Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
Encyclopedia
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (ISBN 1-4000-3280-6) is an investigative non-fiction
book by best-selling author Jon Krakauer
, first published in July 2003. It is a juxtaposition of two stories: the origin and evolution of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and a modern double murder
committed in the name of God by brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who subscribed to a fundamentalist version of Mormonism. The Laffertys were formerly members of a very small splinter group called the School of Prophets, led by a man named Robert C. Crossfield (also known by his prophet name Onias). The group accepts many beliefs of the original Church at the time when it ceased the practice of polygamy
in the 1890s but do not identify with those who call themselves fundamentalist Mormons. The book examines the ideologies of both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the fundamentalist Mormons polygamous groups, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
("FLDS").
The murders were particularly cruel, with Dan claiming that he slit the victims' throats. However, at trial, Chip Carnes, who was riding in the get-away car, testified that Ron said he had killed Brenda and that Ron also thanked his brother for "doing the baby."
After the murders, the police found the written "revelation" concerning Brenda and Erica. After the press widely reported that Ron had received a revelation to kill Brenda and Erica, the Lafferty brothers conducted a recorded press conference at which Ron pointed out that the "revelation" was not addressed to him, but to "Todd" [a drifter whom Ron had befriended while working in Wichita, Kansas] and that the revelation called only for "removal" of Brenda and her baby and did not use the word, "kill." These remarks of Ron denying he had received a revelation to kill Brenda and Erica were shown to the jury at Ron's trial.
, following his life from a criminal fraud trial to leading the first followers to Jackson County, Missouri
and Nauvoo, Illinois
. While violence seemed to follow the Mormons wherever they went, it wasn't necessarily the Mormons' doing, as Krakauer points out. Early Mormons faced severe religious persecution, due to their exclusive lifestyle and tendency to only deal economically and personally with other Mormons. This led to violent clashes between Mormons and non-Mormons, culminating in Smith's death
on June 27, 1844 at the hands of a mob while he was jailed in Carthage, Illinois
, awaiting trial for destroying the printing press of a local publication
that painted the prophet in a negative light.
From Nauvoo, the Mormons trekked westward to modern-day Utah
, led (after some controversy) by Smith's successor Brigham Young
. Arriving in what they called Deseret
, many Mormons believed they would be left alone by the federal government, as the territory was under Mexican rule at the time. This hope died soon after their arrival, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
was signed on February 2, 1848, ending the Mexican-American War and ceding the land to the United States.
Mormonism's problems weren't all external, as Smith's highly controversial revelation of plural marriage threatened to tear the faith into two. While Wilford Woodruff
, the fourth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints officially banned the practice of polygamy, some broke away from the mainstream church to form what eventually became the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(FLDS), the most popular group of fundamentalist Mormonism. The FLDS church allows—even encourages—polygamy and is harshly criticized by the mainstream LDS.
, in which Mormons, allegedly with the help of local Paiute
Indians, rounded up the Fancher Wagon train of emigrants from Arkansas heading to California and murdered approximately 120 of them. While the Mormons went to great lengths to conceal any involvement in the massacre (including dressing as Paiute Indians and painting their faces in similar fashion), the only person successfully convicted in the affair was John D. Lee
, a member of the LDS Church who was executed by the state in 1877 for his role in the crime.
The book cites information gleaned from several interviews with Dan Lafferty and former and current members of the Crossfield School of the Prophets, as well as other fundamentalist Mormons. It also pulls from several books about the formation of Mormonism to tie the origins of the religion to the modern iterations of both The Church and the fundamentalists.
: "God is greater than the United States, and when the Government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven against the Government. The United States says we cannot marry more than one wife. God says different...".
purchased the film rights to the book with Ron Howard
directing and Dustin Lance Black
writing the screenplay. Howard and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Shannon Costello, Jason Bateman
and Stephanie Davis
.
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book by best-selling author Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing...
