FairMormon took down their TITS videos on their YouTube account on Sunday night "as part of FAIR's effort to ensure that its content 'is in line with our branding and direction'".
The Salt Lake Tribune published an article on Sunday that FairMormon changed its name to "FAIR". The part of the article that interested me and made me laugh was FAIR President Scott Gordon's following comments and claims:
"When the new FAIR provides “faithful answers” and an “informed response,” Gordon adds, it wants to do so in a Christlike manner.
That means “avoiding personal attacks or derogatory language” against critics, he says. “This does not mean we won’t point out faulty reasoning and misleading claims, or boldly defend our doctrine. ... We are not stepping away from fact-checking, or defending the church. Indeed, we embrace it fully. We just want to do it in the way that we believe the Savior would approve.”
Another news article gets to the heart of why FAIR took down the TITS videos: With its gentler approach, FAIR drops its snarky videos aimed at LDS Church critics.
So, FAIR all of a sudden had a change of heart and wants to be "Christlike" now? They're now worried about what the "Savior would approve"?
Where was this "Christlike" conduct and concern as to what the "Savior would approve" back in November and December 2020 when they released this unChristlike garbage?
Where was their Christlike conduct when they left this profane trash - spreading lies and smears about me and others - on their YouTube account for over 4 months so that tens of thousands of people could see FairMormon's "Christlike" values, branding and mission in full view? Even after the tsunami of criticism from both sides from day one telling FAIR that TITS is beyond unChristlike, grossly inaccurate, offensive, irredeemable and just plain wrong? Where was John Lynch's and Scott Gordon's Christlike conduct as they defended TITS in public and private by trying to rationalize the indefensible as "it's good for the younger generation"?
FairMormon monitors cesletter.org and they know when content has been changed or if new pages have been added on the website. Back in December I gave two of FairMormon's people a heads up that I was going to be working on a response to their TITS smear campaign (in addition to a bunch of other new debunkings - soon to be released). So, FairMormon knew about this response in advance and knew I was about to publicly release it this week. I made no secret about it.
Is it just a pure coincidence that FAIR suddenly yanks down the TITS videos the same week that I planned to release this response? While doing it because they all of a sudden have a "change of heart" and are now suddenly concerned about what the Savior thinks and approves?
I decided to leave my response as-is despite FAIR's removal of the TITS videos to show what FAIR was reading in real-time and which more than likely caused them to make the decision to take down their TITS videos before I imminently publicly released my TITS debunking.
Where's FAIR's apology to me, John Dehlin, Samantha Shelley and Tanner Gilliland (Zelph On The Shelf), Kate Kelly and the millions of questioners and doubters that they've mocked, ridiculed and disparaged? Why isn't FAIR repenting as the Church teaches? If FAIR truly wants to be Christlike and to do what the "Savior would approve", their first step would be to publicly apologize to the above people and to make amends for the lies, smears and character assassinations they perpetuated and which they still perpetuate.
I'm not holding my breath though.
Former FAIR apologist who left FAIR isn't holding his breath either based on his own personal experiences with FAIR:
John Dehlin predicted all of this back in November 2020:
TITS director Cardon Ellis responded to John's above prediction a few days later with this:
This did not age well at all, Cardon.
"Recently FairMormon released a new set of videos titled 'This is The Show' on our YouTube channel. These videos use comedy and caricature to address criticisms of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are intended for a youth and young adult audience as part of our efforts to provide accurate, well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice and history of the Church."
- FairMormon's public statement defending their new Zoomer targeted "This is the Show" (TITS) after major public backlash
"Accurate answers" for "youth and young adult audience", you say? Yeah...we'll see about that.
"This is the Show", which they super cleverly and appropriately acronymed as "TITS", is the latest development in FairMormon's baby boomer leadership's attempt to share its Philosophies of FairMormon Mingled With Scripture® or "faithful answers" to the Zoomers. TITS is an unmitigated disaster. It has been panned and very heavily criticized by both camps (Mormons and Ex Mormons).
You wouldn't know about the flood of criticisms just by looking at the videos on FairMormon's YouTube channel as FairMormon turned off its "likes/dislikes" as well as their comments section. You also know it's bad when in their description box they have "Please send any comments to: [email protected]" instead of a blurb about how evil Jeremy and the CES Letter is:
If you think the "TITS" acronym of a profane show - filled with sexual innuendos and locker room talk - and created by three comedians (two of those three being controversial figures Kwaku El and Cardon Ellis) is unintentional and purely coincidental, I have a bunch of rocks and hats to sell you.
