by Team PFAAS
In 2024, Austin Fife published “The Light and Truth Letter” in response to Jeremy Runnell’s CES Letter as well as to Mormon Critics in general. In the letter, he claims that he is addressing those critics with his “Questions & Concerns”, defining his target audience as follows:
“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.”’
(Austin Fife, “Disclosures” in The Light and Truth Letter)
He thought so highly of this treatise that he offered it online, in a paperback edition, and in an eBook edition. He then took to the Mormon online universe where he appeared on faithful podcasts and video broadcasts where he and his work received high praise, high fives, and accolades.
But Mormon critics were not kind to “The Light and Truth Letter.” Some thought it was an attempt at satire, while others thought “Austin Fife” was a clever pseudonym. Yet despite its weak arguments and unknown author, the work succeeded with True Believing Mormons (TBMs). When critics finally noticed they decided to do something about it.
Radio Free Mormon (RFM) initially took on the task of debunking “The Light and Truth Letter” on his podcast. However, he vowed to stop after only one episode because he felt the book wasn’t worth his time or effort. However, due to popular demand, RFM later returned to the task. During that quiet interim, others began their own debunking projects where RFM had initially left off, which was the chapter on Church Finances.
One of these “others” was the members of the Preaching From An Asbestos Suit Facebook group (aka “Team PFAAS”) which is comprised of a group of Biblical Christians in Mormon Studies who regularly engage TBMs on the Internet and in person. The links that follow are to the series of articles that we did to that end. For your convenience, we have also included any corresponding links to RFM’s podcast debunkings.
Mr. Fife claims he wrote “The Light and Truth” to address Mormon critics. However, he refuses to publicly engage with his critics in a public forum where all participants are on a level playing field. Instead, he prefers to engage with critics only in private one-on-one email discussions.
RFM has issued an open invitation to Mr. Fife to appear on his show. We encourage him to accept the invitation and engage in a discussion on the merits of his arguments. We also encourage him to engage with Team PFAAS in the public comments section of this article. If we are wrong, we will gladly – and publicly – admit it. Mr. Fife, you said that you wrote “The Light and Truth” to address Mormon critics. Well, here we are. Let’s talk.
And with that brief introduction, we give you, “Debunking The Light and Truth Letter” by Team PFAAS.
(the links download Adobe Acrobat versions of the articles to your device that you can open and read locally on your device)
Radio Free Mormon and Kolby Reddish also did a bonus podcast entitled, “How Mormons Lie to You!” (click here for the video edition or here for the audio edition) which does a deep dive into how Austin Fife in particular, and Mormon Apologists in general, lie and misrepresent the facts in The Light and Truth Letter and elsewhere. It is highly recommended viewing or listening.
Beggar's Bread 
I checked out the links, not impressed. Most of the podcast you cited is two guys gossiping, outright lying, and being rude. Not very christlike yknow?
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lordveximus365 wrote, “I checked out the links, not impressed.”
I see. So you’re telling me that you read every written article – all twenty three (that’s 23, not counting LC Walker’s expanded articles on abuse)?
And listened to every single one of the linked Radio Free Mormon podcasts?
Am I getting this right?
lordveximus365 wrote, “Most of the podcast you cited…”
They weren’t “cited”, they were linked to, nothing more. There’s a difference, isn’t there?
lordveximus365 wrote, “… is two guys gossiping, outright lying, and being rude.”
Actually, two guys and a girl – the Radio Free Mormon podcast on abuse includes a woman who is an expert on Child Abuse in the church, LC Walker.
The fact that you didn’t name her or the two guys (Kolby Reddish and RFM) makes me suspect that you didn’t actually listen to any of the shows.
For example, you make the bald accusation that they are “gossiping, outright lying, and being rude” without citing any examples or giving any specifics. So tell you what, if we’re to believe that watched or listened to the show and are qualified to make such accusations, why don’t you cite some specific examples now?
Please proceed.
lordveximus365 wrote, “Not very christlike yknow?”
I wouldn’t know since you didn’t give anything that what prove your accusation that they were “gossiping, outright lying, and being rude”, let alone not be very Christlike did you?
Again, please proceed.
And, and BTW, just a reminder, bearing false witness by making baseless accusations isn’t Christlike at all, is it? In fact, it’s a violation of the 9th Commandment – “Thou shalt not bear false witness” Exodus 20:16.
Just a friendly reminder…
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I intentionally read both the CES Letter and the Light and Truth Letter, because I thought to respond properly, I should have read the entire thing. I found the later to be very weak, and not well researched. And he was very dependent on Latter Day Saint sources. And as one who wrote two chapter responses, I wasn’t impressed with Austin Fife’s reasoning or research. And there are issues I have with the CES Letter in areas, but it has very good footnotes, the Light and Truth Letter does not have impressive footnotes.
