How the comparison works

Start from a church’s answers. Above the questionnaire, pick a church and tap “Load its answers.”

The questionnaire fills in with what that church’s own documents say (including the common-ground items at the top, which come from the creeds the church adopts or uses and from its own statements; an item its documents place differently loads No, as the Roman Catholic Church does on Scripture as the final authority, and an item they do not state stays blank), and the ranking and side-by-side view then show where you would differ from it. Undo restores your own answers.

Side by side. Above the ranking, pick any church and tap Compare, or open a church in the ranking and tap “Compare side by side with my answers.” A full-screen view puts your answer and the church’s answer next to each other for every question, marked match, open or differs, with how firmly the church holds it and why the guide coded it that way. Use the filters to see only the differences, and the question map to jump to one. The extra questions are compared too, whether or not you answered them. Tap “Save as PDF” for a detailed report with every question, both answers, the church’s reasons and its sources. “Print” opens the browser’s print window where the page allows it.

Compare two churches directly. You do not need to answer the questions to see how two churches differ. Open Compare, pick a church for the left side and another for the right, and tap Compare. The left side then shows the first church’s answers, named at the top, and the right side the second church’s, question by question. This is useful when you are weighing one church against another, for example the one you attend and one you are considering, or a family choosing between two traditions, because it shows what each church’s own documents say on the same questions and how firmly each holds it. It compares documents, not congregations. The score is directional: a difference counts for more when the church being scored holds the point firmly, so loading church A and comparing with church B can give a different score from loading B and comparing with A. The view shows both.

Each question you answer is compared with what each church's own documents say. It counts as a match, an open point (the two answers fit together, or the church leaves the question open), or a difference. Undecided answers are skipped.

A difference weighs more when the church requires that teaching of members or clergy, and less when it only teaches it, leaves it to conscience, or when the church's position is inferred rather than stated. The score is the weighted differences divided by the questions compared. Scores that differ only in the second decimal place are effectively tied, so treat the top group as a cluster, not a strict order.

How much each question matters to you. This page is a way to find a denomination, not a theology exam, so each scored question has a small menu with four levels that are the four binding levels the guide records for every church, so a reader and a church mark the same field: Required (a must for me; counts 2), Expected (I expect a church I join to hold it; counts 1.5), Taught (I hold it and want it taught, but I would not leave over it; counts 1; this is the default) or Left to conscience (I hold it, but it does not decide my choice of church; counts 0.5). These are the same four weights the guide gives a church's own binding level. Leave every menu alone and nothing changes. A church that differs from you on a Required is marked in its result, so a deal-breaker is easy to see even where the overall score is good. When you load a recorded church's answers, the menus are filled from that church's recorded binding levels, so you see its answers and how firmly it holds each. A church that fills the page in for itself marks its own binding levels. This changes only how your score is added up. It never changes what a church teaches. Your choices are saved with your answers, and the extra questions use the same menu, though they never change a score; a church that differs on an extra you marked a must says so in the ranking, in the side-by-side view, in the print report and in the PDF, and the score stays the same.

What each church holds people to. Under each result you will see three more things, and none changes the ranking. The first shows, among the questions you were compared on, how many answers the church's documents require of every member or minister, and how many they expect of clergy and leaders, and how many of those you agree with, differ on, or fit with. The second is the church's grip, a number from 0 to 1 that does not depend on your answers. It shows how much of the church's teaching it holds people to. A grip of 1 means it requires or expects an answer on every question. A grip of 0 means it holds no one to anything. When a church leaves a question open, or leaves it to conscience, that question adds nothing to its grip. So a low grip does not mean the church believes little. It means the church lets its people differ. A church whose documents we have read less also shows a lower grip, because there is less to count, so the page shows how many questions it has an answer on. The third is the church's firmness where it speaks: the average of the levels recorded for its answers on the scored questions and on the extra questions (the extras are still not scored). It answers a different question from grip, which is how firm the church is where it does speak, not how much it speaks to. The page says for how many cells a level is recorded, and a cell with no recorded level is left out. All three describe the denomination's own documents, never one congregation, which may hold people to more or less.

The two personal questions. Just after Q2 are two questions about you, not about a church: what you would do if your church's teaching and your own reading of Scripture disagreed, and what you would do if its leaders corrected you. They are not scored. Under each church in the results, your answer sits beside how that church holds its people to its teaching and what it says about church discipline, so you can see how that church would stand toward you.

Binding is not the same as signing. A church can hold you to its teaching by a signed document, an oath (you swear, calling God as witness), a vow or promise (you commit yourself before God and the church, without swearing), a spoken profession of faith, or simply because you belong to it. Each profile says which, and for whom. The scoring looks only at how firmly the church holds you (the grip), never at which form it uses. A church can bind firmly with no signature at all: Catholic canon law binds every Catholic to the church's defined doctrine, the documents read name no signing, oath or vow for lay members, and those who take office make a public Profession of Faith and take an Oath of Fidelity.

A church needs at least 8 questions with a known answer to be ranked. Some churches' documents say little, so a short list can look closer than it is. The common-ground items (Q0) are the shared key rather than a way to sort churches, so they are not scored, and neither are the follow-ups (1b, 7b, 12b) or the extra questions; for those, the page shows which churches give your answer. Authority beyond the Bible (Q2) counts only where answers truly conflict: Scripture and Tradition as one authority against Scripture alone or the Spirit's guidance tested by Scripture. A church that binds its people to a confession is not thereby in conflict with you, so that answer is always open; each church also shows how it holds its people to its teaching.

"Inferred" means the church does not state its position in plain words, so the guide read its documents and chose the closest option. It says why, in one of three kinds: stated in other words (the church teaches it, but not in the words of our option), implied, never stated (what the church does say points there), or two readings possible (the documents allow more than one, and the other is named). An inferred answer is a judgment, not a quotation, so it counts half as much in the score. Open any church's profile, or its result, to read the reason for each one. Each profile also says where its information comes from. The author's full guide holds every answer in plain sentences, with quotations and a note on how sure each line is. The author's full guide is not published, because of its size. To check a source, read the church's profile and any answer judgments or explanation first, then contact the author.