Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith Excerpts
Excerpts Cited in the News
Supplementing:
Main Index Featuring Jon Krakauer's Book
In Reverse Chronological Sequence
"When the subject of religiously inspired bloodshed comes up, many Americans think of
Islamic fundamentalism, which is to be expected in the wake of the September 11 attacks. . .
.," he writes. "But men have been committing heinous acts in the name of God ever since
mankind began believing in deities, and extremists exist within all religions. . . . Plenty of these
extremists have been homegrown, corn-fed Americans."
Krakauer writes that "when religious fanaticism supplants ratiocination, all bets are
suddenly off. Anything can happen. Absolutely anything. Common sense is no match for the voice of
God -- as the actions of Dan Lafferty vividly attest."
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland OH
July
20, 2003
He explains in his prologue that there is "a dark side to religious devotion." ...Humans
"have been committing heinous acts in the name of God ever since mankind began believing in
deities, and extremists exist within all religions," he writes.
"If Ron Lafferty were deemed mentally ill because he obeyed the voice of God, isn't everyone
who believes in God and seeks guidance through prayer mentally ill as well? In a democratic republic
that aspires to protect religious freedom, who should have the right to declare that one person's
irrational beliefs are legitimate and commendable, while another person's are crazy? How can a
society actively promote religious faith on one hand and condemn a man for zealously adhering to his
faith on the other?"
Krakauer notes, the current U.S. government is "led by a born-again Christian, President
George W. Bush, who believes he is an instrument of God and characterizes international relations as
a biblical clash between forces of good and evil."
Federal prosecutors, Krakauer continues, must answer to Attorney General John Ashcroft, "a
dyed-in-the-wool follower of a fundamentalist Christian sect, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God, who
begins each day at the Justice Department with a devotional prayer meeting for his staff,
periodically has himself anointed with sacred oil, and subscribes to a vividly apocalyptic world
view that has much in common with key millenarian beliefs held by the Lafferty brothers."
"My friends in Utah say Elizabeth Smart was more vulnerable to this kind of thing because
the culture puts so much emphasis on obeying the word of God," Krakauer said.
"I grew up with Mormons," said Krakauer.... "I like this culture. What I'm less
comfortable with is the mind-boggling certainty of this or any religion.''
"Mark [Hoffmann] doesn't want to talk to you," [Dan Lafferty] wrote.
"But having described your book, believe me, you want to interview me. Because I'm the most
fanatical believer you'll ever meet."
"[Dan Lafferty] convinced me that he was a true believer," Krakauer
said. "And his beliefs scared the hell out of me."
"I was blown away," he recalled. "It was 104 degrees and the
girl who took my money was wearing this dress that looked like it could have been from the 19th
century, with bloomers and long underwear. I looked around and all the other girls were dressed in a
similar way. Eight to ten thousand polygamists living out in the desert -- why is this unknown to so
many people?"
"Given that so many of us feel this hunger to believe, there will
inevitably be a small minority who takes that belief to its extreme. It's worth trying to understand
these people, because as the means of committing violence against large numbers of people become
more easily disseminated . . . you're going to have more instances of people flying jets into World
Trade Centers," he said.
"It should give people pause. Faith is wonderful, but it's dangerous. When
people rely on faith and abandon rational processes, the world is a much more dangerous place."
...he pursued this story "for what might be learned about the nature of faith."
Mr. Lafferty explains to the author from his permanent home in a Utah state prison, "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.' "
Ron, who once tried to kill Dan because God told him to, also believes that God has said to him:
"And surely I will fulfill all my promises unto my servant Ron."
Indeed, he aims to understand such fundamentalists "for what [they] may tell us about the
roots of brutality, perhaps, but even more for what might be learned about the nature of
faith."
A professed agnostic, Krakauer early on expresses his view of religion - "those murky
sectors of the heart and head that prompt most of us to believe in God - and compel an impassioned
few, predictably, to carry that irrational belief to its logical end.
"Faith is the very antithesis of reason, injudiciousness a crucial component of spiritual
devotion," he adds.
Salt Lake Tribune, UT
July 13, 2003
(Publishing LDS Church Statement)
The agnostic author writes, "I don't know what God is, or what God had in mind when the
universe was set in motion. In fact I don't know if God even exists, although I confess that I
sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment at a display of
unexpected beauty."
"There is a dark side to religious devotion that is too often ignored or
denied," he posits in the prologue. "As a means of motivating people to be cruel and
inhumane -- as a means of motivating people to be evil, to borrow the vocabulary of the devout --
there may in fact be nothing more effective than religion."
..."men have been committing heinous acts in the name of God ever since mankind began
believing in deities, and extremists exist within all religions."
He finds that "history has not lacked" for Muslims,
"Christians, Jews, Sikhs, and even Buddhists who have been motivated by scripture to butcher
innocents. Faith-based violence was present long before Osama bin Laden, and it will be with us long
after his demise."
He admits, "In any human endeavor, some fraction of its practitioners
will be motivated to pursue that activity with such concentrated focus and unalloyed passion that it
consumes them utterly. One has to look no further than individuals who feel compelled to devote
their lives to becoming concert pianists, say, or climbing Mt. Everest." Providing no
scientific methodology for measuring extremism, he asserts that it "seems to be especially
prevalent among those inclined by temperament or upbringing toward religious pursuits."
This glib assertion leads to the hypothesis for his book: "Faith is the
very antithesis of reason, injudiciousness a crucial component of spiritual devotion. And when
religious fanaticism supplants ratiocination, all bets are suddenly off. Anything can happen.
Absolutely anything. Common sense is no match for the voice of God -- as the actions of Dan Lafferty
vividly attest."
MSNBC/Newsweek
July 12, 2003 / July 21 Issue
“I got a letter back from his cellmate saying, ‘Mark won’t talk to you, but you should talk
to me because I’m the most fanatical believer you’ll ever meet’.”
“I couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth,” says Krakauer. “And more than
that, the way it was coming out of his mouth. He was describing how he pulled this poor woman’s
hair back and slit her throat and let the blood drain. And he’s describing it all with utter
dispassion, as if he’s describing planting cucumbers.”
“Nobody cracks down on polygamy like the LDS Church.”
“This religion was persecuted like no other faith in America,” he says. “The church was the
object of great violence—in the 19th century, the American government declared war on Utah—and
eventually they responded in kind.” Brigham Young, he notes, preached that some sins were so
heinous as to justify the murder of the sinner. This “blood atonement” was the justification the
Laffertys used for their murders.
“I asked Dan, ‘So in the end, what’s the difference between you and Osama bin Laden?’”
Krakauer says. “It was the one time while he was talking when I saw a flicker of doubt. But then
he came back real quick and said, ‘I’m right and he’s wrong.’ Which is essentially what all
religions rely on. Everything comes down to faith. And when people rely on faith rather than
rational thought for important decisions, the world becomes a much more frightening place.”
San Francisco Chronicle, CA
Jul 13, 2003
Krakauer writes that Mormon scripture "nevertheless taught that the Lamanites/Indians would
once again become a 'white and delightsome people' when, during the Last Days before the return of
Christ, the Latter-day Saints converted them to Mormonism. The Book of Mormon indeed prophesied that
the Lamanites, once redeemed, would join forces with the Mormons to vanquish the Gentiles
(non-Mormons), and thereby usher in the Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord."
Krakauer's language in the book is pointed: "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 to appear in public at inopportune moments to
create unsavory scenes, embarrassing the entire LDS clan."
See also
