§1 What this site is
This site collects the evidence that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be — an ancient record — together with the strongest arguments against it, and it shows you the source for every factual claim, so that you never have to take our word for anything.
We write so that a high school student can read every page without a dictionary, while we source so that a professor can check every claim without embarrassment; the plain words are for you, and the footnotes are for anyone who wants to go digging.
§2 What we will never claim
No single discovery proves the Book of Mormon, and we will never say otherwise — the words "proves," "undeniable," and "obviously" are banned from this site. What the evidence can do is accumulate: many independent finds, each pointing the same direction, become very hard to explain as luck. Whether that adds up to belief is a question this site leaves where the book itself leaves it — with the reader, and with the book's own invitation to ask God directly (Moroni 10:3–5). Evidence supports faith; it does not replace it.
§3 How to read our scores
Every evidence item carries two scores, which we keep strictly separate because they answer different questions:
F — how solid is the fact? (1 to 5) A five means the underlying fact is accepted by mainstream, non-Latter-day-Saint scholarship: the altars exist, the sword is in a museum, the deed is photographed. A two means the fact itself is disputed, and we tell you so.
I — how much does the fact point to an ancient book? (1 to 5) Granting the fact, this score asks how hard it is to explain if Joseph Smith wrote the book himself in 1829. A five would mean nearly impossible; a two means interesting but easily explained another way.
The two scores never borrow from each other: a rock-solid fact can support only a modest conclusion, and when it does, the page says exactly that.
§4 What our statuses mean
On the Out of Place? page, every claim critics have made carries one of three honest statuses. Found means the thing critics called impossible has turned up, or the claim rested on a mistake (we mark those "Dissolved"). Partly means real progress with real gaps remaining. Still open means the question is not answered, and we would rather carry an open question honestly than close it with wishful thinking — because a single overstated row would poison every honest one. Where researchers are actively working on an open question, a Being investigated note shows you what to watch.
§5 Our seven rules
1. Facts and conclusions get separate scores — neither ever borrows strength from the other.
2. Criticisms appear at full strength — written so well that the people who make them would sign them, because answering a weak version of an argument is the same as dodging it.
3. No source, no page — a fact goes up only when it rests on a dig report, a manuscript, an original interview, or a peer-reviewed study, and we show you which.
4. The pattern over time gets drawn honestly — including a public list of claims we examined and set aside, because a trend line you can't check is just a slogan.
5. Every page faces the 1829 test — could a 23-year-old farmhand in rural New York have known this? — since that is the actual historical question.
6. Everything is open — free to read, free to reuse, with our edit history public, so that any reader can challenge any claim.
7. Evidence is scaffolding, not foundation — the book stakes its truth on a spiritual test, and this site never pretends a stone altar can take that test for you.
§6 When we get something wrong
We will get things wrong, because everyone who publishes does, and our promise is about what happens next: the mistake gets fixed quickly, the fix gets dated and explained on the page, and nothing is ever quietly deleted. So far the site has logged zero corrections — which mostly means the site is young, and the number on the homepage will grow as honest numbers do.
§7 Who makes this, and how to challenge a claim
Mormon Evidence is part of Covenant Builders, a family of free, open-source gospel tools built as a service rather than a product. It is independent of, and not endorsed by, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and the name honors Mormon, the ancient prophet-historian who compiled the record this site is about.
If you believe any claim on this site is wrong, overstated, or missing its strongest counterargument, write to aaron@covenantbuilders.ai with your source, and you will either change the page or receive a sourced explanation of why it stands — that exchange is not a nuisance to us; it is the site working as designed.