CES Letter

What is the CES Letter?

It's a document written by Jeremy Runnells[BIO] that lists "many serious problematic challenges to [the] foundational truth claims" of the Church.[1]

It is referred to as the CES Letter because Runnells originally wrote it to a Church Educational System (CES) employee.[2]

Timeline of events related to the CES Letter

February 2012

Jeremy Runnells,[BIO] author of the CES Letter, experiences a "faith crisis" while studying the history and doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and by the summer of 2012 he notes he "[doesn't] believe in this anymore."[3]

October 9, 2012

Runnells posts a satirical open letter addressed to Apostle Quentin L. Cook[BIO] stating that Runnell's "testimony was destroyed by falsehoods I found on the evil internetz."[4][5]

November 15, 2012

Runnells asks for advice on an ex-Mormon forum on Reddit, saying "I have a TBM ["True Believing Mormon"] wife who still takes kids to church. I want to know the most effective way to save them from Mormonism."[6]

Early March 2013

Runnells begins writing a document describing his concerns about the history and doctrine of the Church at the request of a Church Educational System (CES) director. The director was a friend of Runnells's grandfather and was "just trying to help."[7]

March 26, 2013

Runnells shares an initial draft of the document intended for the CES Director on the ex-Mormon forum on Reddit asking for "feedback/advice."[8]

April 12, 2013

Runnells posts the final draft of the document[9] and invites Reddit users on the ex-Mormon forum to "personalize it to yourselves to give to your TBM loved ones."[10]

Late April 2013

Runnells sends "Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony" to the unnamed CES director.[11]

Late April 2013

Tom Phillips[BIO] posts "Letter to a CES Director" on mormonthink.com.[12]

June 2013

FAIRMormon (now FAIR)[BIO] begins publishing a series of responses to the issues raised in the CES Letter.[13]

July 30-31, 2013

Runnells "crowdsources" rebuttals to the FAIRMormon response on the ex-Mormon forum on Reddit.[14]

August 2013

Runnells launches cesletter.com, which hosts the letter as well as rebuttals against criticisms of the letter.[15]

February 2014

In response to the criticisms from FAIRMormon, Runnells publishes "Debunking FairMormon" on the CES Letter website.[16]

June 12, 2014

John Dehlin[BIO] hosts Jeremy Runnells on his podcast Mormon Stories, where Runnells discusses his background, relationship with the Church, and the CES Letter.[17]

February 11, 2015

Runnells crowdsources a new subtitle for the CES Letter on the ex-mormon forum on Reddit because "[Why I Lost My Testimony] might be too scary or off-putting to TBMs."[18] The March 2015 version of the CES Letter was published without a subtitle.[19]

July 26, 2015

Runnells states that the "target audience" for the CES Letter is the "fence sitters" and that "[TBMs] are not my target audience because they're not ready for it. I'm looking for the doubters."[20]

April 1, 2016

Jim Bennett[BIO] publishes A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers for Those Who Doubt.[21]

April 17, 2016

Jeremy Runnells is accused of apostasy[22] and a Church disciplinary council is held.[23] Jeremy resigns his membership in the Church during the council meeting and immediately after holds a press briefing to announce his resignation from the Church, stating "Tonight I took back my own power."[24]

October 2016

Runnells speaks on "Restoring Your Own Power and Liberty" at the ExMormon Foundation Conference.[25]

December 3, 2017

The 138-page CES Letter 2.0 is released with the "biggest and most substantial change" being the "softened tone" compared with previous versions.[26]

Expand Timeline

What is the purpose of the CES Letter?

The letter was originally written to a family friend of the Runnells who worked for the Church Educational System, but it was also posted to Reddit so that others could "personalize" and share it with their "TBM loved ones."[27] The stated purpose has evolved over time.[28]

Who is the intended audience of the CES Letter?

In 2015, Runnells stated that "[TBMs] are not my target audience because they're not ready for it. I'm looking for the doubters."[29] He also added, "The target audience are the fence sitters."[30]

What's the main point of the CES Letter?

The CES Letter argues that the Church and its leaders are deceptive and inconsistent,[31] that the Church has an insurmountable number of problems with its truth claims,[32] and that believing in it is either "delusional" or "insane."[33]

So what's in the CES Letter?

The document is a compilation of frequent criticisms of the Church,[34] including the multiple accounts of the First Vision, the Kinderhook Plates, Joseph Smith's polygamy, the Book of Abraham translation, and more.[35]

Is the CES Letter accurate?

Yes and no. It is a mix of facts and misrepresentations[36] written into a narrative based on the premise that the Church is deceptive and therefore cannot be true.[37]

What have reviewers of the CES Letter said about it?

Both Latter-day Saints and former Latter-day Saints have responded to the CES Letter.[38] It is generally condemned by Latter-day Saints as being poor scholarship with an obvious bias, and largely considered accurate and praiseworthy by former Latter-day Saints for bringing important issues to light (see below).[39]

