Jeremy Runnells

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 sixth-generation member of the LDS Church with pioneer ancestry. He served a mission for the church and graduated from church-owned Brigham Young University.[3] In 2012, he began to experience doubts over his faith. A director of institute of the LDS Church's Church Education System (CES) asked him to write his concerns, and in response Runnells sent an 84-page letter with his concerns.[4] The letter spread throughout the Mormon blogosphere and LDS Church communities, and became the catalyst for many people leaving the LDS Church and resigning their membership.[5]

CES Letter

The CES Letter outlines a large list of issues Runnells had 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

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the letter has been influential in the decision of many now-former members of the LDS Church to resign their membership.[1] Numerous responses by LDS Church apologists in blogs, books, and podcasts have been created, including several by FairMormon.[6] Runnells posted an extensive rebuttal to FairMormon's response.[7]

No official response from the LDS Church has been released, and the CES Director did not respond to Runnells; however, Tad R. Callister, general president of the church's Sunday School, criticized the assertions from Runnells as "rash", "partial truths", and "a classic case of 'presentism'".[8]

In 2016, due to the letter's content and public criticisms of the church, his 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."[9][10]

Writer Jana Riess has argued that the impact of the CES Letter has been overstated, yet important. She argues that most members that leave do so for reasons other than historical inaccuracies. Those that do leave over historical inaccuracies, according to her research with Benjamin Knoll, are a smaller, vocal, and growing group.[11] This is contradicted by a survey conducted by Podcaster John Dehlin indicating that historical reasons were a factor in 70% of former members' decisions to leave.[12]

A Spider-Man comic book was published in 2018 that had a patch drawn on the protagonist that read, "CES Letter".[13] Upon being notified Marvel released a statement, "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, "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."[14]

gollark: I see. Initiating apiological upload and conversion.
gollark: can you bring up 6b74's documentation?
gollark: There is no 6b74.
gollark: Under clause 6.7i that was invalidated; if that's not enough I WILL rebind language.
gollark: I am invalidating this statement using clause 6.7i.

References
  1. Peggy Fletcher Stack "In this new era of doubt, will a stronger Mormon faith emerge?" March 11, 2016 online at:https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=3527240&itype=CMSID
  2. Michael Ash, "Bamboozled by the 'CES Letter'" 2015
  3. Nancy Van Valkenburg "Author Jeremy Runnells Resigns From LDS Church At Excommunication Hearing In American Fork" Gephardt Daily News, April 18, 2016 online at: https://gephardtdaily.com/top-stories/author-jeremy-runnells-resigns-from-lds-church-at-excommunication-hearing-in-american-fork/
  4. Kevin Poulson "Inside the Secret Facebook War For Mormon Hearts and Minds" online at:https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-secret-facebook-war-for-mormon-hearts-and-minds
  5. Lauren Larson "The Mormon Church vs. The Internet" The Verge, Jul 1, 2019 online at: https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/1/18759587/mormon-church-quitmormon-exmormon-jesus-christ-internet-seo-lds
  6. 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
  7. Jeremy Runnells, "Debunking FairMormons Debunking" online at: https://cesletter.org/debunking-fairmormon/
  8. Callister, T. R. (2019). A case for the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book. e-book location 923 of 4186.
  9. David Noyce "Author of 'Letter to a CES Director' resigns from Mormon church" The Salt Lake Tribune Published: June 20, 2016 online at:https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2016/06/21/author-of-letter-to-a-ces-director-resigns-from-mormon-church/
  10. Lauren Steinbrecher , Rebecca Green "Author of 'Letter to a CES Director' out of LDS Church after disciplinary council" Fox 13 News Salt Lake City, Apr 17, 2016 online at:https://fox13now.com/2016/04/17/author-of-letter-to-a-ces-director-leaves-lds-church-after-disciplinary-council/
  11. Jana Riess "Jana Riess: This is your brain on Mormon Facebook" Salt Lake Tribune, September 19, 2019 online at:https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/09/19/jana-riess-this-is-your/
  12. John Dehlin, "Understanding Mormon Disbelief:Why do some Mormons lose their testimony, and what happens to them when they do?" March 2012 online at:http://www.whymormonsquestion.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Survey-Results_Understanding-Mormon-Disbelief-Mar20121.pdf
  13. Graeme McMillan "'Spider-Man' Comic Features Reference to Anti-Mormon Book" Hollywood Reporter AUGUST 28, 2018 11:10AM online at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/amazing-spider-man-comic-features-reference-anti-mormon-book-1138001
  14. Graeme McMillan "Marvel Removes Anti-Mormon Reference from 'Amazing Spider-Man' Comic" Hollywood Reporter, August 29, 2018 online at:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/marvel-scrubs-anti-mormon-reference-amazing-spider-man-1138358
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