About the Writer

I was born into the church to active and faithful parents. My mother was a convert, however my father's family tree extended all the way to the pioneers and the first members of the Mormon Church. I experienced it all in the church, starting at nursery and going through primary and then young men's. I participated in the scouting program and received my Eagle Scout. I then went on to serve a mission faithfully for two years.

A few years after my mission, I was married in the temple to my wonderful and supportive wife. As our family grew, I realized I was going to be quickly outnumbered, since all of our children were girls. As any good dad would do, I accepted my fate and decided that I wanted to give my daughters the best upbringing I could.

Somewhere along the line, certain issues I had with the church began to accumulate. Women having no real voice in church leadership was a big one. Polygamy never sat well with me, as well as the concept of spiritual polygamy which the church still practices. The church's history of excluding blacks from the priesthood gnawed at me, while its current treatment of LGBTQ members has been incredibly sad, to say the least.

Having all these issues pressing on me over the years finally led me to face some hard truths and examine my membership in the church. Could I rationalize and explain these issues away? I tried. I tried so hard because the church was my life and my identity. It was who I was. It was who my family had been, all the way back to the pioneers.

In raising my daughters, I could not, in good conscience, rationalize away these issues. I could not look at my wife, or my daughters, in the eye and tell them that a man should always preside over his wife and kids, as the church teaches. I wanted them to grow up knowing their voice matters, that they are just as important as anyone else, and that they could accomplish anything they want.

I finally came to the conclusion, through much anguish and anxiety, that the church was not a healthy or uplifting environment to raise my daughters. They deserve so much more. This has been one of the toughest decisions of my life, knowing that I'll most likely lose good friends and family members. But I choose to be honest with myself, and to give my girls the best chance in life to succeed.

I hope this gives a bit of backstory into why I wrote the letter. And I hope reading the letter will give you, dear reader, some insight as to why I came to the conclusions I did. Thank you for taking the time to read it.

If you are currently having a crisis of faith like I did and want to find a more comprehensive list of issues with the Mormon Church, as well as finding a support group of others who have gone through the same, here are some additional resources: