In his original letter to a CES director, Jeremy Runnels wrote, "You may have new information and/or a new perspective that I may not have heard or considered before. This is why I'm genuinely interested in what your answers and thoughts are to these issues."
https://read.cesletter.org/introduction/
That CES director never responded to Jeremy's letter, so Jeremy made it public. Since then, various Latter-day Saints (LDS) have responded, including many of the most prominent LDS intellectuals. Groups such as FAIR (aka FairMormon and FairLDS) provided formal, detailed discussions of the issues Jeremy raised.
The problem: none of the responses have offered new information and/or a new perspective that Jeremy had not heard or considered before.
Jeremy has pointed out the logical and factual fallacies that permeate the responses so far. He has collected them here: https://cesletter.org/debunkings/.
As a faithful Latter-day Saint, I find it unbelievable and dismaying that so many LDS intellectuals continue to promote poor apologetics that backfire. Most members of the Church today personally know people who have left the Church after seeking answers and finding only the incoherent theories of LDS intellectuals.
Some of the responses have been catastrophic, including the Gospel Topics Essays (GTE) published on the Church's own website. Fortunately, the GTE have not been canonized. They are not scripture. They are not signed by any Church leaders (although they have been "approved" in some sense). They constitute the thinking of various intellectuals who composed them and they are subject to ongoing revision. Many members of the Church continue to hope the GTE will be revised to reflect the teachings of the prophets and the evidence that corroborates them instead of reflecting the musings of intellectuals trying to defend their personal opinions.
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After years of watching prominent LDS intellectuals stumble in their responses to the CES Letter, I'm providing this response to Jeremy's specific request for new information and a new perspective.
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I've organized this blog with a separate page for each topic, following the format of the CES Letter.
First Vision
Book of Abraham
Polygamy/Polyandry
Prophets
Kinderhook Plates & Translator Claims
Testimony & Spiritual Witness
Priesthood Restoraton
Witnesses
Temples & Freemasonry
Science
Other
