Jeremy Runnells, hailing from a seventh-generation Mormon heritage, achieved all the milestones within the LDS Faith: earning his Eagle Scout rank, serving as a full-time Missionary, and graduating from BYU. His journey took a transformative turn in 2012, in which he dove into a deep exploration of the church’s truth claims. A CES Director asked …
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Meredith’s story is one of resilience and self-discovery. Born into a seemingly ideal fourth-generation Mormon family in Louisiana, she faced the unraveling of her parent’s marriage and the shattered illusion of eternal togetherness. Despite being raised in a strict environment, Meredith found her voice at 16 and challenged her imposed beliefs. She broke free from …
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Lindee converted to Mormonism as a young adult and served a mission. She followed advice of her Bishop and avoided therapy and saw her mental health suffer. After a long time as a single woman, she married, had children, and continued on the Mormon conveyor belt of life. She “spent a lot of time just …
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Anja was raised Mormon and the church was her entire community. She was a model Aaronie Priesthood holder and served an honorable mission, but recently realized she was a trans woman. Even before this, she had doubts and at first, was able to keep them to herself. However, as she began to get to know …
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René was Mormon through and through. Married a return missionary in the temple, and mother of six children, she was defined by the church before even reaching maturity, as she says, “When my frontal cortex matured and I really began to form my own self, it was too late.” She was kept busy, by design, …
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Troy was happy as a Mormon and sees Mormonism as part of Christianity. He saw extreme examples of leader worship that led him to see cult-like behavior in the church community. He’s not sure if it goes all the way to the top, but he saw enough to understand the church as being a corrupt …
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Shaylee was born into the Mormon church and was raised with a fundamentalist leaning. She always knew all the answers at church and graduating seminary was more important to her than high school. She knew about Joseph Smith’s polygamy at a young age and stated that she would “also marry a prophet at age 14 …
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Freidom was a happy Mormon, or so she thought. Her questions were ignored, she was silenced, and her devotion was taken for granted. After experiencing a devastating divorce she realized that she was not cared for at all! Out of spite she checked out an exmormon channel on youtube and binged it. This led to …
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Erin was born into the church but left the church as a child when her parents did the same. All her extended family has remained Mormon even after her dad wrote a book about leaving and was outspoken against the church. She was not raised Mormon, but evangelical, and has since become more agnostic. She’s …
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Lucky was troubled with questions about the Mormon faith of her upbringing. She researched her questions and came to the conclusion that “Mormonism was not something that I could believe in.” She feels lucky that she left home and created her own life and is now loving the life she has and wouldn’t change it. …
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Mike was raised in a part-member family but never had missionary aspirations. Instead, he wanted to get an education and “fly jets.” He found immense pressure to serve a mission from ward members and was surprised when his Bishop presented him with mission papers. He declined and has been on a road to personal growth, …
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One could define a faithful perspective as supporting the church’s truth claims at all costs. Anything that is outside of that faith-promoting mindset could be argued to be anti-mormon, because it doesn’t align with promoting faith in the church at all costs. We aren’t willing to sacrifice everything (as Elder Oaks says is his Apostolic …
Latayne converted to Mormonism and was swept up in the fullness of the Gospel. She attended BYU and loved it. She came to a realization though that she trusted the Bible first and foremost, and began to study the church closer. As she studied she was startled by the “contrast between what I’d been taught …
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Brooklyn grew up in the church and considered her testimony “unbreakable”. She served her country in the armed forces and saw among the LDS while she was deployed that they did not live by LDS standards but she needed to rely on them for priesthood services (blessings and sacrament). Later she worked as a police …
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Patrick served faithfully and notes that his “faith defined every decision of [his] life.” He was successful at putting his issues on the shelf for decades until he wasn’t and it came time to understand and accept his own gay child in the context of the church. He found the church position lacking when studying …
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Sam Young discovered that his children had been asked sexually explicit questions by Bishops in worthiness interviews. This troubled him and he discovered that it is commonplace among Mormon Bishops to ask these questions, which lead to real harm. He advocated for protecting children from this harm and campaigned for church leaders to stop the …
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Ken converted to the church and then faithfully served in church callings and as a CES Educator. Over his 27 years teaching for the church, he grew increasingly uneasy with the whitewashed history the church teaches and took notes along the way. Eventually, this led to a tipping point where he “just couldn’t violate [his] …
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Brent was raised in the church and served faithfully. Over time his shelf items overloaded his testimony. He was particularly distressed after leaving to find out that issues he dismissed as anti-mormon lies were confirmed to be true by the church gospel topic essays. He left the church with his wife and joined his 4 …
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Evert accepted God into his life as a young man, met the missionaries, and joined the Mormon church. He served a mission, married in the temple (without his non-member family present), and began a Mormon family. When he questioned his leaders they retorted that they don’t make mistakes. He noticed a lack of the Spirit …
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Emma didn’t feel right or safe at church. She struggled with the dissonance until she stumbled on ex-Mormon creators and community and knew she’d finally found her people! I was born into the church. I left the church in 2020, after taking a hiatus from church for about a year. I decided I didn’t want …
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Madison found she always had questions, but was forced to them off. She told herself, that she’d “figure it out later.” She did figure it out eventually through her experiences in the church and the temple to know that the church is not true. She felt connected to diety and felt confirmation that she was …
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Jeff was all-in and served with gusto. He learned to overlook things on his shelf and assumed that since others who knew more than he did could stay, he should trust them. Over time the issues on his shelf piled high until he learned more about “the treatment of and attitude regarding LGBQT+ people.” He …
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Teddi chipped away on her Mormon checklist, repented when guilt and shame told her she needed to, and thought that without the rules and teachings of the church, she wouldn’t be happy. Over time she found herself disillusioned from the church, and still happy. She recognizes there is still healing on the other side, but …
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Christopher’s path within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encompassed doubt, growth, and eventual departure. Born into the faith, he faced critical information as a teen and young adult. He grappled with church history, racial issues, and doctrinal conflicts. His departure from the church marks an authentic pursuit of personal truth and growth …
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Daniel was raised Mormon and cruised along the Mormon conveyor belt in life. He’s also a physician and was educated to “research and investigate, to seek truth from reliable sources”. He suffered from religious scrupulosity and constantly felt like a sinner. He came across the Gospel Topic Essays though and quickly felt “uneasy with the …
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John was a golden convert. He found comfort in the certainty. He also found the authority of the church exacerbated his anxiety into a real OCD and religious scrupulosity. The high-control authoritarian system was incredibly unhealthy for him throughout adolescence and a mission. John acknowledges that some may blame his OCD, but he knows it …
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Tom discovered that he does not need special qualifications to analyze the text of the Book of Mormon. He found plenty of simple evidence that shows it is “easily seen as a product of its time.” He feels that the lack of support from church leadership negates any claims from apologists and cites that the …
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Simon was an active, believing member serving as a Bishop. While reading the Ensign he came across some interesting statements regarding the Flood which led him to research more about it. He came upon “volumes of scientific research” that contradicted things he believed at church. Then he applied his own scientific training in molecular genetics …
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Micah was all in and fully believed in the church. He lived every bit of it. To be more prepared for the second coming, he studied church doctrine deeply. But as he studied church history, he learned that what he’s always been taught wasn’t exactly an honest representation of history. In fact, he found that …
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Lyndon Lamborn served well in the church. But as he served he found himself examining the beliefs he was taught and found some issues that seemed not to add up. This troubled him, but he continued on until he reached a tipping point he describes perfectly: “The desire to know the truth at whatever cost …
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