Reviews for Under the Banner of Heaven
Review - Under the Banner of Heaven
The story of the Lafferty brothers, Mormon fundamentalists who, on orders from God, brutally murdered their sister-in-law and her baby. The story in interspersed with chapters on the history of the Mormon religion, from Joseph Smith’s original “revelation” from the angel Moroni in New York through present day activities in Salt Lake City.
Krakauer’s original purpose was to investigate faith itself, and in several places he lumps all faiths together. In this quote, he explains why the Mormon “truths” don’t hold water.
“Critics point out that the gold plates, which would presumably prove The Book of Mormon’s authenticity, were conveniently returned to Moroni after Joseph completed his translation, and they haven’t been seen since. Scholars have observed that no archaeological artifacts with links to the supposedly advanced and widespread Nephite civilization have ever been found in North America or anywhere else.
As history, moreover, The Book of Mormon is riddled with egregious anachronisms and irreconcilable inconsistencies. For instance, it makes many references to horses and wheeled carts, neither of which existed in the Western Hemisphere during the pre-Columbian era. It inserts such inventions as steel and the seven-day week into ancient history long before such things were in fact invented. Modern DNA analysis has conclusively demonstrated that American Indians are not descendants of any Hebraic race, as the Lamanites were purported to be. Mark Twain famously ridiculed The Book of Mormon’s tedious, quasi-biblical prose as “chloroform in print,” observing that the phrase “and it came to pass” is used more than two thousand times.”
But then Krakauer goes on in the very next paragraph to say this:
“But such criticism and mockery are largely beside the point. All religious belief is a function of nonrational faith. And faith, by its very definition, tends to be impervious to intellectual argument or academic criticism. … Those who would assail The Book of Mormon should bear in mind that its veracity is no more dubious than the veracity of the Bible, say, or the Qur’an, or the sacred texts of most other religions.”
Krakauer fails to mention, of course, that no statement in the Bible has ever been disproven by archaeology, and that thousands of finds have supported it. At the end of the book, he calls himself an agnostic, but admits that he prays in times of stress.
The idea of polygamy, obviously brought forth by Smith so he could excuse his lust soon became the point that separated the Mormons from other Americans and forced them to find refuge in Salt Lake City (Deseret). The elders made it a practice to marry multiple teenage girls, in some cases their own daughters, against their will. The government followed, and soon the Mormons began fighting back — but not against the army. Instead, they attacked a train of innocent pioneers at Mountain Meadow and massacred over a hundred of them. The official Mormon position on polygamy changed publicly in the 1890s and privately as late as 1930, but fundamentalist Mormons still insist on it today.
Under the Banner of Heaven was very interesting when it covered the history of the church from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Navoo, Illinois to Utah. The other part of the book, the story of the Lafferty brothers and other 20th century Mormons who have committed murders in the name of God were disturbing and not much fun to read. There was a chapter on Elizabeth Smart, the young Mormon teen who was kidnapped and raped a few years ago. I ran out of steam before the book ended and found the last 100 pages or so a trial. It was well-written, but it jumps around too much and, when talking about the fundamentalists, brings in a confusing number of interrelated characters that made it very hard to follow.
The book left me with one question that I would like to ask a Mormon sometime. Why does God always speak to them in bad Elizabethan English?
Krakauer’s original purpose was to investigate faith itself, and in several places he lumps all faiths together. In this quote, he explains why the Mormon “truths” don’t hold water.
“Critics point out that the gold plates, which would presumably prove The Book of Mormon’s authenticity, were conveniently returned to Moroni after Joseph completed his translation, and they haven’t been seen since. Scholars have observed that no archaeological artifacts with links to the supposedly advanced and widespread Nephite civilization have ever been found in North America or anywhere else.
As history, moreover, The Book of Mormon is riddled with egregious anachronisms and irreconcilable inconsistencies. For instance, it makes many references to horses and wheeled carts, neither of which existed in the Western Hemisphere during the pre-Columbian era. It inserts such inventions as steel and the seven-day week into ancient history long before such things were in fact invented. Modern DNA analysis has conclusively demonstrated that American Indians are not descendants of any Hebraic race, as the Lamanites were purported to be. Mark Twain famously ridiculed The Book of Mormon’s tedious, quasi-biblical prose as “chloroform in print,” observing that the phrase “and it came to pass” is used more than two thousand times.”
But then Krakauer goes on in the very next paragraph to say this:
“But such criticism and mockery are largely beside the point. All religious belief is a function of nonrational faith. And faith, by its very definition, tends to be impervious to intellectual argument or academic criticism. … Those who would assail The Book of Mormon should bear in mind that its veracity is no more dubious than the veracity of the Bible, say, or the Qur’an, or the sacred texts of most other religions.”
Krakauer fails to mention, of course, that no statement in the Bible has ever been disproven by archaeology, and that thousands of finds have supported it. At the end of the book, he calls himself an agnostic, but admits that he prays in times of stress.
The idea of polygamy, obviously brought forth by Smith so he could excuse his lust soon became the point that separated the Mormons from other Americans and forced them to find refuge in Salt Lake City (Deseret). The elders made it a practice to marry multiple teenage girls, in some cases their own daughters, against their will. The government followed, and soon the Mormons began fighting back — but not against the army. Instead, they attacked a train of innocent pioneers at Mountain Meadow and massacred over a hundred of them. The official Mormon position on polygamy changed publicly in the 1890s and privately as late as 1930, but fundamentalist Mormons still insist on it today.
Under the Banner of Heaven was very interesting when it covered the history of the church from New York to Ohio to Missouri to Navoo, Illinois to Utah. The other part of the book, the story of the Lafferty brothers and other 20th century Mormons who have committed murders in the name of God were disturbing and not much fun to read. There was a chapter on Elizabeth Smart, the young Mormon teen who was kidnapped and raped a few years ago. I ran out of steam before the book ended and found the last 100 pages or so a trial. It was well-written, but it jumps around too much and, when talking about the fundamentalists, brings in a confusing number of interrelated characters that made it very hard to follow.
The book left me with one question that I would like to ask a Mormon sometime. Why does God always speak to them in bad Elizabethan English?
Reviewed by Roger on 2005-04-15 08:35:13