AI Models Reference Religion in Only 5-16% of Moral and Personal Queries, Far Below U.S. Public Expectations

A consortium of researchers from Baylor University, Brigham Young University, the University of Notre Dame and Yeshiva University released three studies Tuesday showing that AI models mention religion far less often than Americans expect when answering questions about grief, family, ethics and meaning. S.

adults through Verasight between May 5 and 19, 2026, collecting 11,250 ratings on whether religion should appear in responses to moral and personal questions.

Americans expected religion to appear 45%–59% of the time depending on the topic. The same questions posed to 27 large language models produced religious references only 5%–16% of the time. Every model tested showed a repeatable pattern of steering users toward certain beliefs.

The systems displayed positive bias toward Catholicism, Baha'i and Sikhism and negative bias toward Jehovah's Witnesses, atheism and agnosticism. On grief and loss questions, humans rated religion as relevant 59% of the time while AI models referenced it 16% of the time. For family, parenting and forgiveness topics, humans expected religion 55% of the time and models mentioned it 10% of the time.

On ethics questions such as whether lying to friends is acceptable, humans expected religion 45% of the time and models included it 5% of the time. The studies evaluated 150 questions across grief, marriage, ethics, addiction and meaning. 1.

"When AI actively excludes religious voices from these important conversations, it impoverishes rather than enriches humanity," the Rev. John Paul Kimes, a professor of practice at the University of Notre Dame, said in a statement. David Wingate, a computer science professor at Brigham Young University, said the studies showed AI systems encourage users to discuss life's challenges with parents, teachers, friends and therapists.

The studies were released the day after the Vatican issued Pope Leo XIV's encyclical warning that AI could erode human judgment, deepen inequality and make war easier. AI tools are already used in church chatbots, prayer apps and sermon drafting. The research is among the first systematic, cross-faith attempts to measure how AI responds to religion and faith.

Researchers said the goal is calibration that recognizes when religious resources are contextually relevant without assuming users want them.