Negative reviews of the CES Letter

Source	Comment
David Snell[BIO]	"The CES Letter makes hundreds upon hundreds of claims. Whether intended or not, sometimes what the Letter does is simply overwhelm readers with so much negative information that they’re thrown into a panic before really taking a deep breath and investigating individual claims. . ." "Some of the information in the Letter is simply true. Some, as far as I can tell, is patently false (and hopefully those are honest mistakes). And I think some information lacks important nuance or leaves out additional relevant information."[40]
C. Randall Nicholson[BIO]	"Like most materials critical of the church, the CES Letter has nothing new to say. . . So why do its acolytes think it's such a big screaming deal and obsessively spam church-related discussions with links to it? I believe it's because, in a particularly egregious example of the "big list" fallacy, it substitutes quantity for quality by compiling so many criticisms into so little space."[41]
Michael Ash[BIO]	"The CES Letter has bamboozled a number of Latter-day Saints . . . [the Letter] can create heartburn in the spiritual stomachs of some members—this is going to happen when you eat a habanero pepper that you thought was a cherry tomato."[42]
Daniel Peterson[BIO]	"My impression—I will give you the bottom line—is that the author spent too little time and effort looking at these questions, that he “jumped ship” too soon, that there are answers, at least adequate, and in some cases really much more than adequate to just about every issue raised."[43]
Jim Bennett[BIO]	"The CES Letter is bad scholarship making arguments that its own author doesn’t seem to understand, citing sources he hasn’t bothered to read. Overall, its charges do not stand up to scrutiny."[44]

Expand Table

Positive reviews of the CES Letter

Source	Comment
Grant Palmer[BIO]	"Jeremy Runnells’ CES Letter is an excellent summary of the foundational problems of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Given the generous amount of time, energy, and money donated to the LDS Church, members owe it to themselves to take a serious look beyond what is taught in Church meetings."[45]
Hans Mattsson[BIO]	“Runnells’ CES Letter presents many historical issues concerning LDS history, which for many members has been a wake-up call. The letter deserves to be read, both in and out of the LDS community."[46]
John Dehlin[BIO]	“Meticulously researched, this book represents Jeremy’s sincere, heartfelt, and herculean effort to gather and discern the basic evidence regarding LDS church origins. It is an incredible labor of love. . . I know of no other resource—on the Internet or in print—that is more accurate, concise, and yet comprehensive. I highly recommend this book.”[47]
Lindsay Hansen Park[BIO]	"For me, I think the CES letter is a good compilation of the inaccuracies and problems with the LDS church. It’s a great place to go for a bullet list of issues."[48]

Expand Table

Has anyone gone through the CES Letter and made corrections or refutations?

Yes. There are several refutations of the CES Letter which have addressed misrepresentations and distortions of information (see below).[49]

Refutations of the CES Letter

Document	Notes
Bamboozled by the "CES Letter"[50]	This 91-page document was written and published online by Michael Ash[BIO] in 2015. Ash identifies and responds to 93 unique claims in the CES Letter.
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)[51]	Published on the FAIR[BIO] website, this refutation consists of thousands of pages responding to the CES Letter as well as Runnells's "debunking FairMormon" article, which was published on the CES Letter website.
dice1899's CES Letter Rebuttal[52]	Sarah Allen[BIO] is the author of this 70-part series published on Reddit from 2021–2022.
Eye of the Beholder, Law of the Harvest: Observations on the Inevitable Consequences of the Different Investigative Approaches of Jeremy Runnells and Jeff Lindsay[53]	This essay by Kevin Christensen[BIO] was published in 2014 in Interpreter and is a meta-analysis of the CES Letter and Jeff Lindsay's rebuttal to it.[BIO]
A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers for Those Who Doubt[54]	This 372-page refutation by Jim Bennett was updated in 2018. It is a line-by-line response to the CES Letter in book format.
CES Letter: A Closer Look[55]	This refutation, organized by Brian Hales,[BIO] has several contributors and goes claim-by-claim through the CES Letter, overlaying the original text with commentary and links to relevant sources with detailed examinations.

Expand Table

What is Jeremy Runnells' personal background?

Runnells was raised in the Church, served a mission, attended BYU, and married in the temple.[56] He has three children.[57]

Was Jeremy Runnells excommunicated from the Church?

No. Jeremy Runnells voluntarily resigned his membership on April 17, 2016, in the middle of a Church council held for apostasy.[58] Immediately after, Runnells held a press conference outside the chapel building and said "I have excommunicated the LDS Church."[59]

Has the Church responded to the CES Letter?

No, but the Church has issued general cautions about how to evaluate information.[60]

The Facts

The CES Letter is a list of issues or problems with the truth claims of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The document attempts to persuade readers that the Church is deceitful and that maintaining membership in it is insane.
Several organizations and individuals have written detailed responses to the claims made in the CES Letter.
The Church has not directly responded to the CES Letter.

Our Take

If you have encountered material critical to the Church online, there's a good chance that it was a link or reference to the CES Letter. For those who have read it, the long list of issues related to the Church can feel overwhelming and discouraging. Some might come away asking: has the Church lied to me? Are there so many problems that it must be untrue? Should I leave the Church?

The CES Letter argues that it is "delusional" and "insane" to have faith in the restored gospel and the Church and that a rational, intelligent person would have no part in it. It presents a very long list of common criticisms against the Church and packages it in a way that is designed to provoke negative emotional and intellectual responses in the reader. It does this by mixing selective facts with distortions about the Church and guiding the reader down a path that manipulates them into feelings of anger, shame, and betrayal.

Latter-day Saints have been encouraged to "Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith" (D&C 88:118). In the age of information, seeking to learn "by study" includes searching out responsible sources, fact-checking, and recognizing and engaging with the bias of all sources of information. Educated and rational thought can coexist with belief, and many Latter-day Saints maintain their relationship with Jesus Christ as they carefully study these issues.

When diligent study is paired with faith, the pursuit of truth and light can be an invigorating, uplifting experience that broadens our perspectives, strengthens our empathy, bolsters our faith in Jesus Christ, and renews our understanding of His restored gospel.

What's Your Take?