If you have a problem with this vulgar acronym, just ask yourself why FairMormon decided to endorse and give their platform to such a name and acronym and show that debases the Church's "good name" and mission by hosting it on their official YouTube channel. Where's the avoiding the appearances of evil here, FairMormon?
Here's some excerpts of how CES System veteran and Mormon scholar David Bokovoy feels about FairMormon's new TITS videos:
"The FAIR Mormon videos are filled with sexual innuendos and references to women. 'You don't start a religion if you wanna have sex, you get an Airbnb in Seattle' boasts the main FAIR Mormon apologist..."
"...these videos are not simply abhorrent because they mock and belittle others in the name of spirituality. They're especially vile and disgusting because they are filled with misogynistic humor that ridicules women and feminism."
"These videos are horrific. They are misogynistic. They are abusive, and I hope that Mormons everywhere would use this tragedy for some serious self-reflection about how our community treats and betrays women."
"These FAIR Mormon videos are filled with bathroom humor, sexual innuendos, and male misogyny. The main protagonist is the man responsible for the infamous Provo dance parties that contributed so signifcantly to the rise of COVID infections in Utah County. Taking all of that into consideration, does anyone really believe that the show's title is a mere coincidence? 'This is the Show' (TITS)."
-David Bokovoy's public Facebook post - December 3, 2020
TITS is a story in of itself and is a new glimpse into the continuing collapse of FairMormon's credibility and effectiveness in defending the LDS Church from its truth crisis.
In this essay, we're going to go over the details of TITS as well as the characters involved. We'll talk about air lap dances, knife smuggling on a plane (and telling a passenger when you've succeed), "if people die, they die", hosting raunchy dance parties in a middle of a pandemic, death threats and much more.
Brad Witbeck is a BYU graduate who is a part of the BYU comedy and acting scene. He has a background in marketing. There's not much else that is publicly known about Witbeck except that he unfortunately has lied about and smeared critics of his religion, as evidenced in this essay.
Out of the three, Brad seems like a decent guy who got caught up in the wrong crowd and was pressured into doing this shameful acting gig.
In a disastrous November 2021 debate (for these three guys as they got annihilated by Radio Free Mormon), Brad was asked by RFM why he was hanging out with Cardon and Kwaku:
"Brad, what are you doing hanging out with these two?"
See? Even Brad knows that Cardon and Kwaku are bad news.
Brad, if you're listening...you can do better by choosing better friends and making better choices. We're all rooting for you over here.
The first good choice would be to apologize to me, John Dehlin, Samantha and Tanner (Zelph On The Shelf) and the myriad of individuals with questions and doubts that you've denigrated and disparaged in the TITS videos and podcasts.
Brad...why don't you pass the time by playing a little tapir video? The code is 404.
Stand down, Agent Witbeck. Your undercover sleeper agent / Manchurian Candidate mission of destroying FairMormon from within is now complete. Come into our arms of safety, apostate soldier, for a hero's welcome home.
Cardon Ellis pursued a career in comedy, acting and filmmaking. He's the director of the TITS videos.
One noteworthy aspect of Cardon's life is that he was arrested in 2010 when he was 27-years-old (although a family member at the time stated that the 27-year-old was "just a kid") for smuggling a knife onto a plane after showing the knife to another passenger and bragging that he had done so. Alarmed, the passenger immediately notified a TSA official. Cardon pled guilty at his trial.
Cardon is very opinionated and has shared misogynistic and transphobic tweets along with other eyebrow-raising controversial statements and claims.
The unbelievable and disturbing misogyny and blatant disrespect toward women on the TITS show makes perfect sense with Cardon Ellis being the director and driver behind the wheel.
Source: Young/Dumb Promo Video (Full Version)
Yes, Kwaku really did say this. You can see for yourself on KUTV's August 10, 2020 coverage about Kwaku's superspreader dance parties hosted by his "Young/Dumb" (yes, it's really called that) company during the pandemic where he and his company came under scrutiny for superspreader events. The Utah County Attorney's Office announced charges against Kwaku's Young/Dumb company in February 2021 and they're being fined at least $10,000.
The full quote since Kwaku and Mormon apologists will predictably try to claim I'm taking him out of context:
"If people are going to die, they’re going to die. I don’t think that they’re going to in that way. I think we’re seeing the trajectory go down. And I don’t think a lot of people really trust the CDC or the institute of health that much."
