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...

Under the Banner of Heaven Post 4 of 5

After my latest reading, there are really just two things I feel the need to touch upon; the craziness of Dan Lafferty and Joseph Smith.
Dan Lafferty was an LDS Mormon, he believed in the practices of Mormon and lived a fairly normal life besides the fact that he was a Mormon. At some point when he went to a church meeting in his small town in California he decided it would be a good idea to change the way he practiced. He turned off all of the gas and electricity in house, pulled his kids out of school, and took on his step-daughter as his second wife. This is a JOKE! I know that is what he believes and all, but, come on, this is the silliest thing I've heard. Wait, it gets better though. He started treating his kids when they were ill.... by prayer and herbal remedies. He even birthed his own child and did the circumsition himself.
I feel that when reading this book, with being how great it is, it is making me more and more stupid by even thinking about the beliefs.
Here is why:
Joseph Smith explained to his followers that God had told him two things. One; the Garden of Eden was actually in a town in Northwest Missouri, and not in the Middle East. Two; he told him that Jesus would soon walk again in this place. Upon recieving this messasge, Smith told everyone that they should move the religion to this place and think of it as a New Jerusalem. Smith made enemies in Missouri, a lot of them. To the point where they had to move from place to place to avoid mobs of death. Eventually, after being arrested and escaping from jail, they moved back to Illinois, where he became a prominent politician. Again as he did in Missouri though, he made more enemies, which lead to his untimely death. He was in jail when a mob came at him and shot him and shot him some more. Joseph Smith believed that he was the second coming of Mohammed to the Muslims. I laughed when I read this.
Stay tuned for the final post.

Under the Banner of Heaven Post 3 out of 5

Let me just start this post of by explaining how the "Book of Mormon" was written. Joseph Smith looked into a hat filled with golden plates and a peeping stone. When he looked into a hat he saw a phrase of words and had his scribe write it down. He did this over and over again until the "Book of Mormon" was completely written. However crazy Smith might have been, he was convincing enough to get people to follow him. Krakauer in the chapters that I have most recently read explains how the Mormon religion was created and the meaning of why it is called Latter Day Saints. The reason that the religion is called Latter Day Saints is because according to Smith and the Book of Mormon, God had chose them to be the sons and daughters and that they would be needed in the time of the millenium. Smith called these sons and daughters of the mormon religion, Latter Day Saints. He explains of how when Smith was a young boy in Palmyra, when he was excited by black magic, he went to this girls house who had peeping stones, and went out to find peeping stones of his own. It also explains of this big party they have at the most sacred place in the religion. The Hill Cumorah. The gathering, supposed to be a tool of conversion, really has in attendance of people about 90 percent of them are already practicing mormons. At this gathering they do an entire recreation of the creation of the religion. There was one thing that did catch my attention about this gathering. Krakauer explains what goes on there and in doing so he says the smell of marijuana smoke. This has me curious because I would have just assumed that the use of drugs of any sort, being tobacco, alcohol, or others, would be illegal in the religion and grounds for being thrown out of the religion. Again, as I have stated in the first two posts, this book is very interesting and I do reccomend it, The investigative journalism of Krakauer gets so deep its almost creepy how much he does. It adds for a great and exciting read.

