A billionaire – thought to be the richest man from Utah – announced he was donating $600,000 to a LGTBQ group and resigning from his Mormon church in a 900-word letter accusing the church of hindering the progress of civil rights and taking advantage of its members according to a report from USA Today.
Jeff Green, CEO of Trade Desk, a software marketing company, sent the letter to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or commonly referred to as LDS, President Russell Nelson on Monday requesting the removal of his records, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
“I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights, and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights,” Green wrote in the letter, according to the Tribune. The NYT stated: “While most members are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world,” he wrote in the letter, which was reported Monday by The Salt Lake Tribune.
In the letter, a copy of which was dated Dec. 23, he said he had stopped believing in the church’s teachings more than a decade ago and had spent several years reflecting on his issues with it. “I believe the Mormon Church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights, and racial equality, and L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights,” he wrote.
In the letter, Mr. Green, 44, asked for his records to be removed from the church and for his only other contact from the organization to be a letter confirming that he was no longer a member.
One of his friends and 11 of his family members were also resigning, he said. Kathleen Flake, a professor of Mormon studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said this sort of formal exit from the church was similar to a renunciation of citizenship. To return to the church, a person would have to be rebaptized.