Kwaku El
Source: KUTV - 8/10/2020
Kwaku's dance moves are probably slightly better than his knowledge of virology:
Source: Utah Department of Health
One Redditor expressed his opinion about Kwaku's recklessness and carelessness:
Kwaku later revealed that it was he who wrote most of the script for the TITS disaster and he was primarily responsible - along with director Cardon Ellis and the funding / greenlighting from FairMormon / More Good Foundation / LDS Church - in making TITS happen.
Kwaku is the most visible and more well known individual in the group due to his involvement with other YouTube channels such as 3 Mormons and Saints Unscripted as well as his being all over the news as mentioned above. He's also well known online for provoking and instigating fights with evangelical Christians as well as progressive and ex Mormons.
Here's an example of Kwaku's mad skills in defending the Book of Mormon and the Church:
"Making bold claims based on very little information"
Here's Kwaku's assessment of Kwaku's knowledge of Mormon problems and history and in his own role as a Mormon apologist:
"If Church apologetics is ever in a place where the guy from Divine Comedy [Kwaku] is seen as 'Hey, he's a really good apologist, go look at him instead of such-and-such"... that probably means we're not in the most stellar place."
Kwaku is allergic to rationality:
Here's Kwaku's comment on Bill Reel's Facebook post when Bill confronted Kwaku about his hypocrisy about Joseph Smith's sexual misconduct:
Source: Bill Reel April 20, 2021 Facebook Post
A comment in response to Kwaku's above illuminating comment:
Kwaku did a podcast episode with Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon on their Mormonism Live! channel in April 2021. It's pretty disturbing and mind-boggling the warped alternate reality and homemade version of Mormonism that Kwaku has created for himself. Some highlights:
You can see the full unedited podcast episode here.
Bill and RFM committed to be mostly silent and respectful in the above episode by letting Kwaku hog the microphone and endlessly talk so as to allow Kwaku to incriminate himself (following Napoleon's "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake"). Later after the episode, Bill and RFM did a separate podcast episode analyzing and debunking the various absurd and asinine beliefs Kwaku holds and claims that Kwaku makes:
Kwaku part starts at 19:45 mark.
Kwaku wrote and starred in a film called Seven Hundred Miles. Let's see how "virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy" Kwaku's movie is:
Warning: Explicit language and sexual content
Some people try to rationalize and defend Kwaku's hypocrisy by claiming that he wasn't converted to Mormonism when his repulsive movie came out. According to IMDb and Amazon Prime, the movie's release date was May 22, 2018. Here's Kwaku's blog (July 2021 Update: Kwaku took his blog offline after the release of this essay - link is Wayback Machine) where he often talks about Mormonism and shares his testimony ad nauseam. Notice his earliest blog post Why I believe in the Book of Mormon is dated September 30, 2015 - over 2.5 years before his disgusting and profane movie was released.
"Obviously, my content is always going to be appropriate. I'm not going to go do videos of girls twerking and being gross about it."
-Kwaku in above video
Phew, thank god. So glad there's no "girls twerking and being gross about it" in Kwaku's above Young/Dumb promotional video.
So glad that we didn't get "gross twerking girls" in FairMormon's new TITS videos lying about and smearing Jeremy Runnells and the CES Letter. Instead, we got a graphic acronym (TITS), we got a broken fire hydrant spewing outrageous amounts of asinine blatant falsehoods and smears, we got a TMI that Kwaku seems interested in sex in Seattle Airbnbs and we got a Kwaku F-bomb:
Okay then. Notice what Kwaku is dropping the F-bomb over: Ouija board and the lie that I lied that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon with a ouija board. I never wrote or claimed such a thing and you can see the exact wording I wrote in the CES Letter yourself). Remember all of this in the next "Meet FairMormon's New Lower Standard of Apologetics" section.
As we'll see further below, Kwaku has no problem liking and sharing the depiction of murdering people. Between this, his willingness to destroy the name and reputation of others with blatant and obvious lies and smears, his "if people are going to die, they're going to die" comment along with his hosting superspreader dance parties right in the middle of a pandemic...I'm at a loss of words, to say the least, at how very disconcerting and disturbing Kwaku El's behavior and conduct is.
TITS Debunked in 1 Minute
Special thanks to TikTok's @jackmormon
TITS Polygamy Debunked in 52 Seconds
Special thanks to Mighty ThunderShizard
FairMormon's TITS videos are chock-full of blatant lies, contradictions and smears just like this. This is why fellow Mormon apologists with a conscience, like Tarik (screenshot in next section), could take no other position than to go against his own team labeling the new FairMormon TITS videos as "filth".
