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One of the most popular Small Wonder episodes, The Wedding, aired in May of 1987, and along with the favorable fan reviews came a few slams about "Vicki's falseness" trespassing in the House of God. Though there was never any conscious intent on passing Vicki off as a human in the eyes of God, it was a salient point, as most cited John 5:21 "Little children, keep yourselves from idols."
So saying, does Vicki's mere quietly sitting with her family in a church mock or slurr God by posing as a false image of his handiwork, Man? What if she joins them kneeling in their pew in an innocent pretense of prayer?
While on the surface this seems like a light argument, this issue goes beyond religion but faces us with the question of Vicki's status within a family:
Is Vicki a family idol?
To effect an idol one must endow an inanimate object with human or superhuman reverence and regard and dignity. So if a family clothes a domestic gynoid, gives her a human name, accords her respect not reserved for other household gadgets and goes out of their way taking her along on trips and vacations with the same regard as a human child, has not that machine (inanimate object) been elevated to the status of a human, therefore a minor de facto idol?
Unfortunately we cannot escape to the pet excuse department in this one as in the eyes of most religions dogs and cats are regarded as both inferior creatures and creations of the Great Maker and are generally accepted in the House of The Lord. But an electronic entity as Vicki was sculpt by the hands and mind of Man in "his" image (speaking). Outside of furnishing the raw materials, God had nothing to do with her development and activation. Beyond her designed function, she reaps affection and compassion from her family though in reality her rudimentary A.I. can never really aptly return those affections much less comprehend a higher Being.
It could be said that Vicki, unlike a graven idol is, in a limited way, capable of at least acknowledging the affection and attention granted her by humans, so in fact takes her out of the idol criteria of total inanimacy. However, this conclusion can lead us to an ironic and startling argument that if Vicki does exhibit traits of meta-consciousness unlike a stone and wood statute which no longer qualifies her as an idol, yet is still not considered a life-form by most religious dictates of being a creature of flesh and blood, then the only other manifestation she could be is literally a (demi)God!
Now there would be no argument if Vicki were simply regarded by her family solely as a tool or a device; there would be no subtle competition to God's affection in that case. Her presence in a Episcopalian or Baptist church would be tolerated as perhaps only an over-sized very sophisticated doll, but even that stretches their dismissing the purpose and need of her having -- unlike a doll -- such a clinically correct human form. Mormons and Catholics would not be so tolerant at overlooking the precision of Vicki's form, particularly since it is an animated one with a rudimentary intelligence that attempts to mimic the behavior of a real child for maximum "family-friendliness."
There are inanimate objects accorded "life-form" status par with human beings in their value such as the jewish Torah and the meteorite at Mecca, sanctified such status by scripture or miraculous events. While this isn't the same thing as granting a robot or android life-recognition, it's important to point out by such examples that there are "cracks" that do recognize a spiritual embodiment in inanimate or otherwise "soulless" creatures.
The question whether Vicki's presence slurrs God goes beyond her physical form; her "function" within the Lawson family is no longer merely utility, like a dishwasher or vacuum cleaner. The family has taken her into their hearts much like a beloved pet. To cloth her and bring her into a church as a daughter is the family's unconscious(?) regard of a machine as a spiritual relation. To the family, Vicki has at least achieved a quasi-life status. Whether a specific faith recognizes such a "competition of the heart" with God as an legitimate one is debatable, and the degree that the family cherishes the sacredness of "natural life" comes into question. It is the "idol" question in full-circle.
While pondering the status of Vicki in a Church of God, let us be reminded that we are only taking basically about an ADA's physical presence; Vicki herself presents no challenge or threat or pretense to possessing the Divine Light and the Soul. In the future though, Vicki's descendants will be sentient creatures and religion shall then be confronted with recognizing the "souls" of entities fashioned by Man, not God.
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