Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used by Christians, but new research suggests that many are uneasy about the possibility of AI giving misleading interpretations of the Bible.
A study by Barna, carried out in partnership with Gloo for its State of the Church initiative, found that 94 per cent of US Protestant pastors are concerned about AI misinterpreting Scripture. The figure falls to 83 per cent among practising Christians and 74 per cent among US adults overall.
The findings come from two online surveys. One included 1,514 US adults and was conducted in November 2025, while the other involved 442 US Protestant pastors and was conducted in December 2025.
The research also found a significant difference between pastors and practising Christians over how AI should respond when Christians disagree about the meaning of a biblical passage.
Six in 10 pastors said AI should explain the major interpretations and show how they differ without declaring one to be correct. Only 26 per cent of practising Christians supported that approach.
By contrast, 26 per cent of practising Christians said AI should identify which interpretation is the “right” one. Only around one in 10 pastors agreed.
Practising Christians were also four times more likely than pastors to say AI should resolve disagreements by giving only the interpretation with the widest agreement. Meanwhile, almost one in five practising Christians said disputed passages should not be interpreted by AI at all, compared with roughly twice that proportion among pastors.
Daniel Copeland, Barna's vice president of research, said the findings reflect the responsibility pastors have to encourage people to think critically about their faith.
“Their approach points to using AI as a tool to aid their learning, not to tell them what to think,” Copeland said. He added that pastors appear to want people to use AI to broaden their understanding while continuing to think independently.
Earlier findings from the same research showed that practising Christians use AI for work and personal activities more often than the wider US population. Almost half said they would trust AI as part of their spiritual growth.
Other Barna research published earlier this year found that around one-third of practising US Christians believe spiritual advice from AI can be as good as advice from a pastor. Practising Christians were more likely to hold this view than non-practising Christians and non-Christians.
Despite this growing confidence in the technology, most Christians currently use AI mainly for learning, receiving advice or improving their writing rather than for interpreting Scripture or seeking spiritual guidance.
Copeland said that simply asking whether people use AI does not reveal much difference between pastors and the wider population. The more significant distinction, he explained, is how frequently they use it.
Based on research by Barna. This is a rewritten version of the article published in The Christian Post.