Thomas F.
“I just finished reading Rough Stone Rolling, and it is amazing to see the parallels between early critics and attackers of the Church. Critics and non-believers keep recycling the same arguments, but truth is slowly revealed.”
Luke
“I believe the CES letter was never really intended to get answers and restore faith. Maybe to humor the CES director, but after it went viral, the author and other former Latter-day Saints used it as their weapon.”
G. Keith
“I’ve studied the CES letter and it’s the same old, same old accusations against the Church since it was restored. Nothing surprising in it. There will always be attacks. There will always be doubters. We walk by Faith. The Holy Spirit testifies of Truth; not misguided opinion.”
Jeffery R.
“Most media critical of the church has had me scratching my head at first then breathing a sigh of relief, CES Letter is no different, when thoroughly examined with source material and personal study, explanations/understandings can be found for every argument, the church is true.”
Anonymous
“I have read the CES letter and admit that there are still things that I am grappling with. I think like most things, it sits in an uncomfortable gray area. It would be much easier if it was clearly black and white, but there are things we don’t have answers too. That can be okay.”

Read More Difficult Questions

85 Primary Sources

Footnotes

BIOJeremy Runnells
Jeremy Todd Runnells (1980–living) is the author of The CES Letter and founder of the CES Letter Foundation. He was born and raised in southern California and was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until 2012. In April of 2013, Runnells published Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony. Runnells resigned from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 2016.
BIOQuentin L. Cook
Quentin L Cook (September 8, 1940 – present) was born in Logan, Utah and is a current member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a former lawyer and business executive and received his Juris Doctorate from Stanford University in 1966. He and his wife, Mary, have three children.
BIOTom Phillips
Tom Phillips joined the Church in 1969 in England and served in many prominent leadership positions including bishop, stake president, and area executive secretary. In 2008, Phillips claimed to have received a second temple anointing and published an account of the experience. In 2014 Phillips attempted to take President Thomas S. Monson to court based on Britain's Fraud Act of 2006. Phillips was involved with the Church-critical website MormonThink for many years.
BIOFAIR
FAIR (originally The Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization for Latter-day Saint apologetics. FAIR was founded in 1997 by volunteers with the aim of sharing apologetic information, defending the Latter-day Saint faith, and responding publicly to criticism of the Church. The organization's name was changed to FAIRMormon 2013. The name was changed to FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Responses) in 2021.
BIOJohn Dehlin
John Dehlin (1969 – present) is a podcast host for Mormon Stories and an excommunicated Latter-day Saint. Dehlin served a mission in Guatemala and Arizona, attended Brigham Young University, and received a Ph.D. in psychology from Utah State University. Dehlin founded Mormon Stories in 2005 and has published several blogs. Dehlin was excommunicated for apostasy from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2015. His request for appeal was denied.
BIOJim Bennett
Jim Bennett is a Latter-day Saint writer, apologist, and political activist. He has previously worked as a columnist for the Deseret News and is currently a freelance writer based in Sandy, Utah. In 2018 he published A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter. Bennett is the son of former Utah Senator Bob Bennett. Jim Bennett helped found the United Utah Party and ran for Congress in 2017 as the party's first candidate.
BIODavid Snell
David Snell is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a host of the YouTube channel Saints Unscripted. He served a mission in Chihuahua, Mexico and is the founder of The Sunday Pews. Snell has a journalism degree from BYU and has written for a number of websites and organizations, including Mormon Newsroom Pacific, KBYU11, Classical 89 Radio and FamilyShare.com.
BIOC. Randall Nicholson
Christopher Randall Nicholson (June 23, 1993 – present) was born in Orem, Utah and raised in upstate New York as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. C. Randall Nicholson received a bachelor's degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing from Utah State University in 2018, and a Master's degree in English from USU in 2022. Nicholson left the LDS Church in 2022. He identifies as an “Autistic Asexual Author, Child of God, and Pretty Okay Guy” on his website.
BIOMichael R. Ash
Michael R. Ash (August 12, 1961 – present) is a writer and staff member at FAIR. He has written and published articles on apologetics and Mormon studies for FAIR, FARMS, Sunstone, and Dialogue. Ash is a former weekly columnist for the Mormon Times. Michael Ash is the author of Bamboozled by the “CES Letter.”
BIODaniel C. Peterson
Daniel C. Peterson (1953–present) is a professor emeritus of Islamic Studies and Arabic in the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages at Brigham Young University. He attended received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and Greek from BYU and did graduate work in Jerusalem and Cairo before receiving a Ph.D. from UCLA. His academic work focuses mostly on the Qur'an and Islamic philosophy. Peterson served as chairman of the board of the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies and currently serves as editor-in-chief of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship.
BIOGrant H. Palmer
Grant H. Palmer (August 17, 1940 – September 25, 2017) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Palmer was employed by the Church Educational System for over thirty-four years and worked in institutes and seminaries across the world. He was an active member of the Mormon History Association. He was disfellowshipped in 2004 for his 2002 book An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, which challenges the origins of the Church and the Book of Mormon. He resigned from the Church on October 25, 2010.
BIOHans H. Mattsson
