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Criticism of Mormonism/Online documents/Letter to a CES Director: Difference between revisions
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A spam email with an attachment that discusses concerns with Mormon teachings was sent Tuesday to LDS Business College students. The email was addressed to hundreds enrolled at the church-owned college in downtown Salt Lake City, according to one student who received it. The email — which was not from a school account — listed the sender as LDSBC Important. | A spam email with an attachment that discusses concerns with Mormon teachings was sent Tuesday to LDS Business College students. The email was addressed to hundreds enrolled at the church-owned college in downtown Salt Lake City, according to one student who received it. The email — which was not from a school account — listed the sender as LDSBC Important. | ||
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The email says, "Dear students, Please read the attached file. It contains important information pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you have any questions, please feel [sic] to respond. Thank You!" | The email says, "Dear students, Please read the attached file. It contains important information pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you have any questions, please feel [sic] to respond. Thank You!" | ||
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The attachment is "Letter to a CES Director, Why I Lost My Testimony," by Jeremy Runnells, a sixth-generation Mormon and returned missionary who wrote the piece after experiencing a crisis of faith. The document was published online in April 2013 and updated in February. ("Anti-Mormon spam email targets LDS Business College students," ''Salt Lake Tribune'' (Apr 30, 2014)) {{link|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/57884988-180/email-account-college-ldsbc.html.csp}} | The attachment is "Letter to a CES Director, Why I Lost My Testimony," by Jeremy Runnells, a sixth-generation Mormon and returned missionary who wrote the piece after experiencing a crisis of faith. The document was published online in April 2013 and updated in February. ("Anti-Mormon spam email targets LDS Business College students," ''Salt Lake Tribune'' (Apr 30, 2014)) {{link|url=http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/57884988-180/email-account-college-ldsbc.html.csp}} | ||
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Revision as of 04:03, 1 May 2014
A FairMormon Analysis of "A Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony"
I didn't write this for the CES guy. I'm not under any illusion that I'm going to change his mind. It's not going to happen.
—Jeremy Runnells, author of "A Letter to a CES Director" April 23, 2013. [1]
Googling is not a synonym for seeking.
—Steven C. Harper, Joseph Smith's First Vision: A Guide to the Historical Accounts (2012), 11–12
Overview
The "Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony" is an online document which is critical of Latter-day Saint truth claims. The document is comprised of a list of issues that the author states caused him to lose his testimony, and it is hosted on a number of websites which are critical of the Church. [2] The author states that he is "a disaffected member who lost his testimony so it’s no secret which side I’m on at the moment. All this information is a result of over a year of intense research and an absolute rabid obsession with Joseph Smith and Church history. With this said, I’d be pretty arrogant and ignorant to say that I have all the information and that you don’t have answers."
A long list of issues follows. The author ultimately concludes that "There are just way too many problems. We’re not just talking about one issue here. We’re talking about dozens of serious issues that undermine the very foundation of the LDS Church and its truth claims."
Ex-Mormon proponents of the what is commonly known as the "CES Letter" use a variety of methods to "get the word out" to those whom they wish to deconvert. Fans of the letter scrawl its web address on flyers posted in Church buildings. In April 2014, an anonymous sender emails the "Letter to a CES Director" to students at the LDS Business College in Salt Lake City. Peggy Fletcher Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune notes:
A spam email with an attachment that discusses concerns with Mormon teachings was sent Tuesday to LDS Business College students. The email was addressed to hundreds enrolled at the church-owned college in downtown Salt Lake City, according to one student who received it. The email — which was not from a school account — listed the sender as LDSBC Important.
The email says, "Dear students, Please read the attached file. It contains important information pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If you have any questions, please feel [sic] to respond. Thank You!"
The attachment is "Letter to a CES Director, Why I Lost My Testimony," by Jeremy Runnells, a sixth-generation Mormon and returned missionary who wrote the piece after experiencing a crisis of faith. The document was published online in April 2013 and updated in February. ("Anti-Mormon spam email targets LDS Business College students," Salt Lake Tribune (Apr 30, 2014)) off-site
In developing our response, our primary intended audience is not necessarily the author of the Letter nor his associates, but rather those individuals, perhaps faithful Latter-day Saints, perhaps questioning, perhaps once-faithful but now sincerely doubting, who may have come across this Letter and been troubled by its contents. We respond here to the original version of the letter that was actually sent to the CES director. The author has since made some corrections based upon this analysis and posted a response at http://www.cesletter.com/debunking-fairmormon/