Now to be fair, Fred included links to the Radio Free Mormon podcast and his reviews of the chapters. I understand why RFM and Kolby Reddish could be seen as more gossipy, but if you can get past those tendencies, they really do demonstrate very big problems with Austin’s research.
Those of us who wrote the responses tried to avoid the gossip side of things (I certainly did), and look at what Austin wrote and analyze it. I found his letter very weak and mostly based on insider information and faith promoting information rather than real, in depth research.
And I also listened to an interview Mr. Fife had on the Mormon Book Reviews channel, and honestly what I left that interview with is that I question that Mr. Fife ever actually had a faith crisis. I really doubt it the more I’ve heard from him.
With all of that, I really think it is a very weak response to the CES Letter, and I suspect Mr. Fife’s 15 minutes of fame won’t last long.
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Unsure why there is no citation for the light and truth letter or as the podcast bros called it “light on truth” letter in this article but here it is. Its best read in context of the CES letter, so I encourage any good scholar to check out the CES letter first, check for primary sources, i myself found none within it.
Id be very interested in hearing from the podcast bros on their thoughts about the author of the CES letter, who actually admitted he only wrote the letter to get his family out of the church, which was exactly what they claimed Mormons claim is ok (Lying for someone’s benefit) Id be curious to hear if D&C 10 was the only place they were able to eisegete tariqwa(Shia Muslim concept) like concepts from or if there is other LDS doctrine they can find that illustrates “lying is ok” from yknow?
https://www.lightandtruthletter.org
https://cesletter.org
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@lordveximus365 wrote, “Unsure why there is no citation for the light and truth letter…”
A claim that is demonstrably false since is a embedded link on the words, ” “The Light and Truth Letter” in the opening line of the article. In fact, it’s embedded on those words here too – just click on them and see what happens (spoiler alert: It hyperlinks you right over to the portal page for the online edition of “The Light and Truth Letter”.)
@lordveximus365 wrote, “… or as the podcast bros called it “light on truth” letter”
Actually, if you were paying attention, Radio Free Mormon is calling it “The Lite on Truth Letter”. It’s a pun.
@lordveximus365 wrote, “… in this article but here it is.”
No clue what you’re talking about: “This article” wasn’t written by Radio Free Mormon.
@lordveximus365 wrote, “Its best read in context of the CES letter…”
Baloney. The CES Letter is a separate and distinct work by another author (Jeremy Runnells). The Light and Truth Letter only glosses on the references it in passing throughout – the CES Letter does NOT set the context for The Light and Truth Letter, to make such a claim is nonsense.
@lordveximus365 wrote, “…so I encourage any good scholar to check out the CES letter first…”
Any good scholar who has read both the CES Letter and The Light and Truth Letter would know that you’re talking nonsense. There is absolutely NO need to read one or the other first, they are standalone projects with no dependencies on each other.
@lordveximus365 wrote, “…check for primary sources, i myself found none within it.”
Then, respectfully, you’re blind. The CES Letter is filled with clearly cited primary sources from cover to cover.
That said, AGAIN, I repeat the topic at hand is Austin Fife’s “Light and Truth Letter” NOT Jeremy Runnell’s CES Letter. Please stay on topic.
@lordveximus365 wrote, “Id be very interested in hearing from the podcast bros on their thoughts about the author of the CES letter, who actually admitted he only wrote the letter to get his family out of the church, which was exactly what they claimed Mormons claim is ok (Lying for someone’s benefit) Id be curious to hear if D&C 10 was the only place they were able to eisegete tariqwa(Shia Muslim concept) like concepts from or if there is other LDS doctrine they can find that illustrates “lying is ok” from yknow?”
Since we’re NOT “the podcast bros” (we simply provided a link to the Radio Free Mormon podcasts on The Light and Truth Letter as a courtesy and convenience and nothing more) we wouldn’t dream of answering for them.
Of course if you had actually read the above Epilogue article you would have known this – just as if you had actually clicked through and watched any of their shows on YouTube. So the fact that you didn’t begs the question why you didn’t.
So if you would REALLY like to hear what Radio Free Mormon and/or Kolby Reddish think of Jeremy Runnells and the CES Letter, you are free to do so on THEIR website which can be found here: https://radiofreemormon.org/
Now, that said, we would love to hear from you on our 23 (twenty three) written article – which are discussed in the above Epilogue article to them. But you have failed to say a word about them.
Please proceed – you can start with the first one and then move through the rest, the links are provided above in the table.
Please proceed. Here’s the first link to get you going: “Cover and Introduction” by Fred Anson
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So, what statements seem especially wrong to you, lordveximus365?
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