LDS Discussions did three excellent debunkings of FairMormon's TITS videos:
Here's an important excerpt from the LDS Discussions' rebuttal to FairMormon's TITS LOL Seer Stones Are Awesome video:
On to the final part of the video:
That's funny. People who are like 'Oh, use seer stone to translate.' Half the country believes that Jesus walked on water and that a virgin gave birth. That a virgin gave birth. You believe that you do the Joseph can't you seer stones? Alright, my gosh. You guys watch WWE and you believed it. Oh, yeah, but seer stones, that's where you draw the line.
Again, TITS is attempting to belittle legitimate concerns about Joseph Smith using a stone in a hat to translate the Book of Mormon by trying to equate it with biblical stories and the WWE. While that might sound comforting to those who want a reason to brush this issue aside, it's just a bad comparison when you understand the history of the stone Joseph Smith used to translate the Book of Mormon.
This was one of their shorter videos, but I thought it would be good to outline how they are doing all of the things they attack the CES Letter for. The bottom line is that attacking members who have problems with church history might feel good to those who are 'all in' with the church, but it will absolutely turn off those who are struggling as they learn about church history.
And FAIR Mormon allowing a series with the acronym TITS to 'declare war' on the CES Letter shows that they have no ability to win back the youth who have more access to this information than any generation before them, and they are throwing the kitchen sink at the problems that this information is creating for the church.
I also realize that by writing about this video, it is giving TITS the attention they wanted, but I also believe that outlining just how dishonest they can be in a 5 minute video is important to those who might be watching the videos and feeling like they were lied to from both the CES Letter and websites like ours.
The problem for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints isn't that you can't prove that the church is true, but that you can prove it is false. If the church was true, as the leaders and apologists claim, they would be asking every member to research their claims for themselves and take the church for a test drive. Instead, we have a constant stream of talks and videos from both leaders and apologists mocking those with doubts, demonizing those who leave, or telling members not to research beyond correlated, church approved sources.
Not only has this new TITS series deleted comments where viewers corrected their misinformation, they have disabled comments completely at times since they were released. This series by FAIR Mormon is not about having an honest dialogue about what is true in the church - this series is about shouting down the CES Letter and anyone who reads it so that they can present their view and only their view. While that might work for those who feel a need to believe, it will ultimately cause many shelves to come crashing down once they are open to digging into these sources just a little bit more.
And that tells you everything you need to know, and no amount of misleading TITS videos will change that. (Again, if you found my use of TITS to be vulger or beneath me, just ask yourself why FAIR Mormon decided to endorse and highlight them within their YouTube channel.)
Thanks for reading this, and I hope it was at least helpful in outlining how dishonest this video was from the early framing of the stone in a hat to the arguments against those who have a problem with it.
Mr. Bennett also shared his disgust and embarrassment of FairMormon's TITS videos and Kwaku's death threats. Mr. Bennett expressed his disappointment and humilation of his name being invoked in a project he had nothing to do with and which he is repulsed by:
The following response is not a profile of courage like the above two gentlemen but it does demonstrate how even former FairMormon Mormon apologist Daniel C. Peterson couldn't distance himself from FairMormon and TITS fast enough:
In addition to the above apologists (Tarik and Jim) with a conscience, I've gotten private messages from some other Mormon apologists with a conscience. One of them gave permission to share:
Aside from the apologists, one brave Latter-day Saint wrote Dear FAIR Mormon sharing his disgust with FairMormon and the TITS smear campaign:
If you have a board of directors that cares about your reputation and the effect you have on our church’s reputation, I hope you’ll change course. I hope you’ll remove your insulting videos.
In my opinion, you’re damaging our religion.
Mormon blog Wheat and Tares' Mary Ann wrote in her response to TITS:
The humor in the new videos isn’t my style. Admittedly, Gen X and Millennials aren’t the target demographic. Those who’ve read my old posts know I’m not a big fan of the CES Letter, but I believe many of its topics are worth investigation and discussion. When watching the FairMormon videos, though, I kept fighting back an urge to write critiques of their critiques.
People have been affected by FairMormon's videos. Probably not in the way that FairMormon intended though:
Source: reddit.com/r/mormon
On December 4, 2020 Kwaku El retweeted a tweet showing a video scene from the Inglorious Basterds movie. In the modified scene, it depicts John Dehlin from Mormon Stories as a nazi who is beaten to death by Kwaku & Co.'s organizations with a baseball bat. It also depicts Jeremy Runnells as a nazi facing his upcoming demise.
