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Jeremy Runnells

April 11, 2024

Jeremy T. Runnells is a critic of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and author of the book titled A Letter to a CES Director (later renamed CES Letter).[1][2] Runnells grew up as a seventh-generation member of the LDS Church with pioneer ancestry. He served a mission for the church in New York and graduated from church-owned Brigham Young University.[3][4] In 2012, he began to experience doubts over his faith. A director of institute of the LDS Church's Church Educational System (CES) asked him to write his concerns, and in response Runnells sent an 84-page letter with his concerns.[5]

After not receiving a response, in April 2013 he posted his letter on the internet.[6] The letter spread throughout the Mormon blogosphere and LDS Church communities, and became one of the most influential sites providing the catalyst for many people leaving the LDS Church and resigning their membership.[7][6] The publicity achieved by the CES Letter brought Runnells to found the CES Letter Foundation, through which a combination of donations and paperback sales has allowed the original CES Letter project to grow into a full-time career.[8]

CES Letter edit

Background edit

According to Runnells, after attending a fireside by Marlin K. Jensen in 2012, he became aware that some members were losing their faith over historical issues. Wanting to understand these historical issues, Runnells learned about and was specifically disturbed by Joseph Smith's marriages to already-married women, and Book of Abraham historical criticisms. "I began to have these feelings of betrayal. I wasn't the village idiot. I read books—a lot of the approved books. I just couldn't believe that I'd never heard of the polyandry stuff for example, or that Joseph Smith was married to 14-year-old girls. It just really shocked me."[4]

When his grandfather heard of the doubts Runnells had, he put him in contact with a CES institute director, who suggested Runnells write a letter with a list of his concerns.[4]

Content edit

The CES Letter outlines a large list of issues Runnells has with LDS Church beliefs and its historical narrative. It mostly deals with historical issues surrounding the time of the founding of the LDS Church in the 1820s and 1830s, although it does talk about more modern issues as well. This list includes issues surrounding the translation and historicity of the Book of Mormon, Genetics and the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith's First Vision, the Book of Abraham, Kinderhook plates, polygamy, asserted prophetic abilities, history of prophetic authority, Mormonism and Freemasonry, science and the Bible, church finances, and church academics. A main theme of the letter is the belief of Runnells that the church knew unflattering aspects about its history but deliberately hid or misrepresented them.[2]

Response edit

According to the Salt Lake Tribune and The Daily Beast, the letter has been influential in the decision of many now-former members of the LDS Church to resign their membership.[1][9][6] Numerous responses by LDS Church apologists in blogs, books, and podcasts have been created, including several by FairMormon.[10] Brian Hales of FairMormon suggested that Runnells was lying, and had been deceived by Satan. [11] Runnells posted an extensive rebuttal to FairMormon's response.[12]

No official response from the LDS Church has been released, including from the CES Director to whom Runnells sent his letter; however, Tad R. Callister, then general president of the church's Sunday School, while referring to Runnells as an unnamed "critic", wrote that the assertions from Runnells were "rash", "partial truths", and "a classic case of 'presentism'".[13]

Writer Jana Riess has argued that the impact of the CES Letter has been overstated, yet important. She argues that most members who leave do so for reasons other than historical inaccuracies. Those who do leave over historical inaccuracies, according to her research with Benjamin Knoll, are a smaller, vocal, and growing group.[14] This is inconsistent with a non-random, unscientific survey conducted by Podcaster John Dehlin indicating that, among self-recruited survey respondents, historical reasons were a factor in 70% of former members' decisions to leave.[15]

