A Utah billionaire has officially requested for the removal of his records from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a scathing letter to Mormon church president Russel M. Nelson.
Jeff Green, the CEO and chairman of the online advertising company Trade Desk, wrote in a letter obtained by CBS News: "While most members are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world. The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy,"
The letter was first published by the Salt Lake Tribune and is reportedly dated December 23. In it, Green says that he believes the church has "hindered global progress in women's rights, civil rights, and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights."
Green details how he believes the church has created "unhealthy paradigms around gender roles", and this, "coupled with the sex-negative teachings and policies, has a series of immeasurably negative impacts on nearly all participating members and their neighbors and communities."
Although he personally left the church a decade ago and found his own "moral compass", Green has "not officially requested the removal of my records, until now."
And speaking of those who have left the church before him, Green writes: "I feel deep empathy for those who have been ostracized from the Mormon community or who choose to leave because of their beliefs, values, or even just who they are."
"Leaving almost always means losing some amount of family harmony," he added.
As well as the issues already mentioned, Green also takes umbrage with how the church has decided to spend its assets. "This money comes from people, often poor, who wholeheartedly believe you represent the will of Jesus. They give, expecting the blessings of heaven," he writes to Nelson.
But rather than using the money to "help the world and its members", Green writes how the church "has exploited its members and their need for hope to build temples, build shopping malls, and cattle ranches, fund Ensign Peak Advisors investment funds, and own mortgage-backed securities."
In an act to show that Green practices what he preaches, he revealed that he would be making a $600,000 to the LGBTQ+ rights group Equality Utah.
"We made this investment sizable and publicly to send a message that Equality Utah isn’t going anywhere," Green says.
But as for his relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Green says the only contact he wants moving forward is "a single letter of confirmation to let me know that I am no longer listed as a member."