The tweet and its video were later deleted but only after intense backlash. The video was archived before the tweet deletion and can be viewed below. Below is the video and tweet by Kwaku.
Warning: Extremely graphic and gruesome violence.
Inglourious Basterds scene depicting violent murder of Mormon Stories John Dehlin and Jeremy Runnells
Remember our "knife on a plane" TITS director, Cardon Ellis? He loved the video:
John and I responded separately on Facebook:
John and I separately and individually filed reports with the FBI Cyber Crime unit and with our local police departments.
Kwaku dug deeper with the death threats while retweeting additional violent scenes against Dehlin:
Remember this statement in Kwaku's above bio?
...Kwaku has no problem liking and sharing the depiction of murdering people. Between this, his willingness to destroy the name and reputation of others with blatant and obvious lies, his "if people are going to die, they're going to die" comment along with his hosting superspreader dance parties right in the middle of a pandemic...is very disconcerting and disturbing, to say the least.
Now we can add "double down on original death threat with additional death threats" to Kwaku's stellar list.
In response to this, Mormon scholar David Bokovoy (whose biography is listed on FairMormon's website) called for a boycott and ban of FairMormon and for his fellow scholars and historians to avoid contributing papers, articles and talks to the organization:
One individual - with tongue in cheek - wrote this about Kwaku:
Latter-day Saint Joe Tippetts' reaction:
This is how propaganda works. Once you dehumanize people, it’s OK to hate them and hurt them and kill them.
My thoughts and prayers are with John Dehlin, Jeremy Runnells, and their families tonight.
Fellow Latter-day Saints, I know this just looks like the extreme actions of a few stupid college kids. But people who leave our church deal with this kind of thing all the time.
Maybe not in such extreme ways. Or maybe in more extreme ways. We demonize those who leave our church.
We shun them. We ignore them. We don’t want to listen to what they have to say because we’re afraid that some of it might be true.
This makes me really sad. These are good people. Some of the best I’ve ever met. Far more committed to loving and truth-seeking and serving others than many within our midst at church.
The FairMormon This is the Show (TITS) videos are Jim Bennett Repackaged®, Brian Hales Repackaged® and FairMormon Repackaged®.
It is a failed Saturday Night Live Weekend Update segment style attempt of basically primarily converting Jim Bennett's A Faithful Reply to the CES Letter PDF into misleading, dishonest and incomplete rapid-machine-gun-fire sound bites intended for Gen Z on YouTube (which is another insult to Gen Z that FairMormon & Co. actually think the Gen Z's are so dumb that these asinine videos are necessary for them).
They used Jim Bennett's work as a foundation in writing their scripts. It's obvious from the content they used in the videos. They even quote Jim Bennett and use his name and his work as sources and references in their smears and attacks - much to the chagrin and dismay of Mr. Bennett as he stated in his above Facebook disavowal statement, in our email exchange as well as in my and Jim's "CES Director Revealed" sit down 2-3 weeks after the release of TITS (interview being edited and will be released in Summer 2021). Mr. Bennett also repudiated TITS and FairMormon's new direction in his 2021 Mormon Stories interviews with John Dehlin as shown above.
I have already responded to and debunked the three sources used by TITS in their smear campaign; two of them line-by-line. You can see my line-by-line rebuttals and debunkings below.
If you're looking for good quality and accurate criticisms and counter arguments against the CES Letter, TITS and Kwaku are not it. You can find better quality information than TITS and their juvenile-misogynistic-inaccurate-me-too-shoddy-apologetics-sex-in-Seattle-airbnbs-and-Kwaku-F-bomb response.
Cut out the carnival barking middle man (TITS) by going straight to the sources they copied from - and my rebuttals to those sources - below:
"What I'm trying to say here is that both the CES Letter and Mormon Stories are not about Jeremy and John - they are about the church's truth claims and how they stack up to the evidence. The CES Letter did a great job of taking something we were conditioned by the church to think was too complicated for our little, childish minds to understand and made it accessible and consumable, and that's why the church and apologists are terrified of members discovering it on their own. It's never been about Jeremy Runnells, but the approach is that if you can destroy Jeremy, you can hopefully make members afraid to read what he has put forward that has helped so many discover the truth."
-LDS Discussions, FAIR Mormon's New Approach to Problems with Church History
If you can't stop looking away from the train wreck that is TITS and would like to see some direct rebuttals and debunkings to TITS, here you go:
FairMormon President Scott Gordon tried to take down and censor the following videos by filing frivilous copyright claims with YouTube right after I released this essay. More info.
