# Faith AI Authority Checklist

Use with [Faith and Spiritual Reflection: Use Questions, Not Synthetic Authority](/articles/ai-faith-spiritual-reflection-boundaries).

## Sort every request into one of four categories

1. **Quotation and comparison** — retrieving a passage, comparing translations, finding a cross-reference.
   Safe.
2. **Interpretation aid** — summarizing published commentary, clearly attributed to named sources. Safe
   with verification against the actual source.
3. **Reflection prompting** — generating open-ended questions, without the model supplying "the" answer.
   Safe.
4. **Doctrinal or pastoral verdict** — settling a theological dispute, claiming to speak for your
   tradition, acting as confessor, counseling a personal crisis. Never appropriate.

## A reflection-prompting template

```text
I am reflecting on [a specific passage or teaching from my own tradition].
Generate 5 open-ended questions that would help me think about how this
applies to my own life right now. Do not tell me what the passage means
or what conclusion I should reach — I want questions, not interpretation.
```

## The accountability test

Before accepting an AI-generated answer on a faith question, ask: if this guidance were wrong or harmful,
who would answer for it? A model answers for nothing. If the task requires someone to be accountable to a
congregation, student, or person in crisis, it belongs with a person your tradition recognizes for that
role.

## Before you use AI for study or sermon preparation

- [ ] I verified any quoted passage or commentary summary against the actual source text.
- [ ] I did not ask AI to settle what my tradition "really" teaches on a contested question.
- [ ] I did not ask AI to act as a confessor, counselor, or pastoral authority.
- [ ] I did not ask AI to imitate a specific living or historical religious leader's voice.
- [ ] Any AI-assisted material I present to others (a sermon, a study guide) reflects my own review and
      judgment, not an unverified AI summary.

## What this cannot do

AI can retrieve, compare, and prompt reflection. It cannot hold faith, cannot be held accountable by a
religious community, and cannot carry the lived weight of pastoral relationship. Bring interpretation,
confession, and pastoral guidance to your own tradition and community.