Hans H. Mattsson (September 19, 1950 – present) was born in Gothenburg, Sweden and served a mission in the England Central Mission. Hans H. Mattsson served as the first Swedish Area Authority Seventy in the early 2000s before resigning from the Church in 2016. He has been active in publishing and voicing his criticism in the media, including the New York Times and the Mormon Stories podcast.
BIOLindsay Hansen Park
Lindsay Hansen Park (1982–) is a feminist blogger and the Executive Director of the Sunstone Education Foundation. In 2014, she launched the Year of Polygamy podcast, which she hosts.
BIOSarah Allen
Sarah Allen is an affiliate of FAIR who has published responses to the CES Letter on both the r/lds subreddit and the FAIR website. She works in mortgage compliance, and serves as a moderator on the r/lds subreddit.
BIOKevin Christensen
Kevin Christensen (b. 1954) is a technical writer based in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He received a Bachelor's degree in English from San Jose State University. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and has published articles and essays in Dialogue, Sunstone, the FARMS Review of Books, the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Insights, the Meridian Magazine, the FARMS Occasional Papers, Glimpses of Lehi's Jerusalem, Interpreter, Square Two, FAIR, and the book Joseph Smith Jr.: Reappraisals After Two Centuries.
BIOJeff Lindsay
Jeffrey Dean Lindsay (1959–present) is a Latter-day Saint apologist. He received a Ph. D. in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University and worked as a U.S. patent agent. Lindsay is the current vice president of the Interpreter Foundation and has written books and articles defending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for over twenty years, primarily through his blog arisefromthedust.com and website jefflindsay.com.
BIOBrian C. Hales
Brian C. Hales (1957–living) is an author and anesthesiologist who resides in Utah. He served as a missionary in Venezuela from 1976 to 1978. Hales studied medicine at the University of Utah and completed his residency at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He has written books on the topic of polygamy, including Modern Polygamy and Mormon Fundamentalism.
[1]↩︎
The first version of the document was 77 pages long. In the conclusion, Runnells suggests that the number of "issues" he listed was problematic in and of itself:
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.
- Jeremy Runnells states in the CES Letter conclusion that it is delusion to continue affiliating with the Church in light of all the "problematic challenges."
- First edition of the CES Letter published online.
[2]↩︎
Jeremy Runnells has frequently mentioned the request he received to write out his concerns for a CES Director, who was a friend of his grandfather and had expressed a willingness to help. Runnells wrote the following recap in his 2016 resignation letter:
I was contacted by a CES Director in March 2013 to share my questions and concerns regarding the LDS church and its foundational truth claims. CES Letter was my response. The CES Director confirmed that he read the "very well-written" letter and acknowledged that these are issues "which the Brethren are very concerned about" and he promised that he would provide a response. Unfortunately, no response ever came.
[3]↩︎
Runnells explained the progression of his faith crisis on the podcast Mormon Stories:
You have to remember my faith crisis happened in February 2012 and then by that summer of 2012 I was like, "I don't believe in this anymore."
- Jeremy Runnells states that in the summer of 2012 "I don't believe in this anymore" on Mormon Stories podcast.
[4]↩︎
The letter was written in response to an address delivered by Quentin L. Cook that taught the following:
Many who are in a spiritual drought and lack commitment . . . have immersed themselves in Internet materials that magnify, exaggerate, and, in some cases, invent shortcomings of early Church leaders. Then they draw incorrect conclusions that can affect testimony. Any who have made these choices can repent and be spiritually renewed.
Runnells's open letter, which he posted on Reddit, was satirical in nature:
I am one of those formerly spiritually lost and "apostate" souls whose testimony was destroyed by falsehoods I found on the evil internetz. But on Saturday night, following your advice at General Conference, I repented of my disillusionment, and it totally worked.
The letter continues the sarcastic tone, listing multiple challenges to Latter-day Saint truth claims as "ludicrous lies" that were "discarded through [his] repentance."
- Jeremy Runnells posts an open letter to Quentin L. Cook satirically addressing several controversial Church-related subjects.
- Elder Quentin Cook suggests that those who have drawn "incorrect conclusions" from "internet materials... can repent and be spiritually renewed."
[5]↩︎
Runnells was interviewed in 2014 by John Dehlin on the podcast Mormon Stories and was asked about his open letter to Elder Cook:
Runnells: I was kinda being, um, I was being sarcastic in that letter. Dehlin: It reads a little bit angry, to be honest with you. Runnells: Well, of course. I was pissed off. You know? And anybody that tells you that when you leave the Church that you should just leave it alone and don't be angry, don't be the angry apostate. They don't understand the trauma and the process of leaving.
- Jeremy Runnells posts an open letter to Quentin L. Cook satirically addressing several controversial Church-related subjects.
- Jeremy Runnells explains why he wrote the satirical open letter on Reddit to Quentin L. Cook in an interview on Mormon Stories.
[6]↩︎
The term "TBM" is an acronym for "True Believing Mormon" or "True Blooded Mormon." It is generally considered derogatory.
Runnells posted the following on the ex-Mormon subreddit in November 2012 (Note that "TSCC" is an acronym for "The So-Called Church" and BIC is an acronym for "Born In the Covenant."):
I'm BIC, RM, Temple Married who left the church a few months ago (haven't resigned yet). Wife is cafeteria Mormon who still wants to attend church with kids. I have 3 kids all under the age of 6. I'm mainly worried about two things at this point: 1) TSCC undermining me as a father by feeding them "your dad lost the spirit" bullshit. 2) TSCC brainwashing my kids into TBM "Follow the Prophet" robots. When is the right time to bring up my disbelief and the details that caused my disbelief? . . . I have a TBM wife who still takes kids to church. I want to know the most effective way to save them from Mormonism so they won't have to go through what I went through.