With Radio Free Mormon & Bill Reel
First Episode Talking About "This is the Show"
FairMormon and the Book of Abraham
Reacting to TITS's Defending Predatory Polygamy
Responding to TITS's "Joseph Smith Saw God...Deal With It"
Part 1 - Responding to "Seer Stones" Video
Part 2 - Responding to CES Letter Too Awful for Satan
'The CES Letter is WRONG about Book of Mormon Translation!' - FACT CHECK
‘Mo Wives, Mo Problems' - FACT CHECK
'The Book of Abraham vs. the CES Letter!' - FACT CHECK
'The CES Letter LOLOLOL, Seer Stones Are Awesome!!' - FACT CHECK
‘The CES Letter is WRONG about TEMPLES??’ - FACT CHECK
'The Kinderhook Plates Don't Prove ANYTHING' - FACT CHECK
'Joseph Smith Saw God... Deal with it' - FACT CHECK
Intro - Reviewing FairMormon's Dishonest CES Letter "Take Downs"
Reacting to Fairmormon's Cringeworthy Introduction to their CES Letter Series (Ep. 1)
Translation Errors? Reviewing Fairmormon's "Brutal" Takedown of the CES Letter (Ep. 2)
Reviewing Fairmormon's Failed Attempt to Address Temples in the CES Letter (Ep. 3)
Looking at Fairmormon's "Addressing" of the Kinderhook Plates in the CES Letter (Ep. 4)
Update on my CES Letter Series, my channel, and why we need to keep speaking out
Never-Mormon Reacts | Temples are Great & The CES Letter is Weak | From FairMormon
Never-Mormon Reacts | The CES Letter is WRONG about Translation! | From FairMormon
Never-Mormon Reacts | CES LETTER & VIEW OF THE HEBREWS | From FairMormon
Here's a screenshot of initial response to TITS on CES Letter's Facebook page:
Here's a little video to lighten up the mood from all of these gross twerking girls, knife on a plane and death threats:
Mighty ThunderShizard
The following video are the 3 TITS founders sitting together in a podcast episode. Watch what they say about me, the CES Director and the CES Letter origin claims:
Upon seeing this, I went ahead and Facebook messaged Jim Bennett (Mormon apologists and Jeremy can be Facebook friends!) - my critic and the guy whose work that the TITS founders copied from and used as a foundation and primary resource/reference for their script and content of TITS - and wrote:
In response, Mr. Bennett replied that he'd be happy to be a witness and would keep the Director's name confidential. Mr. Bennett also stated that he finds the TITS videos "astounishingly offensive, especially since they keep dragging my name into them. And the Inglorious Basterds clip was beyond offensive."
After emailing Mr. Bennett, I reached out to BYU emeritus professor and Joseph Smith Papers scholar Brian M. Hauglid and asked if he would likewise be willing to be a witness for me in verifying that the CES Director is a real person and that I really did correspond and send a PDF attachment to him back in 2013. Professor Hauglid graciously agreed to be a witness as well.
The following video is the result:
A few weeks later, Mr. Bennett sat down for a separate interview with Mormon Stories John Dehlin. In this clip (first episode @ 35:31 mark), Mr. Bennett talks about our meeting for lunch and then talks about my revealing the CES Director to him:
The above two videos completely annihilate and thoroughly debunk the TITS founders (especially Cardon Ellis) and FairMormon (whose leaders John Lynch, Scott Gordon and others also perpetuate this lie) in their lies and smears that I made up the CES Director and that I crowdsourced the CES Letter from Reddit. Notice how confident and smug these guys are when they spew their lies in claiming that I'm a liar. They just know they're right and they got the inside scoop and "proof".
Yet, as the above videos 100% demonstrate and prove, these guys lied through their teeth and made misleading and false smears about me and the CES Letter. What does this say about what else the TITS founders claim and "know" and the reliability of the information they spew?
As for Cardon's claims about my disciplinary court, he obviously hasn't read Mormon Kangaroo Court Against Jeremy T. Runnells. Cardon doesn't know what he's talking about as he doesn't have all the important details nor is he capable of understanding or appreciating the real purpose, threat and danger of these kangaroo courts as the Church did everything it could to do its dirty deeds in secrecy. The stake president wasn't answering my questions and he was insinuating vague insidious claims about my conduct and character. The sole purpose of this exercise on the part of the LDS Church was to try and destroy my name and reputation and I had a right to defend myself. I did just that and Cardon doesn't like the end result - which is that I exposed this practice of his religion for the cult activity it really is.
