Hey!

It's been a while since I resigned, but I thought you guys might appreciate this.

To whom it may concern: This letter is my formal resignation from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I wish to be removed from the membership rolls and for all of the ordinances performed to be null and void. While President Uchtdorf’s recent conference address talked about the ability for honest people to disagree in their interpretations of the facts, it has become apparent to me that the church is dishonest in its presentation of the facts. In reality, the church does such a good job of concealing those facts that many of the members I know are completely unaware of them. Joseph Smith’s contradictory accounts of his first vision, the second vision occurring in a room that should have been filled with Joseph’s brothers, the Angel Moroni and the Hill Cumorah bearing striking resemblance to the city of Moroni in the Comoros Islands where a prominent treasure hunter was known to have visited, Joseph’s involvement in the folk magic/treasure hunting community and the translation method of the Book of Mormon, and Joseph’s unsanctioned marriage to Emma Smith and almost immediate polygamist marriages, are all things the church does not discuss and will not teach its members. I could go on and on and many people have written down the facts as we know them, but not the church. I have no choice but to recognize that the church is not interested in truth. In fact they see it as a hindrance to their efforts.

If the church is not true, then what is? The answer to that question has left me with a more fulfilling life than the church’s teachings ever could. The answer is science. Only through the scientific method and a scientific approach to understanding the world has mankind made such significant progress, not just in physics and chemistry, but in psychology and the social sciences. Our lives are far better because we have looked at the realities of nature as opposed to the mythologies of religion, and used those realities to our advantage. We now have computers connected to all of the worlds information in our pockets and spacecraft outside our solar system, and we owe none of that to the “prophets” of this church.

I am demanding that my name be removed from church records. I don’t wish to be contentious. I have had a lot of good experiences in the church and made many good friends with my leaders. I just have come to know that it is dishonest, and untrue, and have decided to devote my life to what is true and what is beneficial to society.