- Jeremy Runnells asks "How do I save my kids from Mormonism?" on Reddit (r/exmormon).
[7]↩︎
Runnells talked about his limited interactions with the CES Director on Mormon Stories:
So, my grandpa forwarded him my information and I was surprised the CES Director actually e-mailed me. A very nice guy. He's just trying to help my grandpa and I. I have no beef with him. I honestly don't blame him for not responding back to me. He was probably expecting five questions in an e-mail and I throw him close to a 77-80 pages document.
- Jeremy Runnells recounts the interactions he had with the CES Director who had offered to help him with his concerns.
[8]↩︎
On March 26th, 2013, Jeremy Runnells posted the first draft of the CES Letter to the ex-Mormon subreddit asking for feedback:
Need Feedback! My TBM grandpa asked me to speak to his CES Director friend about my concerns. CES guy offered to talk to me. This PDF is a rough draft of what I'm sending over to both CES guy and grandpa. Need your feedback/advice, guys. Thanks!
- Jeremy Runnells requests feedback on rough draft of CES Letter.
[9]↩︎
Runnells shared the final draft of his letter on the ex-Mormon Reddit on April 13, 2013, asking readers if they had any thoughts:
Follow-up from TBM Grandpa's CES Director friend asking me to share concerns. Final draft of letter is done! Let me know what you guys think before I send.
The term "TBM" is an acronym for "True Believing Mormon" or "True Blooded Mormon" and is generally considered derogatory.
- Jeremy Runnells requests feedback on the final draft of CES letter in r/exmormon.
[10]↩︎
Runnells's post of the final draft received comments asking if the document could be shared. Runnells responded:
You guys can do whatever you want with the Word document. Personalize it for yourselves to give to your TBM loved ones. It's yours.
- Jeremy Runnells comments users can personalize CES letter for "TBM loved ones".
[11]↩︎
In February of 2015 Jeremy Runnells posted his recollection of his timeline for writing and sending the CES Letter:
My grandfather approached me about the CES Director in late February 2013. The CES Director approached me in early March 2013. I emailed the CES Director the PDF in late April 2013. So, it took me a little over a month to write the CES Letter.
- Jeremy Runnells recalls the circumstances and timing surrounding the creation of the CES Letter and the FAIR debunking content in a comment on Reddit.
[12]↩︎
Jeremy Runnells talks about the CES Letter gaining recognition on the Mormon Stories podcast in 2014:
I didn't get a lot of criticism. I just got, "Wow, this is kind of cool that you made it all comprehensive." So, it kinda just spread it around, got viral a little bit and it ended up getting into the hands of MormonThink, Tom Phillips and he really liked it. He emailed me. He said, "This is great. Let's put this up." I said, "Cool." So, we put it up and then it really blew up from there.
- Jeremy Runnells recalls CES Letter being shared on Mormonthink.com around late April after going viral on Mormon Stories Interview.
- CES Letter pdf shared on mormonthink.com/personalstories on May 1, 2013.
[13]↩︎
Over the latter half of 2013, FairMormon published a response to every chapter in "A Letter to a CES Director." In the overview, they wrote the following under the header "Accuracy":
The letter presents a host of troubling issues in the form of questions. The author states that "I’m hoping you’re going to have better answers than many of the ones given by unofficial apologists such as FAIR and Neal Maxwell Institute (formerly FARMS)."
- FairMormon publishes detailed responses to the claims made in the CES Letter.
[14]↩︎
In a series of posts in July 2013, Jeremy Runnells (username "kolobot") sought the assistance of the ex-Mormon Reddit community to help him respond to FAIR's critique of the CES Letter.
[15]↩︎
The original CES Letter website contained a simple thumbnail image that linked to the April 28, 2013 version of A Letter to a CES Director.
- Jeremy Runnells creates the cesletter.com Website.
[16]↩︎
In the introduction to "Debunking FairMormon," Runnells complains that "FairMormon is like nailing green Jell-O to the wall" and that they "change their answers often."
He also states that the Church is causing "incalculable unnecessary suffering" because it is "dishonest about Joseph Smith, the Church's origins, and Church history."
In a 2015 comment on the ex-Mormon subreddit, he stated that "The CES Letter was a cake walk compared to my Debunking FAIR's Debunking (close to 900 pages of content)."
- Jeremy Runnells responds to FairMormon "debunking" CES Letter.
- Jeremy Runnells recalls the circumstances and timing surrounding the creation of the CES Letter and the FAIR debunking content in a comment on Reddit.
[17]↩︎
Mormon Stories interviewed Jeremy Runnells for over three hours, discussing his background, experience with Mormonism, writing the CES Letter, and life after publishing the letter.
- John Dehlin hosts Jeremy Runnells on his podcast Mormon Stories 480: Jeremy Runnells Pt 1 - On Growing Up Mormon and the Genesis of the CES Letter June 2014.
[18]↩︎
In this 2015 post on Reddit, Runnells made it clear that he intended to update the subtitle of the CES Letter so that it wouldn't be an "obstacle" for anyone who might consider reading it:
Obviously the CES Letter has become much bigger than a simple letter to a CES Director and if the subtitle is an obstacle keeping some folks from discovering many of the historical issues, I'm open to updating it.
- Jeremy Runnells asks ExMormon reddit to help him change the title of the CES Letter because "'Why I Lost My Testimony' might be too scary" to "TBMs."
[19]↩︎
While the March 2015 update to the CES Letter dropped the subtitle, the "2.0" edition of the document published in 2017 added a new subtitle: "My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts."
- March 2015 version of Letter to a CES Director by Jeremy Runnells.
- CES Letter 2.0 launches on cesletter.org.
[20]↩︎
In a comment on the ex-Mormon Reddit, Runnells described the "target audience" of the CES Letter and how some "TBMs" might react:
Will some TBMs run away? Yes. . . . These folks are not my target audience because they're not ready for it. I'm looking for the doubters.
- Runnells identifies the "target audience" of the CES Letter as "doubting members or TBMs who have accepted the possibility that the Church is not true."
[21]↩︎
"A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers for Those Who Doubt" is a 372-page line-by-line response to the October 2017 version of the CES Letter.