In November 2020, FairMormon released a set of 16 videos[16] responding to Runnells, meant to appeal to Millennials and Generation Z. Latter Day Saint scholar Grant Hardy said of the videos, "I have found them belligerent, sarcastic, sophomoric, inaccurate, demeaning and offensive, ... In no way [do they] reflect Christian discipleship." In response to criticism that the videos were mocking Runnells and other disaffected Latter Day Saints, FairMormon chairman John Lynch said, "We are not trying to mock the people who are affected by the 'CES Letter,' ... We are mocking the letter itself and signal to people that this is a deceitful document, not to be taken seriously."[17] Runnells responded to the videos in a Facebook post, reposting a video calling them a "dishonest smear campaign".[18] In March 2021, FairMormon changed its name to FAIR, and removed the YouTube videos directed at Runnells and the CES Letter. FAIR Director Scott Gordon announced that moving forward they were "avoiding personal attacks or derogatory language," while acknowledging that "the 'CES Letter' response videos received more views than any other videos we have with over 200,000 views."[19]

Other impacts edit

The CES Letter, along with a book published by Egyptologist Robert K. Ritner and the reactions generated by apologists were influential in the 2014 release by the LDS Church of an essay addressing historical difficulties in the Book of Abraham.[6]

In 2016, due to the letter's content and public criticisms of the church, Runnells' local LDS Church leaders conducted a disciplinary council to determine the membership status of Runnells, but towards the end of the council before a determination had been made, Runnells resigned his membership, exited the church building where the council was being held and stated to a crowd of supporters outside the church, "I have excommunicated the LDS Church ... from my life. ... What errors or mistakes are there in the 'CES Letter' or on my website that I can publicly correct? If there are no errors or mistakes, why am I being punished for seeking and sharing the truth? I have done nothing wrong. I just wanted the truth."[3][20][21] Utah news station KUTV pointed to a survey that 57% of LDS Church members were troubled by high profile excommunications like Runnells, including 43% of temple recommend holders.[22]

A Spider-Man comic book was published in 2018 that had a patch drawn on the protagonist that read, "CES Letter".[23] Upon being notified Marvel released a statement saying, "As a policy, Marvel does not permit hidden controversial messages in its artwork" and scrubbed the reference from further artwork. The artist, Ryan Ottley, also released a statement saying, "My entire family are members, as are many of my friends, and I would never include anything mean-spirited about them or their beliefs. The reference was in regards to a subject I am interested in and a personal decision I made in my life. It has nothing to do with the character, the story or Marvel."[24]

