Name: Under the Banner of Heaven
Rating: 3.4 (113 reviews)
Author: Jon Krakauer

What’s in it for me? Understand religious fundamentalism through a true crime story.

In 1984, Brenda Lafferty and her daughter, Erica, were brutally murdered by Ron and Dan Lafferty. The brothers were part of a fundamentalist Mormon group – when they decided to kill their sister-in-law and niece, they were acting on a revelation they believed to be from God.

In this Blink to Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven, you’ll discover not just a crime story, but also an analysis of religious extremism.

A content warning before we begin: this Blink contains radical views and graphic violence, so please proceed with caution.

The divine revelation

This was no ordinary assembly. It was a gathering of Saints – the most fervent Saints. On this day, April 5, 1984, they’d come together to validate the revelations they’d each received from God. But even these fearless crusaders were shocked by what God had revealed to Ron Lafferty.

The nine members of Onias’s School of Prophets were split. Watson and Dan Lafferty sided with their brother Ron, who’d received the divine revelation. The rest copped out.

The removal revelation, as it’s now known, left no room for doubt: God had instructed Ron Lafferty to kill his brother’s wife, baby, and two close friends. These people stood in the way of God’s work.

Ron’s friends, to his surprise, were horrified. Bernard Brady was so stunned he registered his concerns in an affidavit – just in case.

Dan Lafferty thought about it, asked questions, and then validated the revelation. As the weeks progressed, his support turned to genuine conviction. Soon Dan started to have revelations of his own. He began to see his role in Ron’s plan.

While Ron was the mouth of God, Dan was God’s arm. It was Dan who had been chosen to swing the Sword of the Most High. Family men as they were, they informed their youngest brother, Allen, that his wife and child had to go.

Allen was incensed. He would defend Brenda and little Erica with his life, he told his brothers. Brenda, a brilliant, outspoken woman who’d given up a promising career in journalism to marry Allen, was 24. Allen never mentioned the revelation to his wife.

In their deliberations, Ron and Dan openly discussed the lurid details of their plan in their mother’s dining room. Claudine, a submissive wife who’d been repeatedly abused by Ron and Dan’s father, didn’t bat an eyelid. Her husband had died from diabetes because he didn’t like conventional medicine.

Having been rebuffed by their intimate circle of friends, Ron and Dan left the School of Prophets. Their old friends had now become children of the Devil.

Joseph Smith’s 1832 revelation about The One Mighty and Strong who would put God’s house in order before His coming, was about to happen. God had chosen Ron and Dan.

Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon

In 1823, the angel Moroni guided 17-year-old Joseph Smith to a hill in Palmyra, New York. Buried under a rock for 14,00 years, the angel said, were golden plates inscribed with Holy Scripture in Egyptian hieroglyphics. The plates would come into Smith’s possession once he was mature and married.

Smith was in love with a girl called Emma Hale, but Emma’s father wasn’t happy about their union. He didn’t want Smith, a convicted imposter and soothsayer, to marry his beautiful daughter. So the couple eloped.

A peculiar people

Six hundred years before the birth of Christ, a Hebrew tribe left Jerusalem and set sail for America.

They were led by Lehi, who eventually picked his younger son, Nephi, to lead the tribe. Lehi’s decision didn’t go down well with Laman, the older son. Along with his followers, Laman’s skin got darker as he became more evil.

Blood atonement

On July 24, 1984, Ron and Dan Lafferty parked their Impala station wagon outside their brother Allen’s home in American Fork. July 24 is Pioneer Day, which Mormons celebrate every year to commemorate the day their ancestors marched into Utah territory back in 1847.

Ron got out and knocked on the front door – no reply. He jumped back into the car to join Dan and two companions they’d been traveling around with.

Kernaussagen in Under the Banner of Heaven

Worum geht es in Under the Banner of Heaven?

Under the Banner of Heaven (2003) traces the roots of contemporary Mormon fundamentalism through the lens of a horrendous double murder. The devotion of the Lafferty brothers is a gateway into core tenets that include divine revelation, polygamy, blood atonement, and the way Mormons act in their unique role as God’s chosen.