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Most Americans still imagine persecution as something loud and visible. Arrests. Raids. Bans. But in the modern age, the most effective silencing is subtle. It is done with contracts rather than chains, debt rather than dungeons, and professional exile rather than prison cells.
And nowhere is this more dangerous than in the world of artificial intelligence.
As AI becomes more powerful [ [link removed] ], more intrusive, and more centralized, the people who understand it best are being trained to stay silent. Those who refuse are punished quietly, efficiently, and with no need for public trials.
This matters deeply to religious Americans, whether they realize it yet or not.
When a Watchman Speaks and Is Cast Out
In 2020, Dr. Timnit Gebru [ [link removed] ], a senior AI ethics researcher at Google, raised internal concerns about the direction of large language models, including their bias, lack of transparency, and the dangers of deploying systems that even their creators could not fully explain or control.
Her objections were not public protests. They were internal warnings. She asked questions about accountability, about who would be harmed, and about whether speed and profit were being placed above responsibility.
Shortly afterward, she was fired.
Not disciplined. Not reassigned. But banished.
Her research papers were disavowed. Her access was cut off. Her career inside the most powerful AI institution on earth ended overnight. Colleagues who supported her were warned. Others stayed silent.
The message was unmistakable. Ethical objections would not slow the machine.
This was not a government persecution. There were no police, no court orders, no headlines about censorship. It was cleaner than that. A contract was terminated. A reputation was quietly contested.
A whistleblower, a Watchman, was removed from the wall.
Dr. Gebru was not alone. Across the AI industry, others who have raised warnings about bias, control, and accountability have faced the same quiet consequences, removed from their posts, isolated from their peers, and replaced by voices more willing to look the other way.
The Biblical Role of the Watchman
Scripture gives us a clear framework for moments like this.
In Ezekiel 33 [ [link removed] ], God appoints the Watchman, a man stationed on the walls whose duty is not to fight the enemy himself, but to sound the alarm when danger approaches.
If the Watchman sees the threat and warns the people, he is faithful, even if the people ignore him. But if he sees the danger and stays silent, their blood is on his hands.
The Watchman’s role is moral, not political. He is accountable not for outcomes, but for truth.
Every society depends on such Watchmen. They are the ones willing to speak uncomfortable truths before the threat is obvious, before it is too late to respond.
Today, many of the most important Watchmen are inside the technology systems that increasingly govern our lives.
Modern Watchmen in a Digital Age
Tech whistleblowers are not activists. They are not influencers. Most did not set out to be public figures at all.
They are engineers, safety researchers, ethicists, data scientists, and security professionals who see how systems actually function behind the curtain.
They understand how AI models are trained, what data they ingest, how decisions are automated, and how power concentrates around those who control the infrastructure.
Some of them raise concerns about surveillance. Others warn about behavioral manipulation, censorship, predictive policing, social credit systems, or the quiet fusion of corporate AI with state authority.
A growing number are alarmed by something even deeper.
They see a worldview embedded in these systems that treats faith, conscience, and moral absolutes as obstacles to be optimized away.
These Watchmen do not usually shout. They write memos. They raise internal objections. They ask questions that make executives uncomfortable.
And that is when the silencing, the quiet hammering of the mallet, begins.
Silencing Without Persecution
There is no need for public crackdowns anymore. The system has its own quiet tools of control.
· Nondisclosure agreements prevent employees from speaking.
· Legal threats drain their savings and energy.
· Endless arbitration keeps their stories buried.
· Professional blacklisting ensures they will never work in their field again.
· Some are buried under debt.
· Others are quietly labeled as unstable, disloyal, or “not a culture fit.”
· A few are turned into cautionary tales inside their own industries.
The message is clear. Speak up, and your career disappears. Stay silent, and you are rewarded.
This is not accidental. It is how modern power maintains control without drawing attention to itself.
And it works.
Why This Threatens Religious Americans
Many institutions that build and deploy AI do not see religion as neutral. They see it as a problem.
Faith introduces moral limits. It asserts truths that cannot be revised by consensus. It resists total obedience to systems that claim ultimate authority. It reminds people that conscience answers to God, not to algorithms.
From the perspective of centralized power, that is dangerous.
When AI systems are trained, moderated, and governed by institutions that view religion as backward, irrational, or destabilizing, the results are predictable.
· Speech is filtered.
· Beliefs are flagged.
· Convictions are reframed as risks.
And because the Watchmen are silenced early. By the time the public notices, the scaffolding is already in place.
The Cost of Silence
The tragedy is not only what happens to the whistleblowers themselves. It is what happens to everyone else when they are removed.
Without Watchmen, decisions are made in darkness. Without warnings, moral lines are crossed quietly. Without accountability, power hardens.
Religious Americans should not view tech whistleblowers as niche figures in a distant industry. They are standing on our behalf on the walls.
When they are silenced, the gates are left open.
A Call to Discernment
This is not a call for panic. It is a call for discernment.
Most of all, we should remember that Scripture does not promise comfort to the Watchman. It promises responsibility.
And it reminds us that ignoring the warning does not remove the danger.
The walls are high. The systems are powerful. And the Watchmen are being pushed into silence.
That should concern every American of faith.
This article is free to read today so it can be shared widely. If you find it valuable, consider supporting this work so these warnings can continue to be sounded.
Martin Mawyer is the President of Christian Action Network, host of the “Shout Out Patriots” podcast, and author of When Evil Stops Hiding [ [link removed] ].
Follow him on Substack [ [link removed] ] for more action alerts, cultural commentary, and real-world campaigns defending faith, family, and freedom.

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