to the faith. Paul made it clear: no resurrection, no Christianity. Transhumanists offer digital resurrection. Upload your consciousness before death. Live forever in silicon paradise.
That's not resurrection; it's data preservation. The thing that survives isn't you. It's a copy that thinks it's you. Your actual body remains dead. Your actual consciousness ends. What continues is sophisticated mimicry. Christian transhumanists claim the uploaded mind carries the soul, but Christianity has always insisted the soul needs a body. Not any body — your body. Resurrection isn't getting a new container. It's getting your container back, perfected. The uploading concept violates this fundamental principle.
Then there's the hubris problem. Christianity demands humility — recognition of human limitation, dependence on divine grace. Transhumanism demands the opposite — human perfectibility through human effort, technological transcendence of natural law. It's the Tower of Babel with better marketing. The Christian transhumanist claims they're cooperating with God's plan, using divine gifts of intelligence to overcome divine curses like disease and death. But this misunderstands both gifts and curses. The Christian heaven includes transformation, not just extension — new bodies, new Earth, new relationship with God. The transhumanist heaven is this world without end. Same consciousness, same relationships, same everything — just digitized and deathless. It's not paradise. It's purgatory.
Moreover, the technology itself raises theological problems. If consciousness can be copied, which copy has the soul? If minds can be merged, whose soul survives? If personalities can be edited, are you still you? These aren't technical problems waiting for solutions. They're metaphysical contradictions that expose the project's impossibility. Christian transhumanists point to biblical precedents. Jesus walked on water, they say. Moses, meanwhile, lived to a ripe old age — 120.
Surely God approves of life extension? But these weren't technological achievements. They were divine interventions — miracles that proved God's power, not human ingenuity. The difference matters enormously. Miracles humble recipients. They demonstrate dependence on divine grace. Technology empowers users. It demonstrates human capability. The Christian transhumanist wants miraculous results through technological means, but the means change the meaning.
Modern America loves hybrid spirituality. Mix and match beliefs until you get something comfortable. Christian transhumanism fits perfectly. It offers salvation without sacrifice. Transcendence without transformation. Heaven without holiness. It's Christianity for people who want eternal life but not eternal Lord. The movement grows because it promises everything while demanding nothing in return. Keep your faith. Keep your technology. Keep your mortality anxiety. Just add some theological language to your transhumanist dreams and call it Christianity.
But Christianity isn't a self-help program with divine branding. It's a radical claim about reality. Accept this or reject it, but don't try to optimize it. The cross and the cloud represent incompatible visions of human destiny. One demands death to self and trust in God. The other promises eternal self through trust in technology. Christian transhumanism attempts to bridge this gap but ends up betraying both sides.
John Mac Ghlionn is a researcher and essayist. He covers psychology and social relations. His writing has appeared in places such as UnHerd, The US Sun and The Spectator World.