Can A Robot Be a Priest?

A Japanese company has programmed a popular robot, Pepper, to perform Buddhist funeral rites. But will society ever accept artificial intelligence as religious authorities and ritual specialists? BECOME A PATRON!: www.patreon.com/religionforbreakfast FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/religionforbreakfast TWITTER: @andrewmarkhenry Andrew's religious studies book recommendations: http://amazon.com/shop/religionforbreakfast Bibliography: Dr. Ian Reader, Buddhism in Crisis?: Institutional Decline in Modern Japan: https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/TEST/article/viewFile/upload/pdf Nippon News Network clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQa3PIg3Pc Cremation statistics from National Funeral Directors Association: http://www.nfda.org/news/statistics 27,000 Buddhist temples shutting down from The Guardian's reporting: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/06/zen-no-more-japan-shuns-its-buddhist-traditions-as-temples-close) Buddhist b-reel footage from: EC Henry: www.youtube.com/echenry Jenn Lindsay: https://www.youtube.com/user/jenniferslindsay Photo Attributions: Pepper stock image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pepper_the_Robot.jpg Pepper looking quizzical: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pepper-robot-near-harajuku-may8-2016.jpg Self-Driving Car from Steve Jurvetson: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Google%27s_Lexus_RX_450h_Self-Driving_Car.jpg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices