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Under The Banner Of Heaven: A Story Of Violent Faith (2015)

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (2015)

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3.96 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0330419129 (ISBN13: 9780330419123)
Language
English
Publisher
pan macmillan

About book Under The Banner Of Heaven: A Story Of Violent Faith (2015)

From page 324-25 (my book)And both believed completely in the principle of plural marriage [polygamy] – even though they have not engaged in polygamy themselves. ‘We’ve considered it many times’ Pamela says, ‘There have been many, many women who could have been part of our family... I could live the Principle [fundamentalist Mormonism] more easily now that I’m older’... She says the real basis for her faith ‘is spiritual. It’s all about the spirit that exists in your heart... I tell you when you feel that spirit – the real spirit – there’s nothing like it. You’re full of fire inside’OK.The book is about this feeling – the spirit that Joseph Smith felt in the 1820’s when he single-handedly started his religion – Mormonism. It resulted directly from his visions and indirectly from the freedom of the marketplace allowed in the U.S. Constitution for religion. And the author also describes the spirit that the Lafferty brothers had – a vision that told them to murder a woman and her one and a half year old baby. The author tells us how Mormonism started in the U.S. – and how it was distinctly of the U.S., but yet apart. Mormons were persecuted for their beliefs, for their separateness – and were forced to flee across the U.S. and finally settled where now resides the state of Utah. This separateness is ingrained into them – possibly similar to Judaism, in that they feel different from the mainstream community or country they reside in. Adding to this separateness is the fact that Joseph Smith (the founder) was murdered by a mob in Illinois. Mormonism is now one of the fastest growing religions and has spread significantly across North America – into both Mexico and Canada.Because it is such a new religion (in contrast to, for example, Christianity) it is much easier to analyze its commencement and development. The author takes us through these stages and we are shown the peculiarities of the Mormon religion. Its’ doctrines are outlined in the “Book of Mormon” written and inspired by Joseph Smith. And then there were add-ons. These were further revelations of Joseph Smith and of his successors. The most controversial was of polygamy. Joseph Smith had this one, but it was only added on posthumously a few years after his death, mostly due to its controversial nature. His first wife also was not particularly willing to legitimize publicly the relationship her husband was having with his younger girlfriends.The ability of members to experience revelations is both a strength and weakness of the religion. It allows change, but also gives its members a free rein to experience their own revelations. These revelations are suppose to originate from God and suppose to take precedence over the rule of secular society. And Mormons are expected to act on these revelations. And they do. A later revelation caused them to renounce polygamy.As I was reading this book about the many “inspired revelations” that kept happening to various people over many years, another word for “revelation” occurred to me which was “daydream”.As in all religions, splinter groups started to form which claimed to have the purer form of Mormonism. This happened more so after the official Church renounced polygamy. There are now several fundamentalists Mormon colonies spread far and wide across North America where leaders have had the revelation and now practise polygamy. Besides simply not adding up in terms of an equal distribution of male and female partners, in many cases polygamy is simply a lame excuse for predatory males to acquire underage brides. The author gives us several examples.I do feel the book, by emphasizing the Lafferty brothers and their awful crimes, overlooks the mainstream Latter Day Saints Church. One could argue the Laffertys’ do not represent The Church of the Latter Day Saints. We do learn that the main Latter Saints Church is hierarchical with an emphasis on obedience, that women do not participate in the upper management of the Church (and how different is that from any other religion?) , and also that revelations (there is that mystical, magical word again) continue to play a significant role. I also felt the author gave undue emphasis to the writing rants of the Lafferty’s. The origins of Mormonism were far more interesting. It is like the author veered off to talk about the lunatic fringe – and to some extent was successful in tying this to the overall Mormon religion – so this still makes the book very worthwhile.Page 272Utah has been called the ‘fraud capital of the world’ by the Wall Street Journal... The uncommonly high incidence of fraud is a direct consequence of the uncommonly high percentage of Utah County residents who are Mormons. Michael Hines, director of enforcement for the Utah Securities Division warned, "People need to realize that God is not a good investment advisor".Page 331 – DeLoy Bateman [an ex fundamentalist Mormon]But some things are more important than being happy. Like being free to think for yourself.

4.0 to 4.5 stars. For non-fiction, this book had me absolutely riveted from the very beginning. This true crime narative has three main themes, all of which I think Krakauer accomplishes extremely well. First, this is a true crime story of the brutal double murder of Brenda Lafferty and her 15 month old baby girl at the hands Ron and Dan Lafferty (the older brothers of Brenda’s husband). Second, is a survey of the origin and early history of Mormonism and the basic doctrines of the Mormon faith. Third, the book details the deep divide and animosity between the Mormon church and the various fundamentalist Mormon sects, including the one to which the murderers belonged. These three story-lines are not broken down into sections but are interwoven throughout the book. However, for simplicity I will address each separately. THE MURDERSOn July 24, 1984, Brenda and Eric Lafferty, wife and daughter of Allen Lafferty, were brutally murdered by Allen’s older brothers Ronald and Dan Lafferty. The book begins with an account of the murders and several of the newspaper articles that covered it and then layers in the story of Ron and Dan and the events leading up to the killing throughout the rest of the book. One quote from the book that still haunts me occurs in the first few pages when Dan describes the murder of his 15 months old niece: He [describes] how he found his fifteen-month-old niece, Erica, standing in her crib, smiling up at him. ‘I spoke to her for a minute,’ Lafferty recalls. ‘I told her, I’m not sure what this is all about, but apparently it’s God’s will that you leave this world; perhaps we can talk about it later.’ And then he ended her life with a ten-inch boning knife. For me, as a father of two little girls, this is one of the most disturbing passages I have ever read. THE HISTORY OF MORMONISM The second component of the book is a fairly detailed overview of the founding and early history of the Mormon church. I am not joking when I say that before I began reading this book, almost everything I knew about the Mormon faith came from watching South Park. I thought the early history of the church was fascinating, especially the descriptions of the tension and actual armed conflicts between LDS supporters and (1) Missouri residents and militia in 1838 (aka the Missouri Mormon War), (2) the Illinois Militia in 1844 (aka Illinois Mormon War) and (3) the U.S. Government in 1857-58 (aka the Utah War). For those not familiar with these conflicts or this period of American History, I think you will find it very interesting. FUNDAMENTALIST MORMONISMThe most compelling aspect of the book for me was the description of various fundamentalist Mormon sects, including their basic beliefs and the amount of influence and control they maintain over their followers. Krakauer goes on to describe the deep animosity that the fundamentalists have for the mainstream Mormon church (and vice versa). While there are many points of contention between the two, the major theological difference is over polygamy which the fundamentalists believe is a sacred duty required by God. He states in the Prologue of the book: Mormon authorities treat the fundamentalists as they would a crazy uncle - they try to keep the "polygs" hidden in the attic, safely out of sight, but the fundamentalists always seem to be sneaking out in public at inopportune moment to create unsavory scenes, embarrassing the entire LDS clan.Krakauer also describes how the fundamentalist Mormons view the U.S. Government as Satan and believe that stealing from the government (either in the form of educational grants for cities which they control or in the form of welfare for their numerous wives and children) is their sacred duty. He says, “Fundamentalists call defrauding the government ‘bleeding the beast’ and regard it as a virtuous act.” For example, the largest fundamentalist sect is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the United Effort Plan (UEP). At the time the book was written, the UEP was run by Rulon T. Jeffs (aka Uncle Rulon) out of the town of Colorado City, AZ on the border between Arizona and Utah. Colorado City has a population of about 5000 all of which belong to the UEP and the town gets between $4Millon and $6Million a year in public education funding and other grants. The power base of the town stems from Uncle Rulon who had approximately 75 wives (many as young as 13-14) and over 65 children. BTW, no member of the town is able to watch TV, read a newspaper or have any interaction with the outside world. FINAL THOUGHTSI thought this was a compelling read. Krakauer does a great job of layering in a ton of interesting background while keeping the narrative of the events leading up the brutal murders moving forward. I was impressed with how well Krakauer avoided letting the narrative get bogged down although that could just be my fascination with the subject matter. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!.

Do You like book Under The Banner Of Heaven: A Story Of Violent Faith (2015)?

