Letter to a CES Director

Letter to a CES Director: Why I Lost My Testimony is a 2013 open letter to a Church Educational System director in which the author explains why he no longer believes in the tenets of Mormonism.
The letter's author, Jeremy Runnells, had been a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the document, Runnells lists "concerns and questions" about Mormon history and theology.
The letter was published under a Creative Commons license and received wider attention when it went "viral". The Letter has been widely criticized by Mormon apologetic scholars.
Content
Runnells describes himself as a "very active and fully
believing member my entire life" who experienced a crisis of faith. He cites, as a trigger, having read a Reuters article entitled "Mormonism Besieged by the Modern Age" in which Elder Marlin K. Jensen remarked that "Maybe since Kirtland , we've never had a period of-I'll call it apostasy, like we're having now".
Among the issues addressed include:
* "What are 1769 King James Version edition errors doing in the Book of Mormon?"
* DNA analysis of Native Americans which conflicts with the Book of Mormon
* Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, which depicts pre-Columbian Americans who have "horses, cattle, oxen, sheep, swine, goats, elephants, wheels, chariots, wheat, silk, steel, and iron"
* The lack of archaeological evidence supporting the Book of Mormon
* Changes to the Book of Mormon, including changes to doctrines of the Godhead
* Translation method of the Book of Mormon did not involve the plates but did involve the peep stone
* Differing accounts of the First Vision
* Book of Abraham
*
* Kinderhook plates
* The link between Mormonism and Freemasonry
* Brigham Young's teaching of Adam-God doctrine and blood atonement
Reception
Apologetic site FairMormon published an extensive rebuttal to the Letter, while a detailed analysis of Runnells' Letter was published in the journal Mormon Interpreter. The work was republished on the skeptical site MormonThink, and Runnells was later interviewed about the letter by John Dehlin for the program Mormon Stories.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that unsolicited copies of the Letter had been emailed to members of the LDS Business College, noting that Runnells "has asked specifically that his letter not be shared that way".

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