, first published in July 2003. It is a juxtaposition of two stories: the origin and evolution of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and a modern double murder
Double murder
Double murder is a term used to describe the act of unlawfully killing two people. This is commonly punished by back-to-back life sentences. It is possible but rare for a double-murder charge to be enforced in cases of homicide in which a pregnant woman is murdered, thereby killing her unborn...
committed in the name of God by brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who subscribed to a fundamentalist version of Mormonism. The Laffertys were formerly members of a very small splinter group called the School of Prophets, led by a man named Robert C. Crossfield (also known by his prophet name Onias). The group accepts many beliefs of the original Church at the time when it ceased the practice of polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
in the 1890s but do not identify with those who call themselves fundamentalist Mormons. The book examines the ideologies of both The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the fundamentalist Mormons polygamous groups, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
("FLDS").
Murders
The book opens with news accounts of the 1984 murder of Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter Erica. Brenda was married to the youngest Lafferty brother, Allen; older brothers Dan and Ron targeted their sister-in-law because they believed she was the reason Ron's wife left him (after refusing to allow him to marry a plural/second wife). Both men's extremism reached new heights when they became members of the School of the Prophets founded and led by Robert Crossfield. After joining the school, Ron claimed that God had sent him revelations - communication with God is a core belief of fundamentalist Mormonism. Ron showed the members of the School of Prophets a written "removal revelation" that allegedly called for the killing of Brenda and her baby. After other members of the school failed to honor Ron's removal revelation, the brothers quit the school.The murders were particularly cruel, with Dan claiming that he slit the victims' throats. However, at trial, Chip Carnes, who was riding in the get-away car, testified that Ron said he had killed Brenda and that Ron also thanked his brother for "doing the baby."
After the murders, the police found the written "revelation" concerning Brenda and Erica. After the press widely reported that Ron had received a revelation to kill Brenda and Erica, the Lafferty brothers conducted a recorded press conference at which Ron pointed out that the "revelation" was not addressed to him, but to "Todd" [a drifter whom Ron had befriended while working in Wichita, Kansas] and that the revelation called only for "removal" of Brenda and her baby and did not use the word, "kill." These remarks of Ron denying he had received a revelation to kill Brenda and Erica were shown to the jury at Ron's trial.
Mormon history
After opening with the Lafferty case, Krakauer goes into the history of Mormonism, starting with the early life of Mormon founder and prophet Joseph SmithJoseph Smith
Joseph Smith was founder of what later became known as the Latter Day Saint movement or Mormons.Joseph Smith may also refer to:-Latter Day Saints:* Joseph Smith, Sr. , father of Joseph Smith...
, following his life from a criminal fraud trial to leading the first followers to Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County, Missouri
Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. With a population of 674,158 in the 2010 census, Jackson County is the second most populous of Missouri's counties, after St. Louis County. Kansas City, the state's most populous city and focus city of the Kansas City Metropolitan...
and Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
. While violence seemed to follow the Mormons wherever they went, it wasn't necessarily the Mormons' doing, as Krakauer points out. Early Mormons faced severe religious persecution, due to their exclusive lifestyle and tendency to only deal economically and personally with other Mormons. This led to violent clashes between Mormons and non-Mormons, culminating in Smith's death
Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.
The death of Joseph Smith, Jr. on June 27, 1844 marked a turning point for the Latter Day Saint movement, of which Smith was the founder and leader. When he was attacked and killed by a mob, Smith was the mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois, and running for President of the United States...
on June 27, 1844 at the hands of a mob while he was jailed in Carthage, Illinois
Carthage, Illinois
Carthage is a city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,725 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Hancock County. Carthage is most famous for being the site of the murder of Joseph Smith in 1844.- History :...
, awaiting trial for destroying the printing press of a local publication
Nauvoo Expositor
The Nauvoo Expositor was a newspaper in Nauvoo, Illinois that published only one issue, which was dated June 7, 1844. Its publication set off a chain of events that led to the death of Latter Day Saint movement founder, Joseph Smith, Jr....
that painted the prophet in a negative light.
From Nauvoo, the Mormons trekked westward to modern-day Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, led (after some controversy) by Smith's successor Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
. Arriving in what they called Deseret
State of Deseret
The State of Deseret was a proposed state of the United States, propositioned in 1849 by Latter-day Saint settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never recognized by the United States government...
