“Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer – The Perils of Faith

Though religion can certainly instruct people to live on a righteous path filled with love and kindheartedness, when taken too far it can very well lead to tragedy.

In Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer focuses on the religious communities in America isolated from the rest of the world, mostly Mormon fundamentalists.

The establishments Krakauer examined are radical and in defiance against civil authorities and believe they only ought to answer the word of God. More precisely though, Krakauer focuses on the study of the Lafferty brothers, who killed an innocent woman and her child after having allegedly received commandments from God to do so.

Drawing from his study of this case, Krakauer elaborates his many ideas on these communities and touches on various heavy topics, such as polygamy, religious delusion, unshakeable faith, and how they can lead to brutality and violence.

So, as you can guess, this is the kind of book that does raise a certain amount of controversy as it focuses on the dark side of something that is generally seen as supposedly good and righteous.

The best way to read this book without being offended is to remember that Krakauer focuses his attention on one specific case, and from it he draws most of his thoughts and conclusions.

Though the case is certainly an important one and shouldn’t be neglected, it goes without saying that more sources would have been very helpful in convincing the reader to side with the author.

As a result, it feels like we are given a limited perspective, one where the focus lies on the dark side of things, which of course is always the more interesting aspect.

With that out of the way, I do have to admit that Krakauer is very acute with his analysis, trying to cover each and every detail and find their significance in the larger scheme of things. Even though many of his opinions are negative in nature, he does argue and support them well, especially when he discusses the bigger topics which were mentioned in the first paragraph.

There is a lot anyone can learn from this book, and in addition to that, it remains an eye-opening study of these smaller and secluded religious communities we know very little about.

Also, as far as a case study goes, it does help to shed some light and understanding as to what motivated the Lafferty brothers to commit the atrocities they did; he certainly doesn’t excuse or justify them… instead he neutrally explains what he believes to be their logic.

All in all, if the Lafferty brothers case is of particular interest to you, or the topics of religious fanaticism and secluded religious communities are interesting to you, then I definitely recommend you read this book.

Before you open it though, try and emotionally detach yourself from it and see it through an intellectual standpoint.

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Jon Krakauer Personal site Jon Krakauer is a writer and a professional mountaineer who is known for his numerous non-fiction books about the outdoors and other, perhaps more controversial subjects. They include Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory.