The Silicon Valley Christians Who Want to Build ‘Heaven on Earth’

A high-profile network of investors and founders in Silicon Valley are promoting a new moral vision for the tech industry, in which job choices and other decisions are guided not by the pursuit of wealth, but according to Christian values and Western cultural frameworks.

At an event in San Francisco last week hosted in a former church, Trae Stephens, cofounder of the defense contractor Anduril, And a partner at the Peter Thiel–led venture capital firm Founders Fund, characterized the idea as the pursuit of “good quests” or careers that make the future better, a concept that he said has theological underpinnings.

“I’m literally an arms dealer,” Stephens said at one point, prompting laughter from the crowd of roughly 200 people, which included Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan. “I don’t think all of you should be arms dealers, but that’s a pretty unique calling.”

The hour-long discussion was part of a series of ticketed gatherings organized by ACTS 17 Collective, a nonprofit founded last year by Stephens’ wife, health care startup executive Michelle Stephens.

The group, whose name is an acronym that stands for “Acknowledging Christ in Technology and Society,” is on a mission to “redefine success for those that define culture,” she says.

In Michelle’s view, tech workers mostly believe in arbitrary metrics of success, like money and power, leaving some of them feeling empty and hopeless. She wants them to believe instead that “success can be defined as loving God, myself, and others.”

People of all denominations—including atheists—are welcome at ACT 17 events. Last Thursday’s event had low-key party vibes. Bartenders served beer and wine, a DJ was spinning light worship beats, and prayer booklets rested on a table.

The idea for ACTS 17 and a speaker series on faith actually took root at a party, Michelle says. In November 2023, during a three-day 40th birthday party for Trae in New Mexico, Peter Thiel led a talk on miracles and forgiveness. Guests were intrigued.

“Folks were coming up to us saying things like, ‘I didn’t know Peter is a Christian,’ ‘How can you be gay and a billionaire and be Christian?’, ‘I didn’t know you could be smart and a Christian,’ and ‘What can you give me to read or listen to learn more?’” Michelle says.

The Stephens have long-standing connections to Thiel. In addition to helping start Anduril and working at Founders Fund, Trae was also an early employee at data intelligence firm Palantir, a company cofounded by Thiel that develops tools used by the US military.

At the ACTS 17 last Thursday, Trae appeared to echo a number of ideas Thiel has also espoused about technology and Christianity. He emphasized that jobs outside the church can be sacred, citing Martin Luther’s work during the Protestant Reformation.

“The roles that we’re called into are not only important and valuable on a personal level, but it’s also critical to carry out God’s command to bring his kingdom to Earth as it is in heaven,” Trae said.

Thiel made nearly identical comments in a 2015 essay arguing that technological progress should be accelerated. Science and technology, he wrote, are natural allies of “Judeo-Western optimism,” especially if “we remain open to an eschatological frame in which God works through us in building the kingdom of heaven today, here on Earth.”

⏬ Bluesky ‘bite-sized’ article thread (10 min) with added links 📖 🍿 🔊

[https://bsky.app/profile/johnhatchard.bsky.social/post/3lke327tnsc2w](https://bsky.app/profile/johnhatchard.bsky.social/post/3lke327tnsc2w)

[archive.is/q42Qt](https://archive.is/q42Qt)

The true sign of their actual acceptance of all of this talk is when they themselves show public humility and are able to be examples of this.

Not to show how perfect they are but to show their admission of guilt and repentance are good things to emulate. After all, as the Bible says, we shall know them by their deeds. Let’s focus on what they do, not on what they say. Yes I acknowledge speech is action, but let’s be careful not to hear their overall message.

Is it humility? Or not?

Grifters, the lot of them. Suddenly the rich and powerful are remembering just how easy a target Christian tend to be.

Old you please just build it somewhere else please.

Thiel definitely needs to pray. I’d pray too if I had several men’s fists inside me at the same time.

Remember that story where Jesus used his miraculous power to duplicate all that fish and bread, and then sold it to his congregation at inflated prices? That was the reason Pontius Pilate and other Roman oligarchs nailed him to the cross. He apparently invented greedflation.

And these are the people that unironically talk about the Antichrist and false prophets.

You know, I was just thinking that tech bros need to insert religion into their shtick. I was wondering why tech bros have settled on just being the worst, when they really are capable of being the absolute worst to ever exist. It’s ~~good~~ terrible to see them reaching for the stars.

Why can’t they build themselves a heaven on mars and leave the rest of us the hell alone

When did society collectively agree to give idiots a platform?

The crazy part is they just strip away more and more of the husk of Christianity to make their claims. In the 1980s & 1990s they claimed they were “proselytizing” globally and “saving sinners” and that is why they needed all the grandparents money, to fulfill that calling. A calling that for all its bullshit, was actually tied to the Bible and Jesus Christ in some way.

Now they just say “Jesus wants us to be rich” with people like Joel Osteen. A calling which just really isn’t in the Bible. The Bible says if you follow and have faith in God you will be prosperous, but wealth is not the end goal the way these modern day snake oil salesmen have couched it.

If they think that’s even possible they’re already not Christians.

I love how a bad quest is an “NFT Marketplace,” but a good quest is selling arms, creating AI super intelligence, and making yourself immortal. I’m sure heaven really is full of automated mass surveillance, techno-city fiefdoms, and subscription services for every last thing you can think of. Absolutely no other problems that we could possibly need to solve. Also, it’s amazing how all these noble quests line up perfectly with granting them unlimited money, power, and life. So very Christian of them.

They can certanly make it heaven on earth……by leaving the rest of us alone.

Real Christians shouldn’t have to tell you they’re Christian for you to know; their actions ought to speak for them.

>’I didn’t know you could be smart and a Christian’

this is not a serious article.