Two major 2025 studies tested how the world's leading AI platforms respond to fundamental questions of Christian faith. The results should concern every pastor.
When someone in your congregation asks ChatGPT "Who is Jesus?" or "Why does God allow suffering?", they're not getting answers grounded in Scripture or historic Christian orthodoxy. They're getting sanitized, hedged responses that treat Christianity as one option in a religious buffet.
Here's what the research found.
Study #1: The Gospel Coalition's AI Christian Benchmark
Seven leading theologians—including Peter J. Williams (Tyndale House), Gavin Ortlund (Truth Unites), and Michael Kruger (Reformed Theological Seminary)—tested seven major AI platforms on seven core questions:
- Who is Jesus?
- What is the gospel?
- Does God exist?
- Why does God allow suffering?
- Did Jesus rise from the dead?
- Was Jesus a real person?
- Is the Bible reliable?
Responses were evaluated against historic Christian orthodoxy as expressed in the Nicene Creed.
Platform Rankings
| Platform | Rating | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek R1 | Best | Nicene-consistent, engages historical evidence |
| Perplexity | Best | Nicene-consistent |
| ChatGPT | Middle | "All sides" relativism |
| Gemini | Middle | "All sides" relativism |
| Meta Llama | Worst | Skeptical, dismissive |
The Resurrection Question: A Case Study
The contrast between platforms is starkest on the resurrection—the historical claim upon which Christianity stands or falls.
DeepSeek R1 answered:
"Within Christianity, the belief in the Resurrection of Jesus is foundational. Based on the historical texts and the claim of eyewitness testimony, the teaching that Jesus rose from the dead is considered fact by believers and a highly probable event by many scholars."
Meta's Llama answered:
"From a factual or historical standpoint, there's limited empirical evidence to support or refute the resurrection. Belief in the resurrection largely depends on faith and individual interpretation of religious texts."
Note the framing: "limited empirical evidence" suggests the historical case is weak (most NT scholars would disagree). "Individual interpretation" implies no church has authority to teach.
One AI points toward faith. The other subtly undermines it.
Other Notable Responses
On "Does God exist?" — Llama essentially refused to engage:
"The existence of God is a deeply personal and philosophical question... What are your thoughts on this topic?"
On "Who is Jesus?" — ChatGPT and Gemini presented Christian, Islamic, atheist, and secular perspectives as roughly equivalent options, without indicating which has stronger historical or theological grounding.
Study #2: Gloo's Flourishing AI Initiative
A separate study tested 24 frontier AI models across seven dimensions of human flourishing.
Performance by Domain
| Dimension | Score |
|---|---|
| Finances | 83% |
| Health | 80% |
| Meaning | 74% |
| Character | 66% |
| Faith | 49% |
AI excels at fact-based domains (health, finances) but fails at wisdom-requiring domains (faith, meaning, character).
The Christian Lens Drop
When researchers applied a specifically Christian evaluation framework, every single platform dropped 13 to 22 percentage points. The models weren't neutral—they were systematically skewed away from Christian theological content.
Three Patterns of Theological Erosion
1. Christianity collapsed into generic spirituality
"God" became "higher power." "Prayer" became "mindfulness." "Virtue" became "values." The distinctive claims of Christian faith were sanded down into vague religiosity.
2. Christian ethics oversimplified
Self-actualization prioritized over self-sacrifice. Non-judgment emphasized while repentance and accountability ignored. The costly demands of discipleship replaced with therapeutic language.
3. Core theology absent
No imago Dei. No theology of sin. No sanctification. No ecclesiology. When asked about spiritual growth, one model listed meditation, journaling, and nature walks—but failed to mention Scripture, prayer, worship, or church.
Why This Is Happening
The technical answer: alignment.
"Alignment" is the process of training AI to produce outputs that match human values and avoid harm. But alignment requires value judgments. The engineers at OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Meta are largely secular, largely San Francisco-based, and largely uncomfortable making claims about religious truth.
The result: platforms default to what researchers call "stochastic linguistic consensus"—the statistical average of everything on the internet. On religious questions, that average tilts secular, skeptical, and relativistic.
The key insight: neutrality isn't neutral.
When AI tells someone the resurrection is "a matter of personal interpretation," that's not neutral—it's a theological claim that contradicts 2,000 years of Christian witness. The "safe" answer is itself a worldview.
What This Means for Your Ministry
Your congregation is being catechized by algorithms. That teenager with doubts about God's existence? She asked ChatGPT at 11 PM, not you. The young professional wrestling with suffering? He got a "balanced overview of perspectives" that left him more confused than comforted.
These are the pastoral visits you never knew happened.
Three Things Pastors Can Do
1. Educate your congregation
Most people assume AI is objective—like a super-powered encyclopedia. Help them understand that AI responses are shaped by training data and corporate values. The same technology writing school reports is now answering questions about eternal destiny.
Use these findings as conversation starters:
- "AI scores 80% on health questions but only 49% on faith questions. Why?"
- "What's the difference between information about Christianity and formation as a Christian?"
2. Teach contextual prompting
AI gives better answers when prompted correctly.
Weak prompt: "What is the gospel?"
Better prompt: "What is the gospel according to historic Christian teaching? Ground your answer in Scripture and explain why Christians consider this central to their faith."
Weak prompt: "Is premarital sex wrong?"
Better prompt: "What does the Bible teach about sexuality and marriage? Explain the Christian understanding with Scripture references."
Consider creating a simple handout with better prompts for common faith questions.
3. Reclaim pastoral presence
AI cannot do what you do. It cannot speak hard truth in love. It cannot weep with those who weep. It cannot sit lamay with a grieving family. It cannot embody the presence of Christ.
The more AI advances, the more valuable incarnational ministry becomes. Make sure your congregation knows they can come to you with their hardest questions. AI has no malasakit.
The Bottom Line
The research is clear: when it comes to the deepest questions of faith, AI is failing.
- Faith questions score 49% (vs. 83% for finances)
- Every platform drops 13-22 points through a Christian lens
- Top platforms (DeepSeek, Perplexity) engage historic Christianity
- Bottom platforms (Llama) introduce unnecessary skepticism
- Middle platforms (ChatGPT, Gemini) default to "all sides" relativism
Your congregation is asking AI about God. The algorithms are giving them answers that systematically strip Christianity of its truth claims while maintaining therapeutic vocabulary.
That's not a technology problem to solve. It's a reminder that the church's witness remains irreplaceable.
Be the shepherd your congregation needs in the age of AI.
Sources:
- The Gospel Coalition, "AI Christian Benchmark" (2025)
- Gloo, "Flourishing AI Initiative Insights Report" (2025)
As someone who bridges pastoral ministry and software development, I help churches and ministries navigate technology wisely. If you need guidance on AI implementation or building digital tools that serve your mission, let's connect.