Also, Cardon...just stick with "comedy" and smuggling weapons past the TSA. Your "psychoanalysis" of speculating the inner motivations of others and whether or not they're trying to be "cool" and fill up an "emptiness from within"? lol. Dude, I'm now a balding 40-year-old dad with a teenager and a pot belly..."cool" for me is so 1999; back when I was in high school. The only emptiness I'm trying to fill is my Honda Odyssey's gas tank from all the school and extracurricular carpooling I'm doing nowadays (wife is a nurse). Cardon's little psychobabble is more of a glimpse and reflection into Cardon Ellis' head than it is mine.
Cardon, Kwaku & Co. have also made an extremely offensive attack on me and John Dehlin by calling us "homewreckers for profit". They claim that John and I are supposedly "banking" off of the ashes of destroyed families and marriages due to our work and activism.
These are among the thousands of testimonials about the CES Letter:
I shared the above testimonial to a Facebook group and got additional testimonial comments to the post below:
Other testimonials:
You often see couples sharing about how the CES Letter was influential to them and their marriages in Mormon Stories interviews. Ditto with Reddit Ex Mormon posts where it's common to see a post at least once or twice a week. Ditto with Mormon and Ex Mormon groups on Facebook.
I've not only experienced thousands of heartwarming testimonials online...I've talked to couples face-to-face in the real world. I've had dozens of experiences over the years at Sunstone and in random public places meeting couples telling me through tears and hugs that the CES Letter saved their marriages and families.
John Dehlin has similar testimonials about how Mormon Stories saved marriages and families and he has had the same interactions I've had meeting couples face-to-face.
The real culprit that is destroying marriages and families is the LDS Church's truth crisis. Full stop.
The real "wrecking families for profit" is the pandemic GameStop / Tesla banking First Presidency and Q12 who care more about their secret multi-billion slush fund than truly being honest and transparent to their members about Mormonism's founding and history. On top of their truth crisis, they have the nerve to slander and denigrate family members who leave the church.
The CES Letter is primarily just pointing to the LDS Church's official Gospel Topics essays confirming that the Church and its leaders have a truth and narrative problem.
You don't have to take my word for it. Here are pro-LDS historians, leaders and scholars admitting that the LDS Church has a truth crisis:
The Changing LDS Narrative
This attack on the CES Letter is just a deflection to keep members distracted from the real culprit and problem here: The LDS Church's truth crisis, how LDS leaders slander former members and how the Church programs its members to view and treat their "apostate" family members.
The absurd smear that I destroy families for profit is extremely offensive to me. It's just not true. I know from personal experiences (including having been in a mixed-faith marriage), my own heart and intentions as well as my deep understanding of the LDS Church's truth crisis that the opposite is true: the CES Letter and Mormon Stories give couples and families a fighting chance to get through and out of the LDS Church's truth crisis intact.
Elder Craig C. Christensen
Meet Elder Craig C. Christensen. He's a General Authority in the First Quorum of the Seventy in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In August 2019, Elder Christensen gave a talk as an official speaker at the 2019 FairMormon Conference. After his speech, Elder Christensen did a Q&A. The following is the first question:
Full FairMormon video @ 39:20 mark
This is quite damning. Elder Christensen just publicly solidified the link between the LDS Church and FairMormon. Not only has this link been connected but Elder Christensen reveals that the LDS Church "quietly and behind the scenes are doing a lot to support" FairMormon. Elder Christensen then states that the LDS Church's support for FairMormon has increased the last few years "quite significantly".
Pay close attention to how Elder Christensen describes the Church's and FairMormon's partnership. Also notice how uncomfortable FairMormon president Scott Gordon looks while Elder Christensen publicly reveals their cards.
John Dehlin did an excellent podcast episode focusing on how the LDS Church funnels money to other organizations. Start at the 16:33 mark to learn about how the LDS Church funnels money to FairMormon:
Mormon Apologist Non-Profits and Violence
The LDS Church is now complicit with supporting unChristlike FairMormon and unChristlike smear campaigns like TITS.
I don't believe in feeding trolls. In conversations with others, some recommended that I just ignore Kwaku & Co. and not give trolls oxygen. I generally agree but the reality is that that when the trolls are running the circus like they now are at FairMormon, it has to be publicly discussed about and addressed.
When one of the most well known Mormon apologetic organizations, supported and funded by the LDS Church, decides to make a repulsive and disgusting show attempting to contaminate the marketplace with blatant falsehoods and filth all the while giving platform to very controversial figures Kwaku El and Cardon Ellis? To allow these guys to be the new faces and spokesmen of FairMormon? Then they're "not in the most stellar place", to borrow the words of Kwaku.