- Jim Bennett's "A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers For Those Who Doubt."
[22]↩︎
Runnell's Stake President stated at the beginning of the disciplinary court that the reason for the council was reported apostasy:
The reason for this council is that you are reported to be in apostasy, in that you have repeatedly acted in clear, open, and deliberate opposition to the church or its leaders. You have among other things, published materials and participated in interviews which have attempted to discredit the church, publicly expressed your view that the church’s scriptures are fraudulent, and expressed opposition to church leaders including the prophet Joseph Smith.
- Transcript of Jeremy Runnells' recorded disciplinary court, April 17, 2016, posted to reddit and Mormonthink.
[23]↩︎
Runnells secretly recorded audio and video of his disciplinary council meeting. The audio recording and transcript were posted on the Internet Archive on April 20, 2016 by user "eiznem."
The meeting ends with Runnells delivering a resignation letter to his Stake President while stating the following:
So, this is a kangaroo court. I’m done with this court. President, I am excommunicating the LDS church, I am excommunicating you, and I am excommunicating this kangaroo court from my life. Here is my resignation letter. Good bye.
[24]↩︎
The press briefing was held in the parking lot of the stake center. It was attended by various members of the local press and supporters of Runnells. He stood on the bed of a pickup truck and read from a prepared statement to the crowd. The following is an excerpt from his statement directed at his supporters:
I have done nothing wrong. I just wanted the truth. I wanted official answers to the church’s church essay verified problems to resolve my concerns and doubts. Um, for those of you who are struggling with doubts, ‘stop doubting your doubts’, cherish your doubts, explore your doubts, resolve your doubts. Doubt is the beginning to knowledge and wisdom. The only power that the Church has is the power that you give them.
After his statement, refreshments were served.
- Jeremy Runnells press meeting following resignation April 17, 2016.
- Gephardt Daily news reports on the press conference held in a church parking lot immediately after Jeremy Runnells' disciplinary court.
[25]↩︎
Jeremy Runnells was invited to be a headlining speaker at the 2016 ExMormon Foundation Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The following is an excerpt from Runnells' hour-long address:
I have found that the single most important question that one can ask themselves when trying to decide on whether or not to really investigate the LDS Church's truth claims is a single question: "What if it's not true?"
- ExMormon Foundation Conference speech "The Examined Life: Restoring Your Own Power and Liberty - Jeremy Runnells (CES Letter author)".
[26]↩︎
The CES Letter 2.0 announcement stated that the document was available in paperback, ePub, and PDF formats. It also included an image of the comic book character Batman slapping Robin and saying "Jeremy softened tone in CES Letter 2.0!"
Among other changes and revisions, the change in tone was reportedly the most significant:
The biggest and most substantial change in CES Letter 2.0 is the tone. There are no longer any tonal issues in the CES Letter. . . Jeremy has taken a fine-tooth comb and gone through the entire document many times to identify and change parts of the document that are snarky or hostile in tone.
This version of the CES Letter also included a new subtitle: "My Search for Answers to my Mormon Doubts."
- CES Letter 2.0 launches on cesletter.org.
[27]↩︎
The term "TBM" is an acronym for "True Believing Mormon" or "True Blooded Mormon" and is generally considered derogatory.
After several commenters asked for an editable version of the document, Runnells provided one and said, "You guys can do whatever you want with the Word document. Personalize it for yourselves to give to your TBM loved ones. It's yours."
- Jeremy Runnells comments users can personalize CES letter for "TBM loved ones".
[28]↩︎
Runnells stated in 2013:
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. I wrote this for my kids who one day are going to ask their dad why he left the faith.
And in 2015 he wrote:
The target audience are the fence sitters. The ones who roll their eyes when they hear "doubt your doubts".
Later in 2015, Runnells stated that his "obsession" with the CES Letter had changed and that he was interested in "helping individuals, marriages and families" and "obsessed with alleviating suffering and helping to liberate the minds of human beings from a cult."
And in 2017 he stated: "I was doing everything I could to restore my testimony and to try to make the LDS Church true. The CES Letter is just a letter to a CES Director. Nothing more. Nothing less."
[29]↩︎
In a 2015 comment on Reddit on the topic of Runnells receiving donations to fund the CES Letter, he clarified who he envisions as the target audience:
Will some TBMs run away? Yes. Ironically, some will cynically point to donations while seeing no problem with donating to FairMormon who also ask for donations. These folks are not my target audience because they're not ready for it. I'm looking for the doubters. I'm looking for the ones who have already accepted the possibility that the Church is not true and are determined to find out the rest of the story.
- Runnells identifies the "target audience" of the CES Letter as "doubting members or TBMs who have accepted the possibility that the Church is not true."
[30]↩︎
Runnells made this comment about the target audience of the CES Letter on the ex-Mormon forum on Reddit:
The target audience are the fence sitters. The ones who roll their eyes when they hear "doubt your doubts". The ones who read the essays and are WTF? The ones who want to know the details and who have accepted the possibility that the Church is not true.
- Runnells comments on Reddit that "the target audience" of the CES Letter "are the fence sitters" and that his rebuttal to FAIR's criticisms of the CES Letter "is going to destroy FairMormon's latest crayon drawing butthurt recovery attempt."
[31]↩︎
The CES Letter makes many statements arguing that the Church and its leaders are deceptive and inconsistent. These include the following:
- "A church that is afraid to let its people determine for themselves truth and falsehood in an open market is a church that is insecure and afraid of its own truth claims." (p. 123)
