In Texas, some residents are framing the fast-growing data center industry not only as posing a land-use or utility issue but also as a moral one. According to Salon, that language surfaced plainly at an April zoning meeting in Granbury, where a local official asked whether talks with Big Tech companies amounted to "a deal with the devil."
What's happening?
During that April appearance before the Granbury City Council, Hood County Development Commission member Matt Long urged officials to reject data centers proposed near his area, describing the exchange of "2,100 acres of natural beauty" for vast campuses as spiritually harmful and arguing that Christians should stand against it.
At the center of the pushback from a "theologically diverse group of residents" is environmental strain, Salon reported, because facilities that support artificial intelligence can consume immense amounts of water and electricity.
"We're called to be stewards of creation, which means caring for the world as God does. And I think what we see in the creation story is that the world was created to be a place of fruitfulness and plenty," Rev. Becca Edwards of interfaith policy advocacy group Texas Impact said.
Even so, Texas is one of the industry's biggest growth areas, with at least 248 data centers planned and 335 already operating.
One of the anti-data center movement's most prominent political advocates is Clayton Tucker, a Catholic Democrat running for Texas agriculture commissioner.
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"If we take a bite of that apple of knowledge, is that what's going to kick us out of this blue marble of Eden … that we call Earth?" Tucker asked, per Salon.
Not all faith-based voices are in agreement. Texas Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian, a Republican, said Christians have historically embraced innovation that improves lives and that data centers should be welcomed if they are built responsibly.
Why does it matter?
Data centers are no longer niche industrial projects. They can reshape land use, water access, and power demand in the communities where they are built.
And these projects often move through city councils and county processes before many people realize how large they are or how much power and water they may require.
Opposition appears across party lines. A May Gallup survey found 63% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats opposed data centers, while a June Texas Politics Project poll found opposition from 44% of registered Republicans and 71% of registered Democrats in the state, as Salon reported.
The fight is also tied closely to AI, whose underlying computing systems can demand vast amounts of power and water while sharpening worries about surveillance, misuse, and security.
For many faith leaders, those practical concerns overlap with moral ones. "People of faith feel a moral duty to make sure that people have the things they need to live lives of dignity and thriving, and so water and energy are really important for that," Edwards said.
What's being done?
Opposition is organizing at both the local and statewide levels. Long has held prayer gatherings at his house and spoken publicly about what he sees as the spiritual stakes of data center expansion. Tucker has made the issue central to his campaign after seeing strong support through petitions and church-based meetings across the Lone Star State.
Faith-based resistance stretches beyond Christian groups. Rabbi Jennie Rosenn of Dayenu said unchecked data center growth conflicts with values such as protecting creation, avoiding waste, and shielding vulnerable people, while Jane Bannor of Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community said members around the country were pushing for moratoriums based on a "respect for the interdependent web of life."
Tucker put the stakes in even simpler terms: "If we run out of water, nothing else really matters."
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