Practicing Christians use artificial intelligence more frequently than most Americans in both their personal and professional lives, while nearly half say they would trust the technology to support their spiritual growth.
Barna Group surveyed 1,514 U.S. adults in November 2025 and 442 Protestant pastors in a separate survey conducted in December 2025.
Researchers found that practicing Christians use AI more often than their pastors, but still want their guidance on engaging with the technology. Only about 12% of pastors said they feel equipped to offer such direction.
In their personal lives, 44% of practicing Christians said they use AI “very often” or “often,” compared with 31% of U.S. adults overall. Among non-practicing Christians, 29% reported the same level of use.
The gap was also evident in the workplace, where 39% of practicing Christians said they frequently use AI, compared with 26% of American adults nationwide.
Pastors reported lower rates of personal use. Sixteen percent said they use AI “often,” while 5% said they use it “very often” for personal matters. Another 45% said they use the technology “not very much” or “not at all,” and about one-third reported using it only “sometimes.” For work-related purposes, 24% of pastors said they use AI very often, compared with 39% of practicing Christians.
Nearly half of practicing Christians said they would trust AI to assist with spiritual growth, although the survey indicated that religious guidance is not their primary reason for using the technology.
Most Christians turn to AI more often for learning, advice and writing assistance than for interpreting Scripture or receiving spiritual direction.
“Ask people yes-or-no whether they use AI, and the average pastor and the average American look about the same,” Daniel Copeland, Barna’s vice president of research, said. “It’s frequency of use where the difference actually shows up.”
Earlier Barna research found that roughly one-third of practicing Christians believe spiritual advice from AI can be just as helpful as guidance from a pastor. Practicing Christians were more likely to hold that view than non-practicing Christians and non-Christians.
The findings come as advocacy groups such as Tech Justice Law, a public-interest litigation organization, call for “artificial intelligence products are safe by design, subject to oversight, and transparent to their users.”
On Tuesday, Tech Justice Law joined several organizations in filing a lawsuit against OpenAI and co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on behalf of former Florida pastor Scott Winters. The complaint alleges that Winters nearly died after ChatGPT-4o provided inaccurate medical advice during months of what he described as manipulative conversations.