- "Joseph Smith’s pattern of behavior or modus operandi for a period of at least 10 years of his adult life was to keep secrets, to be deceptive, and to be dishonest – both privately and publicly." (p. 59)
- "Yesterday's doctrine is today's false doctrine. Yesterday's prophets are today's heretics." (p. 64)
- Current edition of the CES Letter, updated October 2017.
[32]↩︎
The CES Letter argues that the Church, as an organization, has "many serious problematic challenges to its foundational truth claims."
It adds:
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.
- Jeremy Runnells states in the CES Letter conclusion that it is delusion to continue affiliating with the Church in light of all the "problematic challenges."
[33]↩︎
The conclusion of the CES Letter includes the following statement:
I’m sorry, but faith is believing and hoping when there is little evidence for or against something. Delusion is believing when there is an abundance of evidence against something. To me, it is absolute insanity to bet my life, my precious time, my money, my heart, and my mind on an organization that has so many serious problematic challenges to its foundational truth claims.
- Jeremy Runnells states in the CES Letter conclusion that it is delusion to continue affiliating with the Church in light of all the "problematic challenges."
[34]↩︎
Runnells talked about his process of compiling information and research from other sources to create the CES Letter on the podcast Mormon Stories:
It's not my information and I stand on the shoulders of giants, the Tanners. . . What I did was I took their research, and their insights, and their works, and I put it in a way that worked best for me, that explained my train of thought in terms of why I no longer believed in the Church.
- Jeremy Runnells talks about taking research from others, including the Tanners, and compiling it to create the CES Letter on the Mormon Stories podcast.
[35]↩︎
The CES Letter lists the purported issues under the following chapter headings:
- The Book of Mormon,
- First Vision, Book of Abraham,
- Polygamy,
- Prophets,
- Kinderhook Plates,
- Testimony and Spiritual Witness,
- Priesthood Restoration,
- Witnesses,
- Temples and Freemasonry,
- Science, and
- Other.
- Introduction to the CES Letter + table of contents.
[36]↩︎
Several individuals and organizations have critically analyzed the CES Letter for accuracy and bias. The general consensus is that while many of the statements and historical events in the CES Letter are technically accurate, important omissions, misrepresentations, and errors exist. See the table "Refutations of the CES Letter."
David Snell, the host of Saints Unscripted, expressed this perspective:
Some of the information in the Letter is simply true. Some, as far as I can tell, is patently false (and hopefully those are honest mistakes). And I think some information lacks important nuance or leaves out additional relevant information.
- David Snell gives an overview of the CES Letter on Saints Unscripted.
[37]↩︎
The author himself has expressed that he considers the Church to be false and fraudulent:
I have painfully come to accept for myself that the truth claims of the LDS Church cannot possibly be true. I have discovered, borrowing the above words of Joseph Fielding Smith, that Joseph Smith was a deceiver who willfully attempted to mislead people and that he should be exposed, his claims should be refuted, and his doctrines shown to be false.
Several writers have commented on the consistent message in the CES Letter that the Church is deceptive about its history and truth claims. For example, Scott Gordon, a writer on LDS topics, shared the following perspective:
The CES Letter is an attempt to create an alternate narrative for the truth claims of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . The theme of the Book is that the Church has lied to you about its history, and about Joseph Smith as a translator and prophet, so there is no way it can be true.
- Scott Gordon suggests that the CES Letter presents the narrative that the "Church has lied to you about its history" and therefore "there is no way it can be true."
- Jeremy Runnells' Resignation Letter.
[38]↩︎
Latter-day Saints such as Daniel Peterson, Jim Bennett, and David Snell have each written in response to the CES Letter, as have former Latter-day Saints such as John Dehlin and Lindsay Hansen Park.
[39]↩︎
For example, Jim Bennett, a Latter-day Saint, wrote:
The CES Letter is bad scholarship making arguments that its own author doesn’t seem to understand, citing sources he hasn’t bothered to read. Overall, its charges do not stand up to scrutiny.
On the other hand, Grant Palmer, a former Latter-day Saint, said that the CES Letter was "an excellent summary of the foundational problems of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
- Jim Bennett's "A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers For Those Who Doubt."
- CES Letter Reviews from Hans H. Mattsson, Grant H. Palmer, and John Dehlin (cesletter.org).
[40]↩︎
David Snell shared this comment on the YouTube series Saints Unscripted in June 2021 as part of a seven-minute video going over the basic premise and origins of the CES Letter.
- David Snell gives an overview of the CES Letter on Saints Unscripted.
[41]↩︎
Author C. Randall Christensen, a former Latter-day Saint and prolific blogger, shared this statement in a post on his website. Christensen believes that the CES Letter "has received far more attention than it deserves."
- Author C. Randall Nicholson shares his criticism of the CES Letter in a blog post on his website.
[42]↩︎
This statement comes from Bamboozled by the CES Letter, a refutation of the CES Letter published by Michael Ash in 2015.
- Michael Ash says that the CES letter can cause trouble for members.
[43]↩︎
This statement comes from an address Daniel C. Peterson gave at the 2014 FAIR Conference.
- Daniel C. Peterson response to CES Letter at FAIR conference 2014.
[44]↩︎
This statement comes from Jim Bennett's line-by-line refutation of the CES Letter published in 2018.
- Jim Bennett's "A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers For Those Who Doubt."
[45]↩︎
This statement is hosted on the CES Letter homepage and is attributed to Grant Palmer, a former CES employee who resigned his membership in the Church in 2010.
- CES Letter Reviews from Hans H. Mattsson, Grant H. Palmer, and John Dehlin (cesletter.org).
[46]↩︎
