a thing I think about a lot, from a webcomic I can't remember the name of

it was a kind of quiet and contemplative post-apocalypse, where humans had died out and robots and androids were trying to find their way in a world without them

there was this one robot, a big broad heavy worker type who had at some point lost their head

which was apparently not crucial to their functioning, so they just went around with a flowerpot sitting in the socket where the head would have gone

this robot spent a lot of time watching old human videos. in particular, taped interviews with this human preacher who had apparently been notable for being vocally pro-robot early on

where a lot of people had anxieties and spiritual concerns about sapient robots, this preacher was all for accepting them as equals

because, he argued, yes, only God can create immortal souls - but creating new bodies, with new minds, well, that's just what humans have always been doing

building robots is just doing it manually, that's all.

and if the Creator saw fit to endow these bodies with souls of their own - and how could anyone say for sure that He didn't? - then this preacher saw no reason not to welcome the robots as brothers.

another interview the robot was watching centered on how exactly robotic "life" could be defined, and when a robot could be considered "dead"

Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life?

since a robot could be damaged to the point of becoming non-operative, without their mind ever becoming irretrievable, the preacher's conclusion was that he would only consider a robot dead if its head was destroyed.

Snake-Kun : no, but that DOES look interesting

the comic I'm thinking of was set on Earth

anyway, that bit has stayed with me for a long time

the words of this long-dead preacher advocating for the religious acceptance of robots

and the cut back to the headless robot with the flowerpot between their shoulders, watching this same preacher say he would consider a headless robot to have died.