I don't know where to start with this book -- I couldn't put it down. It was enthralling. A quick note about Krakauer: this was the first book I've read by him and I was duly impressed with his story telling ability and his writing style. I will definitely add his other books to my reading list.Now for the book -- holy shit! Like most people I didn't know much about Mormons beyond the basics. And let it be known right off the bat that I am a devout athiest who thinks all religions are a load of bull. I can certainly understand after reading this book why the church thinks this book was a hatchet job on the religion. All that said, the LDS church is some scary shit. Certainly Krakauer doesn't mean to say that all Mormons are dangerous, pedophiles, rapists and killers -- just the fundamentalist ones (and history proves this point). When he asks one of the main subjects of the book, a man who is serving a life sentence for the brutal slayings of a woman and her 18-month old child, about comparisons to other fundamentalist groups and Osama bin Laden in particular -- the man claims the difference is that he is right. How's that for arrogance?Again, I think all religions are crap, but Mormonism was basically a nutty story pulled out of Joseph Smith's ass less than 200 year's ago. Krakauer does a great job of weaving the story of the beginnings of the LDS church with modern day stories of fundamentalism. It's easy to see why there are fundamentalist LDS sects today when you follow the history of the religion. I think what makes it so scary for me is the devotion to Smith and his ridiculous story told in the Book of Mormon that flies in the face of fact and common sense. Though the Mormon story is not much stranger than other major religious stories, it certainly is a stretch even by the standards of faith.But the book is not really about the mainstream LDS church and I certainly don't mean to ridicule these people (at least not any more than other religious people who deny history and scientific fact) -- the book really shows us about what happens when people follow a religion to its "logical" conculsion in an extreme sense. The fundamentalists differ from the mainstream in that they are so devout they take every word as truth and that means damn everyone else in the world -- literally. What makes the LDS fundamentalists so interesting to me is their devotion to one particular tenent of the religion -- plural marriage. The fundamentalists are so caught up in their "right" to have multiple wives that they are willing to die and kill for it. I personally think if you want more than one wife and you can get several women to agree -- good for you. Enjoy. Have a freakin orgy if you want. And that would be fine if not for one thing -- the men in this community do this by force and do it with underage women and in some cases their own daughters. That's criminal.Living so close to Colorado City means I get plenty of news about what's going on up there, and lately we've read a lot about Warren Jeffs who in my mind is a dangerous criminal. But at least now I have some context for why he and the other fundamentalists are how they are. Frankly, I think it's less about religion than it is about power and greed. Anyway, what an amazing book. Especially given the fact that some experts think the LDS religion will reach upwards of 300 million members by the end of this century and after almost 200 years of fighting the American government they are potentially one election away from assuming the ultimate power of having the U.S. presidency. Don't think Mitt Romney will let his religion influence his decision-making? Just see George W. Bush for precedent. Not much difference in my mind between LDS fundamentalism and Christian fundamentalism. Not to say Mitt is a fundamentalist -- but what do we really know about his devotion to Joseph Smith's crazy story of the coming of the end of times?
—Len

My father's family is obsessed with Mormons, I think it's fair to say. Well..not Mormons. Most of the Mormons I've known have been perfectly regular people. If you're Mormon, please forgive me if that sounds callous. We are, however, obsessed with Mormonism, and have been since my aunt and uncle took a trip to Salt Lake City many years ago and came back with something we call "The Mormon Movie"."The Mormon Movie" is like the axis point of a fascination that's gone on for years and is easy to explain: we're Lutherans. As Lutheran, in fact, as they come. My grandfather co-founded the church my parents grew up in, and my dad and uncle were both pastors as younger men. My mom's family went to that Lutheran church, too, her mother was the choir director. The story goes on. So for us, the stories of rites and rituals, of Jesus visiting the Americas, of holy underwear, of plural marriage, almost seemed too fantastical to be true. Despite the inaccuracies of some of our perceptions of the LDS, this curiousity definitely added to my interest and enjoyment of this book, which is not so much a criticism of the Mormon Church as a look into how its history led to some very gruesome murders. LDS, of course, was not too thrilled with it, but I thought the book does a pretty evenhanded job of presenting facts more than opinions. I read it for my father's book club, and we had a debate about how fair he was being. But we also argued about how valuable participation in a religious institution is in the first place, or how corrupting it can be (I should add that the murderers in this book were part of a few different sects of Mormonism that were NOT part of the LDS). At any rate, it made us think and debate a lot, and it made us angry. That alone, I think, is a good reason to pick this one up.
—Marissa

