The Writer’s Coin

Under the Banner of Heaven is a book about two murders, the men behind the murders, and the reasons they had for “removing” a woman and a baby. Sound gruesome? It is, but it’s an incredibly interesting read—right up there with In Cold Blood and Manhunt.

To answer the question about why these guys killed two innocent people, and why Dan Lafferty still shows absolutely no remorse about slitting a baby’s throat, Krakauer digs deep into the history of Mormondom, its roots, and a lot of its changes over the past 170+ years.

It’s incredible that such an established religion is so young and yet so powerful. I’m not good at reviews, but here are a few things that jumped out at me about the book:

• I don’t want to get into a whole discussion about religion and my own personal beliefs about it, but I find it incredible how polygamy was basically “taken out” of mainstream Mormonism so that it could go mainstream in the US. Without that one bit of doing, it would still be considered a cult of fanatics that have no place in the country.
• There’s a really illuminating conversation that goes on between Krakauer and Dan Lafferty near the end of the book where he explains (in very clear words) how he came to believe in fundamentalism and why he is Elijah. It’s scary because this guy isn’t crazy—he’s all there. He just truly believes that he will announce the second coming of Christ. Again, this guy is not a cook and it makes the whole thing creepy. The end of this conversation has Dan Lafferty explaining the different between himself and the men behind 9/11—he’s pretty much in the same boat. He asks himself if he did the right thing that day years ago and his answer comes to him pretty quickly: yes. He felt God telling him what to do and that’s all he needs.
• Near the end there’s a chapter called Judgment in Provo that deals with the trial of Dan’s brother Ron. It’s a really fascinating look at the court system because the prosecution is trying to prove Ron isn’t crazy (or “mentally unfit to stand trial”) so he can get the death penalty. The defense wants to use that very reason to spare his life. And Ron Lafferty could care less. But some of the testimony is really compelling. What makes a man crazy? Does religious belief make a man crazy? According to the prosecution’s witnesses, if Ron was to be filed away as crazy, then anyone that believes in religion would fall under the same umbrella. A man dying on the cross and coming back to life three days later? A man walking on water and turning water to wine? Think of all the religions out there and the “bizarre” stuff that happens in their books. What the prosecution was saying was this: what Ron believes may sound weird and “out there,” and maybe it is, but it’s just his religion: Mormonism. And it’s a religion that is established, growing, and that other people believe in just as fervently. Therefore, there was no way he could be called crazy—it would set a legal precedence in the courts that anyone that believes in religion could use that as a defense. A really interesting chapter.

This is a great book. I had read Into the Wild (the movie was good too) and I liked Krakauer’s style, so this was a no brainer. I’m definitely going to check out Into Thin Air.

Tags: a story of violent faith, jon krakauer, mormonism, mormons, review, under the banner of heaven