When the Government Starts Naming AI Projects After the Book of Genesis

We desperately need to pay attention to this administration under Donald Trump. So much is not what it seems...so much, just is.

Words matter in government. Names especially. They tell you what an administration wants people to feel, fear, celebrate, or obey. So when the federal government rolls out something called the Genesis Mission, attached to nuclear security and artificial intelligence, the first reaction for many Americans was not awe. It was: Why does that sound like a Bible study with warheads?

Because it does. And that is the point.

For more: Americans and AI: Nuclear Agency Follows Through on Trump’s ‘Genesis Mission’

From @thebibleofficial

We are living in a moment when Christian-nationalist language is slipping quietly into the branding of government programs, nonprofit initiatives, education policies, and even corporate campaigns. The goal is never said out loud. It never has to be. The symbolism does the heavy lifting. The audience it is meant for recognizes the signal instantly. The rest of us are asked to pretend it is just a poetic flourish.

But nothing about this context is poetic. It is political. And it is strategic.

Why “Genesis” is not a neutral name

The Trump administration’s new AI initiative comes packaged with biblical framing right from the title. “Genesis” is not a random mythological reference. It carries a collection of meanings deeply tied to creation, divine authority, and the idea of a God-given mission. In Christian nationalist circles, these themes are used constantly to justify dominance, hierarchy, and power.

So when a program focused on nuclear security and AI acceleration gets branded “Genesis,” it is hard not to see the ideological fingerprints. It does not take a conspiracy theorist to see the direction of the wind. It only takes someone who has been paying attention to the steady march of Christian-nationalist messaging into what used to be ideologically neutral institutions.

Whether DOE staff chose the name for poetic flair or were told to use it from above almost does not matter. The effect is the same. It blends state power with religious symbolism. That has always been the quiet goal of Christian nationalism. Make it normal. Make it invisible. Make it patriotic.

Using biblical language to describe nuclear and AI initiatives is something new. It is also something deeply unsettling.

The Manhattan Project did not pretend to be holy

The administration has tried framing the Genesis Mission as a Manhattan Project for the age of AI. But the original Manhattan Project, for all its secrecy and moral controversy, did something modern politics rarely does. It kept religion out of the room.

No one tried to wrap it in divine language. No one suggested God’s hand was guiding the weapon. No one suggested the nation had a holy obligation to build it.

The stakes were terrifying enough without telling the public the bomb was ordained.

With the Genesis Mission, the branding does exactly that kind of work. It suggests righteous purpose. It suggests destiny. It suggests that hesitation itself is a form of doubt or disloyalty.

If you want people to stop questioning the wisdom of your choices, this is how you do it.

A pattern across industries

The use of “Genesis” is not an isolated coincidence. We are seeing biblical and quasi-biblical branding everywhere lately.

Publishing companies. Nonprofits. Consulting firms. PACs. Education initiatives. All leaning into names that evoke scripture, purity, chosenness, divine purpose. The names often look secular enough. They function like a handshake under the table.

The more this language spreads, the more it normalizes the idea that government and industry should speak with a religious voice. And not just any religious voice. A Christian-nationalist one.

A name is a foot in the door. A story about who deserves power is the rest of the body.

The quiet part becomes structural

When this administration talks about banning “woke AI,” mandating Christian teaching in public education, or championing a version of America as a divinely chosen nation, the Genesis Mission fits neatly into the pattern. It is all part of a narrative where God is invoked to sanctify political power and shield it from criticism.

Tie your biggest technological and military projects to religious branding and suddenly ordinary skepticism becomes blasphemy. It is an old authoritarian trick dressed in new tech.

This is not about whether AI development is good or bad. This is about the creeping normalization of a worldview that sees national policy as an extension of one religious identity, one ideology, and one leader.

When the state sounds like a pulpit

A government that speaks in religious metaphors starts encouraging its citizens to think in them. That is the danger. Not the name itself. The direction it points. A democracy cannot function if political authority starts claiming spiritual legitimacy.

“Genesis” is not just branding. It is a signal. And we should not ignore the habit forming around these signals. Because habits become norms. Norms become rules. Rules become systems.

And once a system believes it is acting under divine mandate, there is no room left for dissent, debate, or doubt.

The real question

Why does a modern nuclear-AI initiative need a biblical name at all? Why does any government program?

The answer, unfortunately, is that it does not.
But the movement behind it does.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT