During one six-month period in 2024, I collected most of the X (Twitter), Reddit, and other social media or forum-type comments quoted in this letter. Some comments have been hard to find again, or the original contributor removed them. I used brackets for clarity purposes without changing the intended meaning. Any particular comment is not important. I see the essence of every statement listed here almost daily on social media. My goal is not to make online commentators feel bad but to illustrate the arguments of critics of the Church online.

Throughout the letter, I use “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” “The Church of Jesus Christ,” and “The Church” interchangeably. I define the Church like Elder D. Todd Christofferson does in his October 2015 general conference address, “Why the Church.”

“Jesus organized His work in such a way that the gospel could be established simultaneously in multiple nations and among diverse peoples. That organization, the Church of Jesus Christ, was founded on ‘apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.’” “The Lord reestablished the Church of Jesus Christ once again through the Prophet Joseph Smith. The ancient purpose remains: that is, to preach the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and administer the ordinances of salvation—in other words, to bring people to Christ.”

I do not represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The thoughts, opinions, and questions in this letter are my own.

January 2025 update—After some feedback, I feel it is necessary to define “the critics” to whom this letter addresses. When I say “the critics,” I refer to individuals and organizations that manipulate data and history to harm the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the intention of persuading current members to resign their membership, former members to stay away, or potential future members to avoid membership. When writing this letter, I preferred to use the term “the critics” as opposed to a more pejorative term like “anti-Mormon.” A disillusioned former or current Latter-day Saint with sincerely held doubts and concerns does not fit this definition of “the critics.” Thank you to those who identified the need to clarify this distinction.

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