Under the Banner of Heaven: Post 2 of 5

As i continue to read through the book I can't help to wonder if there might be a hint of mormonism in me. On Christmas day I went and the saw "Little Fockers" and it shows Robert De Niro trying to finish a family tree that he has dating back to the 1600s. At the end of the movie Dustin Hoffman informs De Niro that he is 1/23rd Jewish. This also makes me wonder since there are so many Mormons out there, based on polygamy and reproduction rate, and that mormonism was actually created in Illinois, perhaps maybe I am 1/23rds Mormon. Its a possibility. It is an unfortunate possibility. Basically, the book has went into more discussion about plural marriages and all of the under the table illegaliest that go on in these FLDS clans. I cannot explain how these family trees work but in one case a woman becomes her own step-grandmother because of how she marries and re-marries and her kids marry and brothers marry and sisters and fathers and so on. It is a gross practice which leads to incest. Krakauer explains how a lot of the women in these clans are raped by the time they are 10 because of the religious practice not allowing pre-marritial sex. In the 4th chapter of the book it explains the recent story of Elizabeth Smart, the 14 year old girl who was abducted into a plural marriage. This was a very interesting chapter because I remember exactly when this was going on and hearing the stories about it. It happened in 2002, and it is a very interesting case because she had opportunities to escaped but she did not want to because she was brainwashed by the abductors mormon teachings. Her abductor, Brian Mitchell, was just recently convicted of the crimes, which also makes this interesting because it is almost current. There isn;t much really to say about the people, except that they are looney tunes. It is interesting because in the U.S. Constitution one of our first rights is the freedom of religion and that should allow the mormons to practice the religion in the way they believe it with plural marriages and what not, but then in the law it is illegal to be married to more than one person, and incest is definetly illegal, so it is a very confussing situation, and which means more than the other. I would figure that the freedom of religion is more important, but if my religion tells me to kill a bunch of people then I should not have that freedom, and this is something that will be touched on later in the book I believe. It is a very interesting debate that I am going to keep reading more about. I will have another post in a few days.

A Very Merry Christmas Blog

HoHoHo, you are all in for a very special treat today. Our very own Gato Claus is in for his once a year visit giving the stars the gifts that they have deserved this year, based of course upon the issues discussed so far in class this year. Not only does this cover the issues but this has the athletes we all hate and love getting the presents they deserve. Ok so now that you all know what the Gato Claus does, lets get down to business.

The first person to receive a present this year is my boy Timmy Tebow of the Denver Broncos. Being handed over the starting job by the fact that Kyle Orton is just miserable means he deserves some face time. Timmy gets this for a very special reason. In our more recent discussions we have been talking about abortions and whether or not they should be legal or illegal. Well Tim being the evengelical he is, we know that he is associated with Focus on the Family and therefore also pro-life. Tim has also announced to the entire world that he was a mistake, during the superbowl last year it was in an ad for the pro-life organization Focus on the Family. Tim also has assured us, in a press conference of course, that he is still a virgin and in fact saving himself for marriage. Well the Gato Claus would love to offer him a special present, for safe times during this christmas. Under his tree this year, Tim will be receiving a box of condoms and a prescription of birth control for his lady friend because that is the right thing to do. The starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos should be allowed to enjoy himself and not have to worry about pregnancy issues.

Next up is the always hated LeBron James. Although freedom of speech is a right we in America have theses days, after his charade he pulled on ESPN earlier this year announcing that he would be taking his "talents" to South Beach, he should be stripped of all speaking privelages. Thus under LeBron's christmas tree this year he will be finding a muzzle because nobody wants to hear him talk anymore. We are all tired of LeBron and we all know that he isn't going to win a championship, so when that time comes he can just strap that muzzle on and we won't have to listen to him speak. It is a good deal for everyone.

Lastly the Gato Claus will be stealing all of Brett Favre's presents and just leave a big ole lump of coal under his christmas tree because well, that is what he deserves after the year he has. The sexting incident reveiled, the comeback, the failed comeback. He just deserves this big pile of coal under his tree, and that is what he will be getting.

This was this years special edition of the Gato Claus, now back to a movie and chinese food, because that is how my family rolls on Christsmas.

Sidenote:  None of these presents (i.e. the pack of condoms) are supposed to offend anyone. Sorry ahead of time if they do.

