I’ve been using Midjourney AI obsessively since it launched. While the artistic AI usually needs some creative and specific prompts, often it impresses with just a single word. This was definitely the case when I asked it to generate some digital art based on popular world religions.
I began with Catholicism (as I’m a “recovering Catholic” myself) and wow does it seem to have opinions. See if you spot a theme in the video below — specifically with regards to the relationship between priests and parish:
In the majority of my images, priests are the focal point. That makes sense, but they’re also always taller than their parish, towering over them like giants. Ornate, basking in the light. A gateway to God.
The prompt for those particular art pieces (3 of them in the above video) was simply “/imagine Catholicism.” No opinionated flourish. No descriptive adjectives or any other flavor text.
Here they are in gallery form so you can spend more than a few seconds studying them. Click on each for full-size resolution.
The only exception to the prompt text was in the bottom middle piece, where I added the word “cartoon.” Even there, you see the priest towering above what I assume are altar boys. (For the uninitiated, these are assistants to the clergy, who help with various aspects of mass. In my day it was a boys-only club, but they’re now called “altar servers” to be more inclusive).
This stuff seriously fascinates me, and I hope you stick around to see what AI thinks about Buddhism. That’s tomorrow!
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