Under the Banner of Heaven: Final Post

After finishing Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, I have very mixed opinions about the Mormon religion. I believe that LDS (Latter Day Saints) is a more normal religion than the FLDS (fundamentalists). They definetly do not put the 'fun' in 'fundamentalists'. The LDS practice their religion the way it was meant to be, not harming anybody, just going on there way, being a part of everyday normallity in the United States. However, the FLDS practices a much more gross mormon practice. They are isolated from the rest of the country in there little compounds, they home school their kids, and they believe in plural marriage. If you do not follow the rules you will be banished from the religion forever and never be allowed to speak to your family again. We learn this through stories much like the ones of the Lafferty Brothers, Rulon Jeffs, and the Elizabeth Smart kidnapper. A lot of the things they take part in is a gross misconduct of the law. Putting aside the fact that a lot of these "prophets" have way too many wives, most of the time when they are married into the family they are under the legal age. Most of these women have been raped before the age of 16, and most of these women have kids by that age. Incest is also a very common practice in this religion. Very often you get the daughters marrying their fathers' brothers. When they question why their son or daughter has disabilities, the logical reasoning is because of incest, but not their logic. Their logic is that God was punishing them for something they did wrong in the past.

My father summed the religion up for me very nicely. Joseph Smith was given a commandment from God. This commandment was delivered by an angel. The Angel's name was Moroni. The Angel Moroni delivered the commandment that told Joseph Smith to start the mormon religion. My dad summed it up by saying this, "If you drop the I from Moroni's name, you get Moron. The 'Angel Moron' was the basis for the whole religion. Morons created the religion. A religion by Morons for Morons." Now you might think that my dad was being a little harsh here. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. The truth does not lie though, you read what I read, then maybe you will come to terms and see it my way. The mormon religion is a very interesting religion to learn about, and it is good for a laugh every now and then. The big issue with this religion is that it breaks a lot of laws, and I believe that was the point of me reading this book, to determine what should come first, the laws or the religion. There is a way of practicing this religion right, and the way the FLDS practice it, is not the right way. They should take some notes on how the LDS practice it, they do it the right way. There is obviously a growing concern with this religion and how the women of the mormon religion are treated, and it is something that everybody should be aware of. I believe that the only way you can make a strong argument and a valid opinion on this topic is to do some research and read the book for yourself.

Until next time...