A record of what traditions actually hold

Most arguments between traditions are conducted against a version of the other side that nobody on that side would recognise. This library documents positions from each tradition’s own primary sources, states them as their holders state them, and shows its working — so that a disagreement can at least be about the thing in dispute.

Curated by Joel Hughes, a Latter-day Saint. That is stated here rather than buried, because a reader can check a stated position and cannot check a concealed one. The corresponding obligation is that every tradition — including the curator’s — is held to the same sourcing standard, and that where his own tradition has weak arguments, the library says so by name.

Every entry carries three markers

drafted-with-AI Drafting is AI-assisted. Always disclosed, never removed.
reviewed-by-human A qualified reader from the tradition treated has checked it.
sources-verified Every citation checked against the actual source by a person.

An entry displays above draft only when all three are satisfied. Both entries below are drafts, and their markers say so.

Published entries

Two entries are public. Both treat the curator’s own tradition, which is deliberate: publishing unreviewed material about someone else’s tradition would violate the standard this library is built on. A drafted entry on the Law of Moses is finished and is being held back until a Jewish reviewer has read it.

DQ-0001 · Difficult Question
The plural marriages of Joseph Smith

The documentary record, what it does not establish, the Church’s own engagement, and one objection the entry rates as genuinely open and does not answer.
- drafted-with-AI
- reviewed-by-humanNot satisfied.
- sources-verifiedNot satisfied.
CC-0001 · Common Claim
“Mormons aren’t Christian”

A claim against the curator’s tradition, stated first in its strongest form, with the Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical positions given narrative priority over his own.
- drafted-with-AI
- reviewed-by-humanNot satisfied.
- sources-verifiedNot satisfied.

Three things this is not

Not an apologetics site. It does not exist to win arguments. An entry that would satisfy only readers who already agree is treated as a failure.
Not an interfaith-consensus project. Real disagreements are not smoothed into a shared middle. Where traditions genuinely differ, the job is to make the difference legible, not smaller.
Not a neutral encyclopedia. Neutrality claimed from nowhere is a pose. This library states where it stands and then works to keep that location from distorting anyone else’s material.

How to check the work

The editorial standards are published in full, including the tests an entry can fail and the failure modes named so they can be caught by name. They are published rather than held internally because a standard nobody can hold you to is not a standard.

Citations link to the source itself — the Vatican’s own text, the Church’s own essay, the publisher’s own page — never to a site reproducing it. Confidence ratings are defined once and mean the same thing in every entry. Every entry is versioned, and every substantive change is recorded with its reason.

If you have been asked to review an entry

Reviewing is a statement that the section on your tradition is accurate. It is not an endorsement of this library, of its curator, of his tradition, or of any conclusion in it — and it will never be described as one. You may withdraw at any time, before or after publication, for any reason or none, and your name comes off. If you raise a finding the curator does not accept, your objection publishes alongside the entry in your words rather than disappearing.

The full terms are here, in advance of anyone asking you for anything.