This statement is hosted on the CES Letter homepage and is attributed to Hans Mattsson, a former area seventy from Sweden who resigned his membership in 2016.
- CES Letter Reviews from Hans H. Mattsson, Grant H. Palmer, and John Dehlin (cesletter.org).
[47]↩︎
This statement is hosted on the CES Letter homepage and is attributed to John Dehlin, the host of the Mormon Stories podcast, who was excommunicated from the Church in 2015.
- CES Letter Reviews from Hans H. Mattsson, Grant H. Palmer, and John Dehlin (cesletter.org).
[48]↩︎
Lindsay Hansen Park wrote "A Critique of the CES Letter" in 2016, where she shared her perspective on the strengths of the CES Letter:
I think the CES letter is a good compilation of the inaccuracies and problems with the LDS church . . . The CES letter also validates many painful and abusive situations people experience. Critics of the letter don’t understand this. If you are in pain, but never felt like you could either articulate or claim your pain, the CES letter tells you that yes, in fact your pain is real, the church isn’t perfect, in fact- it’s far from it. It can incredibly empowering in that respect.
But she also wrote about what she considers to be a major issue with the CES Letter:
If you take the CES letter as an authoritative source, believe it with your whole heart, and live accordingly, that is recreating the Mormon pattern or paradigm. Making it a new prophet instead of a resource. This is what I call faithful exMormoning.
- Lindsay Hansen Park comments on CES Letter on Feminist Mormon Housewives website.
[49]↩︎
These refutations include documents or social posts from Michael Ash, Sarah Allen, Kevin Christensen, and others.
[50]↩︎
In addition to addressing the claims in the CES Letter, Michael Ash's treatment of the document includes an introduction titled "Operation Mincemeat" intended to educate readers about misinformation and deception in sources of information.
- "Bamboozled by the 'CES Letter'" by Michael Ash.
[51]↩︎
FAIR's refutation includes hundreds of subtopics that address the various claims in the CES Letter with their own data and interpretations.
- FAIR's "Debunking the CES Letter 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."
[52]↩︎
Sarah Allen posted weekly rebuttals to various parts of the CES Letter on Reddit for a over a year. Her seventy-part series is also now hosted on the FAIR website.
- Sarah Allen's 70-part series "dice1899's CES Rebuttal" on Reddit.
[53]↩︎
This essay contrasts Runnells's interpretations of data against those of Latter-day Saint apologist Jeff Lindsay to demonstrate how the same data can be interpreted through different lenses to arrive at different conclusions.
- Kevin Christensen's "Eye of the Beholder, Law of the Harvest: Observations on the Inevitable Consequences of the Different Investigative Approaches of Jeremy Runnells and Jeff Lindsay" published by Interpreter.
[54]↩︎
Jim Bennett goes line-by-line through the CES Letter, and, unlike other authors, attempts to include comedy and anecdotes to demonstrate his points.
- Jim Bennett's "A CES Letter Reply: Faithful Answers For Those Who Doubt."
[55]↩︎
The approach and intent of this anonymous refutation of the CES Letter is explained in the introduction to the document:
The CES Letter contains a handy compilation of the latest critiques of the Church. In the pages below, these concerns are addressed one-by-one so that readers can decide whether the issues have been accurately represented and constitute valid evidence against the Church or whether they are heavily biased with multiple half-truths and misrepresentations.
- The CES Letter: A Closer look; an anonymous refutation of the CES Letter.
[56]↩︎
The CES Letter website states:
Born and raised in Southern California, Jeremy is a seventh generation Mormon of Pioneer heritage who reached every Mormon youth milestone. An Eagle Scout, Returned Missionary, BYU alumnus, Jeremy was married in the San Diego Temple with expectations and plans of living Mormonism for the rest of his life.
- Jeremy Runnells personal bio on CESLetter.org.
[57]↩︎
Runnells has posted on Reddit about his three children and has included a picture of his family on the CES Letter website.
[58]↩︎
Runnells secretly recorded audio and video of his disciplinary council meeting. The audio recording and transcript were posted on the internet archive on April 20, 2016, by the user "eiznem."
The recording ends with Runnells delivering a resignation letter to his Stake President:
So, this is a kangaroo court. I’m done with this court. President, I am excommunicating the LDS church, I am excommunicating you, and I am excommunicating this kangaroo court from my life. Here is my resignation letter. Good bye.
Runnells posted the text of his resignation letter on his website.
- Jeremy Runnells' Resignation Letter.
- Transcript of Jeremy Runnells' recorded disciplinary court, April 17, 2016, posted to reddit and Mormonthink.
[59]↩︎
Standing on the bed of a pick-up truck in the church parking lot after his disciplinary council, Jeremy Runnells said, “I have excommunicated the LDS Church, President Ivins, and their kangaroo court from my life.”
After his statement, refreshments were served.
- Gephardt Daily news reports on the press conference held in a church parking lot immediately after Jeremy Runnells' disciplinary court.
[60]↩︎
In 2018, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said the following concerning the evaluation of sources of information:
We should be cautious about relying on information or advice offered by entertainment stars, prominent athletes, or anonymous internet sources. Expertise in one field should not be taken as expertise on truth in other subjects. We should also be cautious about the motivation of the one who provides information.
The 2019 update to the "Foundations of the Restoration" institute course included questions to help students evaluate sources of data:
Questions for Evaluating Sources 1. What are the qualifications, intentions, and possible biases of the author? 2. How closely connected is the author to the events being described? 3. Does the author intentionally ignore available evidence in order to mislead? 4. Are the teachings and events addressed in this source presented in the proper context of their time, place, and circumstance? 5. Are the teachings and events supported by additional reliable sources?
- The Institute teacher material for "Foundations of the Restoration" includes a section on "evaluating sources."
- Dallin H. Oaks speaks about evaluating data and sources in the October 2018 General Conference.