Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly common in churches and Christian homes, but new Barna research suggests pastors remain deeply uneasy about allowing AI to function as an interpreter of Scripture.
According to research released Aug. 25 by Barna in partnership with Gloo as part of the State of the Church initiative, 94% of pastors surveyed said they are concerned about AI misinterpreting Scripture. Concern was also high among practicing Christians at 83% and among U.S. adults overall at 74%.
The findings arrive at a moment when AI tools are increasingly being used for biblical research, sermon preparation, spiritual questions and everyday decision-making. Earlier Barna research found that most pastors already use AI in some capacity, even as many remain cautious about its place in ministry.
Pastors Want AI to Show Its Work
One of the most revealing findings involves how pastors want AI to handle passages on which serious Christian traditions disagree. Barna found that 60% of pastors prefer AI to present the major interpretations and explain their differences without declaring one view correct.
Only about one in 10 pastors said they want AI to identify a single “correct” interpretation in areas where legitimate theological disagreement exists. That preference suggests many pastors see a useful role for AI as a research assistant or comparison tool while resisting the idea that an algorithm should become a theological authority.
The concern is not theoretical. Barna’s earlier 2026 research found that nearly half of practicing Christians said they would trust AI with aspects of their spiritual growth, while younger adults showed particularly high levels of willingness to seek guidance from AI.
THRIVE! has been tracking this tension for years, including why Christians should be cautious about asking AI to speak with God’s authority, Pope Leo XIV’s call for a human-centered future in the age of AI and Biola University’s work at the intersection of faith and artificial intelligence.
Why This Matters to People of Faith
AI can summarize commentaries in seconds, compare translations, identify historical context and surface interpretations that a reader might otherwise miss. Those capabilities can make biblical study more accessible.
But speed is not the same as wisdom, and a confident answer is not necessarily a true one. AI systems can omit context, blend incompatible interpretations, invent citations or reflect biases in the material on which they were trained. More fundamentally, an AI system does not pray, worship, repent, belong to a church community or submit itself to the authority of Scripture.
THRIVE! Perspective
The right Christian response to AI is neither panic nor unquestioning enthusiasm. It is discernment.
Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans for examining the Scriptures daily to test what they were being taught. First Thessalonians 5:21 similarly tells believers to “test everything” and hold fast to what is good.
Those are excellent principles for the AI era. Christians can use new technology to ask better questions, explore context and understand competing interpretations. But the final authority remains Scripture—not the chatbot explaining Scripture.
Pastors and mature believers also remain essential. Christianity has never been merely an information-transfer system. Discipleship takes place in community, through relationships, correction, worship, prayer and lives submitted to Christ. AI may become an extraordinary tool for biblical research. It should not become the voice Christians confuse with the Shepherd.
