Book Notes: Under The Banner Of Heaven

I have an admission to make I am probably one of the few people who hasn't read either of Jon Krakauer's two famous books, Into the Wild or Into Thin Air. However, sometime last year or the year before, I read Mikal Gilmore's memoir Shot To The Heart, about his brother, Gary Gilmore, executed serial killer about whom Norman Mailer wrote The Executiones Song (which is sitting ominously on my shelf-it is a doorstop!). Gilmore's honesty and personal grappling with the story makes compelling reading, but I was also fascinated about his introduction of the violent history of Mormonism, about which I knew very little. I went to a Catholic school for primary and junior high school and there was a Mormon in one of my classes-all I knew was that they stock piled a bunch of food for the coming disaster that would end the world, which included candy that Danny used to give out at school. Later, I would learn that they didn't swear, drink alcohol or caffeine, or gamble-it sounded really boring to me, until I heard about polygamy.

Anyway, Gilmors description of Blood Atonement and The Mountain Meadows massacre of the Fancher party fascinated me. So when I came across this article in Salon about Krakaues upcoming book, Under The Banner Of Heaven, I knew d read it. The thesis of the book is that it tries to explain why two fundamentalist Mormons killed a blameless woman and her baby at the bidding of God. In unraveling this story, we learn the story of the worls fastest growing religion, which I feel he is fairly neutral about, given that he admits that he is basically atheistic. He repeatedly points out that these splinter fundamentalists groups do not reflect mainstream Mormonism. Which makes them no less fascinating. I had no idea that there was an enclave of polygamists in British Columbia, in Bounder, not so far from where I was raised in Spokane, Washington.

As the book blurb suggests, Krakauer "raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief." However, I think DeLoy Bateman, a lapsed fundamentalist from the book says it best:

"It is amazing how gullible people are," DeLoy continues." But you have to remember what a huge comfort the religion is. It provides all the answers. It makes life simple. Nothing makes you feel better than doing what the prophet commands you to do. If you have some controversial issue that you're dealing with-les say you owe a lot of money to somebody, and you dot have the means to pay themyou go in and talk to the prophet, and he might tell you that you don't have to pay the money back. The Lord says it is Okay And if you just do what the prophet says, all the responsibility for your actions is now totally in his hands. You can refuse to pay the guy, or even kill somebody, or whatever, and feel completely good about it. And thas a real big part of what holds this religion together: is not having to make those critical decisions that many of us have to make, and be responsible for your decisions."

These insights are similar to those of the Aum Shinrikyo sect as well. Another excellent nonfiction book that spends some time looking at religious fanatics is Haruki Murakams Underground, however most of the book deals with the vicitms of the sarin gas attack. In this book he interviews victims and members of the cult who were behind the 1995 sarin gas attacks in the Tokyo subway. In the interviews with the followers, they expressed a comfort in not having to think for themselves and just live life according to instructions of their guru, which reminds me of the above quote. Anyway, both books were compelling page-turners.

Comments

[Ozzy Osmond]

I actually like UTBOH better than Krakauer's other two best sellers because he doesn't try to relate to the story's main players. In ITW and ITA his attempt to let you know how much he identifies with McCandless in the Alaskan wilderness and those who perished on Everest gets tiring. We read the books to learn about their subjects, not the author. Fortunately, Mormonism is a subject to which Krakauer can't offer any annecdotal fluf, thereby making it a pleasant reading experience. And, for what it's worth, I devoured both ITW and ITA - amazing page turners, despite their flaws.

As a side note of irony, midway through writing the comment above, my _extremely_ Mormon boss walked into my office. He's not of the extremist (read: plogygamist) sort, but his discipline with everything else in the religion is frightening. I'm dying to ask what opinion he may have about Under the Banner of Heaven, but will wait for the day I resign to ask. Heh heh heh.

Mark

[Ozzy Osmond]

plogygamist - uh, make that polygamist.

[MC]

Apparently making money is seen as a virtue in the Mormon community. My brother says that there are a lot of Mormon accountants and that BYU is well-known for their Accounting department.

I've met a few from the JET Program, they had been here before on missions. Nice people, I was half expecting them to try and convert me, but luckily, it never happened.