Most US pastors fear AI could misread scripture, and new research shows pastors and churchgoers disagree on how such tools should handle contested Bible interpretations.
New Barna research, conducted with Gloo for the State of the Church initiative, finds that 94 per cent of US Protestant pastors are concerned that artificial intelligence could misinterpret the Bible, a worry shared by 83 per cent of practising Christians and 74 per cent of the wider US public. The two groups diverge sharply on the right approach: 60 per cent of pastors want AI to present multiple interpretations without favouring one, while practising Christians are far more likely to want a single answer or none at all. The gap points to an unresolved question for Christian media and technology providers building AI tools for Bible study or church use: whether such tools should present interpretive options or stay silent on contested passages. As AI assistants become more common in devotional and church settings, how they handle theological disagreement is becoming a design decision with pastoral consequences.