In 2018, when Lars Nielsen published confidential documents about the investment fund of the LDS Church, he titled his work, "Letter to an IRS Director" in homage to the "Letter to a CES Director" written by Runnells.[25] Nielsen said, "I wrote 'Letter to an IRS Director' in the style (and in admiration) of 'Letter to a CES Director' because isolated, questioning Mormons need hours of immersive, binge-worthy, relatable, and rich content when their 'shelves begins to break.'"[26]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Stack, Peggy Fletcher (March 11, 2016). "In this new era of doubt, will a stronger Mormon faith emerge?". The Salt Lake Tribune. from the original on Jan 21, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Ash, Michael R. (2015). Bamboozled by the 'CES Letter'. Self-Published.
  3. ^ a b Van Valkenburg, Nancy (April 18, 2016). "Author Jeremy Runnells Resigns From LDS Church At Excommunication Hearing In American Fork". Gephardt Daily.
  4. ^ a b c Runnells, Jeremy (June 18, 2014). "Jeremy Runnells and His Letter to a CES Director". Mormon Stories Podcast (Interview). Interviewed by John Dehlin.
  5. ^ Poulson, Kevin (Feb 10, 2019). "Inside the Secret Facebook War For Mormon Hearts and Minds". The Daily Beast.
  6. ^ a b c d Harris, M. L., Bringhurst, N. G., & Mauss, A. L. (2020). The LDS gospel topics series: A scholarly engagement. Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books. Location 253, 6302 of 8366
  7. ^ Larson, Lauren (Jul 1, 2019). "The Mormon Church vs. The Internet". The Verge.
  8. ^ Runnells, Jeremy. "CES Letter at the Crossroads FAQs". CES Letter Foundation. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  9. ^ Hitt, Tarpley (May 5, 2019). "The Trials of YouTube Jesus: A Mormon Apostate Fighting for His Family". The Daily Beast.
  10. ^ Anonymous Author(s) "Response to "Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony (CES Letter: My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts) and 'Debunking FAIR's Debunking'(Debunking FairMormon)" 20 September 2019
  11. ^ Hales, Brian (August 4, 2014). "'There Began to be Lyings Sent Forth among the People': The Message of Jeremy Runnells". FAIR.
  12. ^ Runnells, Jeremy. "Debunking FairMormons Debunking". CES Letter Foundation.
  13. ^ Callister, Tad R. (2019). A Case for the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book.
  14. ^ Riess, Jana (September 19, 2019). "Jana Riess: This is your brain on Mormon Facebook". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  15. ^ Dehlin, John (March 2012). "Understanding Mormon Disbelief: Why do some Mormons lose their testimony, and what happens to them when they do?" (PDF). Why Mormons Question.
  16. ^ "CES Letter Refutations - YouTube". YouTube.
  17. ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (Dec 12, 2020). "FairMormon's new satirical videos take on church critics, but does the humor miss the mark?". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  18. ^ https://www.facebook.com/runnells/posts/10158069407958737 [user-generated source]
  19. ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (March 24, 2021). "With its gentler approach, FAIR drops its snarky videos aimed at LDS Church critics". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  20. ^ Noyce, David (June 20, 2016). "Author of 'Letter to a CES Director' resigns from Mormon church". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  21. ^ Green, Rebecca (Apr 17, 2016). "Author of 'Letter to a CES Director' out of LDS Church after disciplinary council". Fox 13 Now.
  22. ^ Larry D. Curtis "Survey: Commitment of LDS Church members chilled by high-profile excommunications" KUTV 2, November 30th 2018
  23. ^ McMillan, Graeme (August 28, 2018). "'Spider-Man' Comic Features Reference to Anti-Mormon Book". The Hollywood Reporter.
  24. ^ McMillan, Graeme (August 29, 2018). "Marvel Removes Anti-Mormon Reference from 'Amazing Spider-Man' Comic". The Hollywood Reporter.
  25. ^ Boorstein, Michelle; Swaine, Jon (Jan 16, 2020). "These Mormon twins worked together on an IRS whistleblower complaint over the church's billions — and it tore them apart". The Washington Post.
  26. ^ Nielsen, Lars (18 Dec 2019). "Mormons, Here's Why I Published the Revelations About the LDS Church's $100 Billion Stockpile". Newsweek.