, many Mormons believed they would be left alone by the federal government, as the territory was under Mexican rule at the time. This hope died soon after their arrival, when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
was signed on February 2, 1848, ending the Mexican-American War and ceding the land to the United States.
Mormonism's problems weren't all external, as Smith's highly controversial revelation of plural marriage threatened to tear the faith into two. While Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff
Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...
, the fourth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints officially banned the practice of polygamy, some broke away from the mainstream church to form what eventually became the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
(FLDS), the most popular group of fundamentalist Mormonism. The FLDS church allows—even encourages—polygamy and is harshly criticized by the mainstream LDS.
Comparisons
Constantly comparing the mainstream and fundamentalist forms of Mormonism, Krakauer examines events in the LDS history and compares them to modern day FLDS doctrine (or even less mainstream versions of Mormonism, such as the Crossfield School of the Prophets). One of these events is the Mountain Meadows massacreMountain Meadows massacre
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...
, in which Mormons, allegedly with the help of local Paiute
Paiute
Paiute refers to three closely related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon; the Owens Valley Paiute of California and Nevada; and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah.-Origin of name:The origin of...
Indians, rounded up the Fancher Wagon train of emigrants from Arkansas heading to California and murdered approximately 120 of them. While the Mormons went to great lengths to conceal any involvement in the massacre (including dressing as Paiute Indians and painting their faces in similar fashion), the only person successfully convicted in the affair was John D. Lee
John D. Lee
John Doyle Lee was a prominent early Latter-day Saint who was executed for his role in the Mountain Meadows massacre.-Early Mormon leader:...
, a member of the LDS Church who was executed by the state in 1877 for his role in the crime.
The book cites information gleaned from several interviews with Dan Lafferty and former and current members of the Crossfield School of the Prophets, as well as other fundamentalist Mormons. It also pulls from several books about the formation of Mormonism to tie the origins of the religion to the modern iterations of both The Church and the fundamentalists.
Controversy
Before the book was released to the public, the LDS Church preemptively criticized it. The criticism by Richard E. Turley, managing director of the Family and Church History Department of the LDS Church, was among the most notable; he points out mistakes and incorrect assertions in the book and accuses Krakauer of "condemn[ing] religion generally," while saying that "although the book may appeal to gullible persons who rise to such bait like trout to a fly hook, serious readers who want to understand Latter-day Saints and their history need not waste their time on it". In the new paperback edition, published by Anchor in 2004, Krakauer rejects most of Turley's criticisms, while ceding five factual mistakes that Turley pointed out in his review; the remaining disagreements, according to Krakauer, can be chalked up to differences of opinion.Derivation of the title
The title is drawn from an 1880 address by John Taylor, the third president of the LDS Church, defending the practice of plural marriagePlural marriage
Polygamy was taught by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890.The Church's practice of polygamy has been highly controversial, both within...
: "God is greater than the United States, and when the Government conflicts with heaven, we will be ranged under the banner of heaven against the Government. The United States says we cannot marry more than one wife. God says different...".
Film adaptation
In July 2011 Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
purchased the film rights to the book with Ron Howard
Ron Howard
Ronald William "Ron" Howard is an American actor, director, and producer. He came to prominence as a child actor, playing Opie Taylor in the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show for eight years, and later the teenaged Richie Cunningham in the sitcom Happy Days for six years...
directing and Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series Big Love and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.-Early life:Black was born in Sacramento,...
writing the screenplay. Howard and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer will produce with Shannon Costello, Jason Bateman
Jason Bateman
Jason Kent Bateman is an American television and film actor. After appearing in several 1980s and 1990s sitcoms including It's Your Move, and The Hogan Family, Bateman came to prominence in the early 2000s for playing Michael Bluth on Arrested Development, for which he won a TV Land, a Golden...
and Stephanie Davis
Stephanie Davis
Stephanie Davis is a Montana-based singer-songwriter, poet, and musician. Her songs have been recorded by Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Joey and Rory, and others. She is a frequent performer on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and at cowboy poetry gatherings and...
.