Kwaku's and Cardon's despicable behaviors needs to be exposed and the onus is on FairMormon and the LDS Church to disavow them and their unethical actions and behavior. If not, FairMormon and the LDS Church are knowingly and willingly promoting and condoning their despicable and un-Christlike actions and behavior under their names and brands.
Kwaku & Co. and FairMormon's conduct is now positioning the Mormon Church into Scientology and other dangerous cult status in showing the world that it has no problem encouraging violence and threats of violence against its critics and former members. They have no problem moving into Fair Game territory as evidenced by how they denigrate and smear its critics. As such, we can justifiably assess and judge FairMormon and the LDS Church accordingly.
These men are no longer just unsavory trolls. They're now unsavory trolls with the institutional backing and support of FairMormon and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Talk is cheap. Until FairMormon completely disassociates and removes the TITS series off their platforms and disavow the conduct of Kwaku El and Cardon Ellis, they are endorsing and aligning themselves with despicable unChristlike behavior. March 23, 2021 Update: FairMormon did the first step of repentance by acknowledging their mistake and to stop/remove. The next step is for them to publicly apologize to all of those they've wronged, lied about and smeared against.
If you're a FairMormon or More Good Foundation or LDS Church subscriber or donor, please demonstrate the Christlike values you claim to espouse by ending your donations, subscriptions and affiliations with these dishonest and unChristlike organizations.
I'm genuinely embarrassed for these guys. They're never going to escape this. They don't know it yet but the statistics are stacked heavily against them. There is an extremely high probability that at least 1 of the 3 TITS founders is going to leave the Church within the next 5 years and the remainder within the next 10-15 years. These guys know just enough to know that there's serious problems and it will just take some other triggers and life events for them to finally start being honest with themselves. I cringe for them thinking about them in the future looking back at this shitshow - and their part in it - when the eyes of their understanding has opened. But I'll be there for them just like I have been for my past apologetic critics who secretly opened up to me about their own journeys out of the Church these last few years.
The TITS circus is not a rebuttal to the CES Letter. Rather, it is a reflection of FairMormon's dramatic decline and decay. It is the latest signal, snapshot and barometer reading in the 2020s of the astounding continual collapse and downfall of FairMormon and Mormon apologetics in general. It is a demonstration of how shallow, contradictory and empty their "faithful answers" are.
It is a shocking public display that FairMormon (many of their leadership and apologists) have not only lost the war but have lost their dignity, integrity, respect, decency and honor in the process of defending the indefensible.
This was my statement on social media when I publicly released this essay:
Mormon Stories did a group discussion analyzing this whole situation and the latest updates:
FAIRMormon Partially Repents, Jeremy Runnells Unleashes
Several of the people who created video debunkings of the TITS videos (you can see their videos in the Detailed Debunkings section) have notified me that they received emails from YouTube telling them that FairMormon president Scott Gordon was trying to copyright strike them (take down their videos under the pretense that they were violating FairMormon's copyright).
YouTube defended the debunkers from FairMormon's attempts to censor and take down their videos by citing Fair Use due to commentary and criticism.
The fact that Scott Gordon did a machine gun approach and attempt in getting YouTube to take down all of these videos a day after I released this essay just reeks of desperation.
Historical Skeptic shared this on Reddit. Several comments and observations:
Other Screenshots: Nemo 1, Nemo 2 and Historical Skeptic.
Not content with his 15 minutes expiring and being erased by FairMormon and by Saints Unscripted, Kwaku is apparently trying to still be relevant by claiming that he's going to "re-make" the videos (Kwaku's freudian slip that even he knows the videos are terrible?). Only in Kwaku's universe does he think he has an editing and "re-make" problem.
Speaking of getting erased, someone made this funny clip about the LDS Church's and FairMormon's latest move to cancel Kwaku and TITS:
Kwaku continues to insult and alienate both communities (Mormon and ex Mormon) and is oblivious to how his conduct and behavior is making him toxic and repugnant and is destroying any last ounce of respect or credibility he might have left. Here's several responses by people in both communities:
Year of Polygamy Lindsay Hansen Park responded to Kwaku's misogynistic and personal attack on her:
David Bokovoy responded to Kwaku's attacks and misogyny:
Mormon apologist Jaxon shared that he's no longer friends with Kwaku because of his increasingly disturbing behavior:
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