External links edit

  • CES Letter

April 11, 2024
jeremy, runnells, jeremy, runnells, critic, church, jesus, christ, latter, saints, church, author, book, titled, letter, director, later, renamed, letter, runnells, grew, seventh, generation, member, church, with, pioneer, ancestry, served, mission, church, yo. Jeremy T Runnells is a critic of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church and author of the book titled A Letter to a CES Director later renamed CES Letter 1 2 Runnells grew up as a seventh generation member of the LDS Church with pioneer ancestry He served a mission for the church in New York and graduated from church owned Brigham Young University 3 4 In 2012 he began to experience doubts over his faith A director of institute of the LDS Church s Church Educational System CES asked him to write his concerns and in response Runnells sent an 84 page letter with his concerns 5 After not receiving a response in April 2013 he posted his letter on the internet 6 The letter spread throughout the Mormon blogosphere and LDS Church communities and became one of the most influential sites providing the catalyst for many people leaving the LDS Church and resigning their membership 7 6 The publicity achieved by the CES Letter brought Runnells to found the CES Letter Foundation through which a combination of donations and paperback sales has allowed the original CES Letter project to grow into a full time career 8 Contents 1 CES Letter 1 1 Background 1 2 Content 2 Response 3 Other impacts 4 References 5 External linksCES Letter editBackground edit According to Runnells after attending a fireside by Marlin K Jensen in 2012 he became aware that some members were losing their faith over historical issues Wanting to understand these historical issues Runnells learned about and was specifically disturbed by Joseph Smith s marriages to already married women and Book of Abraham historical criticisms I began to have these feelings of betrayal I wasn t the village idiot I read books a lot of the approved books I just couldn t believe that I d never heard of the polyandry stuff for example or that Joseph Smith was married to 14 year old girls It just really shocked me 4 When his grandfather heard of the doubts Runnells had he put him in contact with a CES institute director who suggested Runnells write a letter with a list of his concerns 4 Content edit The CES Letter outlines a large list of issues Runnells has with LDS Church beliefs and its historical narrative It mostly deals with historical issues surrounding the time of the founding of the LDS Church in the 1820s and 1830s although it does talk about more modern issues as well This list includes issues surrounding the translation and historicity of the Book of Mormon Genetics and the Book of Mormon Joseph Smith s First Vision the Book of Abraham Kinderhook plates polygamy asserted prophetic abilities history of prophetic authority Mormonism and Freemasonry science and the Bible church finances and church academics A main theme of the letter is the belief of Runnells that the church knew unflattering aspects about its history but deliberately hid or misrepresented them 2 Response editAccording to the Salt Lake Tribune and The Daily Beast the letter has been influential in the decision of many now former members of the LDS Church to resign their membership 1 9 6 Numerous responses by LDS Church apologists in blogs books and podcasts have been created including several by FairMormon 10 Brian Hales of FairMormon suggested that Runnells was lying and had been deceived by Satan 11 Runnells posted an extensive rebuttal to FairMormon s response 12 No official response from the LDS Church has been released including from the CES Director to whom Runnells sent his letter however Tad R Callister then general president of the church s Sunday School while referring to Runnells as an unnamed critic wrote that the assertions from Runnells were rash partial truths and a classic case of presentism 13 Writer Jana Riess has argued that the impact of the CES Letter has been overstated yet important She argues that most members who leave do so for reasons other than historical inaccuracies Those who do leave over historical inaccuracies according to her research with Benjamin Knoll are a smaller vocal and growing group 14 This is inconsistent with a non random unscientific survey conducted by Podcaster John Dehlin indicating that among self recruited survey respondents historical reasons were a factor in 70 of former members decisions to leave 15 In November 2020 FairMormon released a set of 16 videos 16 responding to Runnells meant to appeal to Millennials and Generation Z Latter Day Saint scholar Grant Hardy said of the videos I have found them belligerent sarcastic sophomoric inaccurate demeaning and offensive In no way do they reflect Christian discipleship In response to criticism that the videos were mocking Runnells and other disaffected Latter Day Saints FairMormon chairman John Lynch said We are not trying to mock the people who are affected by the CES Letter We are mocking the letter itself and signal to people that this is a deceitful document not to be taken seriously 17 Runnells responded to the videos in a Facebook post reposting a video calling them a dishonest smear campaign 18 In March 2021 FairMormon changed its name to FAIR and removed the YouTube videos directed at Runnells and the CES Letter FAIR Director Scott Gordon announced that moving forward they were avoiding personal attacks or derogatory language while acknowledging that the CES Letter response videos received more views than any other videos we have with over 200 000 views 19 Other impacts editThe CES Letter along with a book published by Egyptologist Robert K Ritner and the reactions generated by apologists were influential in the 2014 release by the LDS Church of an essay addressing historical difficulties in the Book of Abraham 6 In 2016 due to the letter s content and public criticisms of the church Runnells local LDS Church leaders conducted a disciplinary council to determine the membership status of Runnells but towards the end of the council before a determination had been made Runnells resigned his membership exited the church building where the council was being held and stated to a crowd of supporters outside the church I have excommunicated the LDS Church from my life What errors or mistakes are there in the CES Letter or on my website that I can publicly correct If there are no errors or mistakes why am I being punished for seeking and sharing the truth I have done nothing wrong I just wanted the truth 3 20 21 Utah news station KUTV pointed to a survey that 57 of LDS Church members were troubled by high profile excommunications like Runnells including 43 of temple recommend holders 22 A Spider Man comic book was published in 2018 that had a patch drawn on the protagonist that read CES Letter 23 Upon being notified Marvel released a statement saying As a policy Marvel does not permit hidden controversial messages in its artwork and scrubbed the reference from further artwork The artist Ryan Ottley also released a statement saying My entire family are members as are many of my friends and I would never include anything mean spirited about them or their beliefs The reference was in regards to a subject I am interested in and a personal decision I made in my life It has nothing to do with the character the story or Marvel 24 In 2018 when Lars Nielsen published confidential documents about the investment fund of the LDS Church he titled his work Letter to an IRS Director in homage to the Letter to a CES Director written by Runnells 25 Nielsen said I wrote Letter to an IRS Director in the style and in admiration of Letter to a CES Director because isolated questioning Mormons need hours of immersive binge worthy relatable and rich content when their shelves begins to break 26 References edit a b Stack Peggy Fletcher March 11 2016 In this new era of doubt will a stronger Mormon faith emerge The Salt Lake Tribune Archived from the original on Jan 21 2018 a b Ash Michael R 2015 Bamboozled by the CES Letter Self Published a b Van Valkenburg Nancy April 18 2016 Author Jeremy Runnells Resigns From LDS Church At Excommunication Hearing In American Fork Gephardt Daily a b c Runnells Jeremy June 18 2014 Jeremy Runnells and His Letter to a CES Director Mormon Stories Podcast Interview Interviewed by John Dehlin Poulson Kevin Feb 10 2019 Inside the Secret Facebook War For Mormon Hearts and Minds The Daily Beast a b c d Harris M L Bringhurst N G amp Mauss A L 2020 The LDS gospel topics series A scholarly engagement Salt Lake City UT Signature Books Location 253 6302 of 8366 Larson Lauren Jul 1 2019 The Mormon Church vs The Internet The Verge Runnells Jeremy CES Letter at the Crossroads FAQs CES Letter Foundation Retrieved 9 March 2024 Hitt Tarpley May 5 2019 The Trials of YouTube Jesus A Mormon Apostate Fighting for His Family The Daily Beast Anonymous Author s Response to Letter to a CES Director Why I Lost My Testimony CES Letter My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts and Debunking FAIR s Debunking Debunking FairMormon 20 September 2019 Hales Brian August 4 2014 There Began to be Lyings Sent Forth among the People The Message of Jeremy Runnells FAIR Runnells Jeremy Debunking FairMormons Debunking CES Letter Foundation Callister Tad R 2019 A Case for the Book of Mormon Salt Lake City UT Deseret Book Riess Jana September 19 2019 Jana Riess This is your brain on Mormon Facebook The Salt Lake Tribune Dehlin John March 2012 Understanding Mormon Disbelief Why do some Mormons lose their testimony and what happens to them when they do PDF Why Mormons Question CES Letter Refutations YouTube YouTube Stack Peggy Fletcher Dec 12 2020 FairMormon s new satirical videos take on church critics but does the humor miss the mark The Salt Lake Tribune https www facebook com runnells posts 10158069407958737 user generated source Stack Peggy Fletcher March 24 2021 With its gentler approach FAIR drops its snarky videos aimed at LDS Church critics The Salt Lake Tribune Noyce David June 20 2016 Author of Letter to a CES Director resigns from Mormon church The Salt Lake Tribune Green Rebecca Apr 17 2016 Author of Letter to a CES Director out of LDS Church after disciplinary council Fox 13 Now Larry D Curtis Survey Commitment of LDS Church members chilled by high profile excommunications KUTV 2 November 30th 2018 McMillan Graeme August 28 2018 Spider Man Comic Features Reference to Anti Mormon Book The Hollywood Reporter McMillan Graeme August 29 2018 Marvel Removes Anti Mormon Reference from Amazing Spider Man Comic The Hollywood Reporter Boorstein Michelle Swaine Jon Jan 16 2020 These Mormon twins worked together on an IRS whistleblower complaint over the church s billions and it tore them apart The Washington Post Nielsen Lars 18 Dec 2019 Mormons Here s Why I Published the Revelations About the LDS Church s 100 Billion Stockpile Newsweek External links editCES Letter Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Jeremy Runnells amp oldid 1213869690, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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