Ep. 106 - Jeremy Runnells, Ex-Mormon and Author of the CES Letter

Friendly Atheist Podcast

Religion & Spirituality, News Commentary, Politics, News

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2016

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jeremy Runnells was raised in the Church of Latter Day Saints as a 6th generation Mormon. He went on his two year mission. He graduated from BYU. He was an Eagle Scout. But in 2012, he began doubting some of his beliefs. He was asked by a Church Educational System (or CES) director to share his concerns. Jeremy did that in what became known as the Letter to a CES Director, or the CES letter. It is a damning document that exposes so many holes in the Mormon faith and it quickly went viral online, giving a lot of people reason to leave the Church themselves. And then, earlier this year, wouldn’t you know it, Church officials began a process to kick him out. Before they could excommunicate him for good in April, Jeremy announced he was resigning from the Mormon Church himself. He wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of kicking him out. We spoke with Jeremy about what led him to start doubting his faith, how the "Mormon moment" from a few years ago has come to an end, and why he left the Church before it could get rid of him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Hemant Tmetta and I'm Jessica Blumky and you're listening to the
0:10.0	podcast for Friendly Atheist.com you You can now listen to all of our
0:14.2	episodes and see show notes at Friendly atheist podcast.com. By the way we now have a
0:20.2	merchandise shop on the website so if you want your podcast swags some shirts
0:24.1	bugs baby onesies how many you gonna get a baby onesie for your kiddo of course yeah
0:28.2	go to our website and click on the store tab we're brought to you today by
0:32.1	foundation marketing if you own a small business
0:35.1	then you know how frustrating advertising can be. Foundation Marketing offers
0:39.8	all-encompassing solutions backed by 20 years experience.
0:44.0	This includes professional web design, graphic design, printing,
0:47.9	and online marketing solutions.
0:50.1	They are a certified Google partner
0:52.2	and offer free consultation.
0:54.0	Visit them online at fm k g dot net.
0:58.8	Let them know you were sent by the Friendly Atheist podcast
1:01.6	and you'll get 10% off any sale. They're also donating 20% of all
1:06.3	sales driven by this podcast to the Clergy Project and Foundation Beyond Belief, 10% each.
1:13.0	Once again, check them out at fmKG.net.
1:20.4	Jeremy Runnels was raised in the Church of Latter-day Saints as a sixth generation Mormon.
1:26.0	He went on his two-year mission, he graduated from BYU, he was an Eagle Scout,
1:31.0	but in 2012 he began doubting some of his beliefs. He was asked by a church educational system director or CES director to share his concerns.
1:41.0	Jeremy did that in what became known as the letter to a
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Friendly Atheist Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Friendly Atheist Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.