New research from Barna has suggested that practising Christians in the US are more likely to make use of AI both in their personal and work lives than others.
A survey of 1,514 American adults found that 15 per cent of them use AI for their personal life “very often”, 16 per cent “often” and 29 per cent “sometimes”. Among practising Christians, however, these figures rise significantly to 26 per cent “very often”, 18 per cent “often” and 24 per cent “sometimes”.
The research found a clear divide between practising Christians and their pastors. A separate survey of 442 Protestant pastors in the US found just five per cent use AI “very often” for their personal lives, 16 per cent “often” and 34 per cent “sometimes”.
The story was similar when using AI for work purposes - 21 per cent of practising Christians reported using AI “very often”, compared to 12 per cent of US adults and six per cent of pastors.
What unified both Christians and non-Christians is how they use AI. Across both demographics 60 per cent or more said they had used AI to search for specific information, the most common use reported.
Possibly reflecting higher use overall, practising Christians reported using AI for every possible purpose more than US adults did.
The largest discrepancy was in the field of writing, with over 40 per cent of practising Christians saying they had used AI for writing, editing, translating and summarising texts, compared to just over 30 per cent of all US adults.
Daniel Copeland, Vice President of Research at Barna, said, “Ask people 'yes or no' whether they use AI, and the average pastor and the average American look about the same. It’s frequency of use where the difference actually shows up.”
He added, “Pastors understand that AI is out there, but they’re not immersed in it the way their engaged congregants may be.
"The danger for pastors is underestimating just how normal AI is for the people around them.
"For most practising Christians, AI isn’t for occasional use. It’s already woven into how they work, learn and make decisions.”