Under the Banner of Heaven: Post 1

Under the Banner of Heaven written by Jon Krakauer is a book that jumps back and forth between the religion of Fundamentalist Mormonism (FLDS) and a story about Mormon brothers who murdered a woman and her infant child based on what they believed was a comandment from God. So far, through two chapters it has not yet touched upon the story of the Lafferty brothers. Thus far, it has basically explained the story of the split in the Mormon relgion between FLDS and LDS (Church of Latter Day Saints) and has given some background to mostly the FLDS and their beliefs. Basically from what Krakauer is telling us, I have learned that the FLDS believers are a bunch of kooks. I would like to start with a man they called "Uncle Rulon". He started the FLDS sect in Colorado City as an 82 year old accountant. People, mainly himself, believed him to be the prophet, closely related to Joseph Smith, creator of the mormon religion. His beliefs are almost amish like, the people of the religion are not allowed to use an electricity. If they are caught breaking the rules of the religion, their wives and childeren (they are thought to be possesions of the religion, not the husband) will be given to another man, more worthy. The stories that have been told in this book so far explain of old men who have married multiple wives, as many as 72 that i have heard of, with as many as 200 offspring. These men have married some off these woman at very young ages like thirteen and fourteen. Thus by the laws of the United States making these men rapists and pedophiles. Basically cheating the government for money living off a welfare checks that are not needed because the sister wives, as they are called, are by the states considered single mothers. So far there has not been much worth talking about besides the fact that this religion is very crazy and that the men and woman who have been able to get out of the religion are very lucky people. I am very interested to read on because I want to hear about this commandment from God. I'll hit you back with another post when I get done reading the next section.

Abortion: To Have or Not to Have?

NARAL: Pro-Choice America v. National Right to Life are having the fight over abortions once again. This is a never ending debate that should be put to rest. Abortions were created for the purpose of getting rid of unwanted babies and that shouldn't be changed. NARAL had better arguments than Natural Right to Life. The only argument that Natural Right to Life had was that life begins inside the the whom, and the only reason they say that is because that argument is backed by religion. People who are pro-life are the very conservative religious people. These are the crazy people who also believe in abstinence to prevent pregnancy. On the other side of things, NARAL has made the argument that abortions are needed for when a girl gets pregnant by rape and by incest. Those two reasons alone are reason enough to keep abortions legal. NARAL is winning the debate because at this point they have not be able to get rid of abortion nation wide, and it does not look like that is going to change just quite yet. National Right to Life was not able to sway my opinion what so ever, my opinions are very strong on the idea.
As an 18 year old, I believe, as I stated above, abortions should be legal. There are many circumstances in which they need to be used, and they cannot just take a way that option. Some pro-life groups say that if you cannot support the child then you give them up for abortion but who says that life is not going to be worse. Sometimes you have to make tough choices. I think that if the girl is under the age of 18 then the parents need to consent to the abortion but if the girl is legally of age then she is able to make the decision on her own without parental consent. I just think that if you are still under the residency of your parents they have the right to know. 18 year olds are old enough to vote, therefore they are old enough to get an abortion without parental consent.
In regards to the father, he does not need to consent, it is not his body that will be going through the change and perhaps he was a one time thing that girl never sees again. You can't expect the girl to keep the baby because of this.
I agree with the Illinois Abortion Law, it all seems fair and reasonable. I agree with the law that says the parental consent is needed for a minor. This is a good law because girls under the age of 18 are not ready to handle these decisions alone. They should be allowed to make their own decision and all in all it should be the girl's choice and nobody Else's.
The main problem I have with the pro-lifers is that they are all religion freaks. I cannot handle all this Jesus this Jesus that Bologna. America is not a religion specific country so the evangelicals from Focus on the Family should not be telling the Jewish girls that they cannot have abortions because Jesus wasn't aborted. Abortion is a one by one circumstantial decision. Each girl has a different case than the other and that is why it should be their decision and nobody Else's. The great thing about being Pro-Choice, is that you are pro choice. That means you are for the choice of abortion, it doesn't mean you have to get an abortion every time you are pregnant, it just means you like to have the choice. Everyone is technically is pro-choice, it just so happens that all of the pro-lifers choose to be in favor of having the baby, that is their prerogative.
That's enough with this, the pro-lifers should be embarrassed when they use Mel Gibson as part of their argument to make abortion illegal.