Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

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I came to this book while watching the Hulu serialization based on the book. The book and series do not have a lot in common. The book does not make any mention of the investigating officers, while the series is centered around these apparently fictional characters. Similarly, while the murders of Brenda Lafferty and her daughter are the centerpiece of both narratives, the book spends far more time on Mormon culture than the series. Another difference is the major dysfunction of polygamy while the series seems to want to make the issue about “blood atonement.”

Brenda was murdered by her brothers-in-law, Ron and Dan Lafferty in July of 1984. Ron believed that he was being given revelations by God. One revelation advised him to kill his sister-in-law and her infant daughter. Ron and Dan were convicted of first-degree murder in 1985 and Ron was sentenced to death. Thanks to the speed of our justice system, Ron died of natural causes in 2019.

Krakauer provides a “warts and all” history of Mormonism. I had heard a lot of this in passing but I had never followed up for the details. For example, I didn't know that the Mountains Meadow Massacre involved the execution of 140 unarmed pioneers who had surrendered to a Mormon militia (after being attacked by Mormons in the guise of Paiute Indians.)

Krakauer places the blame for Lafferty murder on the Mormon tradition of polygamy and authoritarian religion. Krakauer distinguishes between mainstream Mormonism and Fundamentalist Mormonism, although he does not separate the two.

Joseph Smith surreptitiously disclosed his revelation of polygamous marriage only to his closest allies. It was up to Brigham Young to share the revelation with the broader Mormon community after Smith was killed and the Mormons had left for Utah. The adoption of polygamy caused a schism. In 1890, a new revelation repealed the requirement of polygamy, which led to more schisms. Those who held to polygamy became the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (“FLDS.”)

Krakauer's description of the fundamentalists is eye-opening. The fundamentalists have created their own communities, often quite sizeable (See Colorado City, Arizona.) In these communities the local prophet holds sway, assigning 12-year-old girls to marriages with 60-year-old men with multiple wives. Incest crops up regularly. Women are taken away from men if the man displeases the prophet. A reader forms the opinion that polygamy bestializes both the men and women who come within its culture. I came out of this book with the conviction that we should be waging a war on polygamy that is every bit as strong as our war on trafficking (because in many cases it seems to be the same war.)

Krakauer touches on the question of the Mormon doctrine of Blood Atonement. One of the more shocking features of Mormonism - at least, early Mormonism - is that there are some sins that Christ's Passion could not atone for. To these sins, the early Mormons taught that only the death of the wrongdoer could suffice.

Finally, the question of revelation and sanity was raised. It seems that when Mormons go “nuts” they go nuts in a stereotyped way where they will claim to hear the Heavenly Father telling them things, some of which seem like confirmation bias, e.g., “remove Brenda Lafferty.” At which point, they are free to do whatever the Heavenly Father wants, which frequently corresponds to what they want, without remorse, such as slicing the throat of an eighteen month old baby girl. The matter of fact way that this lunatics go about responding to the revelation is inhuman. at one time, Ron told Dan that the Heavenly Father had revealed to Ron that he should kill Dan. Dan thought this made sense, so he initially cooperated with the murder attempt.

These people are not insane. They have a logic that fits their assumptions. They have the same mindset that informs other people who are equally capable of following the logical entailments of other intangibles like love, freedom, or socialism.

The book was interesting. I'm sure that a Mormon apologist would be offended by it. Krakauer pulled no punches in his description of Mormon history or the dysfunction of the FLDS communities. I suspect that there is context that would make the recitation of Mormon history less awful. I also got a sense that polygamy may be a constant attraction to some devout Mormons, people who want to follow the teachings of the church no matter what. There were a lot of stories of such people hopping the fence to Crazyville on the polygamous train.