Leave it to me to avoid a bandwagon (see: "Arrested Development") and finally opt to read this heralded book about Mormon killers while on vacation. Shew.And by Mormon killers I do mean both people who kill Mormons and Mormons who kill (kill "Gentiles" [anyone not Mormon, including Jews] and kill their own). The book is timely in that Mormon fundamentalists recently sprang into the news again, though hardly by their own desire, with the Texas polygamist colony fiasco in which lachrymose children were stripped from their "Little House on the Prairie" dress-wearing mothers and placed with protective services. That intrusion's since been ruled unlawful, and the children were even returned to the compound, to their families.It surely bears noting that this book centers on the killing of a mainline Mormon mother and her infant daughter by fundie Mormons, her estranged husband and brother-in-law. In adopting this thread throughout the book, Krakauer (the uber-successful magazine scribe of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air fame) frames it much like In Cold Blood, Capote's groundbreaking, timeless work. Indeed, it appears more and more as the book progresses that, when he's not content to simply play a prof of Mormon history for a chapter or two, Krakauer's eager to make this read his best go at copping Capote.He largely succeeds. The book's a bit long at 360ish pages but shorter than, say, Devil in the White City, a book I kinda wanted to lump it in with. It's engrossing, immensely readable. The beliefs (of mainline Mormons and their fundie brethren, whether they acknowledge them or not), the histories (grislier than you could imagine, with the prophet Joseph Smith going out in an OK Corral-styled bloodbath in a jailhouse), and the personalities (of Smith, of Brigham Young, and of the everyday Mormons and splinter-group leaders encountered) are all larger than life. Even Elizabeth Smart and her kidnapper make it into the mix, though it seems a distracting digression every time Krakauer drums it up. (We can only assume he bothers due to the CNN familiarity factor.)If this is in fact "the one true entirely American religion," it's a fascinating one. Among the lighter beliefs is that Mormons don't drink coffee or take in caffeine. Then there's the timeline for the permissibility of polygamy (or "spiritual wifery," or "celestial marriage," or whatEVER), which is entirely debatable, depending on who you talk to. I grew so very angry at Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, particularly the former, for the obvious con men, hypocrites, and oft-deplorable husbands and human beings they were, this despite their undeniable charms and ways with words and movement building. (Sound like anyone in today's America?) That someone (Smith) can decry polygamy while at the same time ravishing 20- or even 15-year-old brides himself (up to 45 of them in all) is just something to mourn.Question: How does someone even maintain 45 relationships at once? How can you 45-time these girls? Sheesh.What's more, a lot of the family trees depicted here have inbred branches growing out of inbred branches. I can't emphasize enough how supremely screwed up it is, stepdaughters being taken by their stepfathers and so on. (But to be fair, this was also the century of stateside slavery perped by us Gentiles, although so many wives in this Mormon era could also be deemed slaves.) It's also a chore to follow some of Krakauer's pedigree delineations, reminds one of trying to keep straight all the real-life political characters in Woodward and Bernstein's riveting-and-then-dull All The President's Men.The story begins and ends with the tragic, disgusting deaths of a smart, strong-willed young woman and her daughter. The details of the murders are recounted in such a way that In Cold Blood didn't chill me, in ways that the sexual assault and killing of the girl Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones' first chapter didn't get to me. I could barely read the relevant sections of this book, wondered why Krakauer included them and wished he'd pull up the reins. But he was and is relentless with all that he does, and writes, and that will not change.A lot about even mainline Mormonism doesn't make sense to me, and seems hushed up so "Gentiles" won't trip over it, but the fact remains that, when you meet and know Mormons, you realize they are quite wonderful people. They do much for communities and are largely successful, driven, faithful people. (I mean, look at Mitt Romney.) It just so happens that most of the Mormons - mainliners and fundies both - met in this book are horrendous people, particularly Ron and Dan Lafferty. God bless Brenda and Erica Lafferty, their lives cut far too short by the most senseless reasoning.
—Jonathan

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