Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Summary of Under the Banner of Heaven

1. 1

   When Two Brothers Heard God's Voice-And Murdered

   

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   On a sweltering July afternoon in 1984, Dan Lafferty walked into his brother's home in American Fork, Utah, wrestled his sister-in-law Brenda to the ground, and slit her throat with a ten-inch boning knife. Then he went to the nursery and did the same to her fifteen-month-old daughter, Erica. His hands were steady. His conscience was clear. He was, after all, just following orders-God's orders, delivered through his brother Ron's divine revelation. This wasn't a crime, Dan insisted later from his prison cell, his wild white beard reaching his chest. This was obedience. How does a devoted family man become convinced that murdering a young mother and her baby is righteous? This question drives us into the heart of Mormon fundamentalism, where faith doesn't just move mountains-it justifies slaughter. The Lafferty case isn't an isolated aberration. It's a window into what happens when religious certainty collides with reality, when scripture becomes more real than the human beings it's used to condemn.

2. 2

   The Prophets in Prison Jumpsuits

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   Ron and Dan Lafferty grew up in a devout Mormon household where their father Watson-a World War II veteran turned chiropractor-ruled with biblical authority and brutal violence. He beat his wife publicly, clubbed the family dog to death, and nearly let his daughter die rather than trust doctors. Yet Dan remembers him as a loving father, revealing how violence gets normalized when wrapped in religious authority. Dan's transformation began in California while studying chiropractic. Discovering most local Mormons had polygamous ancestors, he researched "The Peace Maker," an 1842 tract listing Joseph Smith as printer, which argued wives were their husbands' property. Dan read it as instruction, not history. The changes were swift and total. Dan forbade his wife Matilda from driving, handling money, or speaking to outsiders. He pulled their children from school, banned medical care, and cut off utilities. When she disobeyed, he "spanked" her publicly. Most disturbingly, he announced plans to take plural wives, starting with his own stepdaughter. Ron followed the same path, transforming from one of the kindest men into one of the meanest as Dan convinced him possessions were meaningless distractions. But Brenda Wright Lafferty-married to their younger brother Allen-refused to comply. Intelligent and theologically knowledgeable, she stood firm and encouraged the other wives to resist. In their fundamentalist worldview, Brenda's defiance wasn't just annoying-it was satanic.

3. 3

   The City Where Heaven Touches Earth

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   Salt Lake City's skyline is dominated by the Salt Lake Temple, its six granite spires crowned by a golden statue of the angel Moroni. This structure anchors the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the fastest-growing religion in the Western Hemisphere, with over eleven million members worldwide. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir projects an image of Mormons as chaste, optimistic, and dutiful. This carefully cultivated respectability makes Dan Lafferty's scriptural justifications for infanticide particularly jarring - like discovering Mr. Rogers kept a torture chamber in his basement. Church leadership adamantly distances itself from "Mormon Fundamentalism." When LDS president Gordon B. Hinckley appeared on Larry King Live in 1998, he declared: "They have no connection with us whatever." Yet both groups share the same foundational texts and history. The divide centers on polygamy. The modern LDS Church has spent over a century downplaying plural marriage's central role, often omitting that founder Joseph Smith married at least thirty-three women - some as young as fourteen. Meanwhile, an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 polygamists live throughout North America, continuing practices the mainstream church abandoned in 1890 to achieve Utah statehood. The LDS Church's respectability depends on forgetting its radical origins, while fundamentalist groups claim authentic connection to Joseph Smith's original vision.

4. Chapter 4

   The Prophet Who Saw Through Stones

   Joseph Smith's story begins during America's Second Great Awakening. At thirteen, he became fascinated by Sally Chase's "peep stone"-a smooth rock claiming to reveal hidden treasures. Joseph found his own white stone and became a professional "scryer," charging fees to locate buried valuables. This led to his 1826 conviction for being "a disorderly person and an imposter." In 1823, seventeen-year-old Joseph claimed an angel named Moroni revealed golden plates buried nearby. After obtaining these plates in 1827, he translated the text at an astonishing 3,500 words daily using his peep stone. Martin Harris sold his farm for $3,000 to print 5,000 copies of The Book of Mormon. On April 6, 1830, Joseph established the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with fifty members. Within a year, membership exceeded a thousand. Mormonism's appeal wasn't just new scripture-it was Joseph's teaching that God continually revealed new truths through living prophecy. Joseph quickly announced in 1830 that only he could "receive commandments and revelations." But the theological door was already open. Many Saints continued receiving personal revelations, explaining why some two hundred schismatic Mormon sects have formed since. The doctrine empowering Joseph Smith's prophetic authority also empowered the Lafferty brothers' murderous conviction.

   Chapter 5

   Polygamy's Hidden Kingdoms

   In 1984, Beth Cooke married Tom Green despite warnings. Within a year, Green targeted Beth's thirteen-year-old daughter Linda Kunz, marrying her in Mexico and impregnating her before fourteen. Prosecutor David Leavitt called Green a predator who "preyed on little girls." Green received only five years for bigamy and criminal nonsupport, then a concurrent sentence for child rape-disappointing many who felt justice failed. Colorado City shows how systematic abuse thrives under fundamentalist authority. In 2002, Mayor Dan Barlow's son was charged with molesting five daughters but received only a suspended sentence after four refused to testify. Former member Debbie Palmer explained victims face crushing pressure, being told they'll "go straight to hell." When Prophet Rulon Jeffs predicted apocalypse before 2000, teenage girls were married to older men for "salvation." When nothing happened, Rulon blamed followers' insufficient obedience-what apostate DeLoy Bateman calls a "win-win situation" for control. These communities represent the living legacy of early Mormon teachings-where religious authority trumps civil law. Mormon Fundamentalists have allied with the ACLU claiming persecution, despite FLDS doctrine condemning homosexuality as punishable by death. The result is a bizarre political landscape where nobody's principles align.

   Chapter 6

   The Revelation That Killed

   In a remote Utah farmhouse, Robert Crossfield-known as the Prophet Onias-studies The Second Book of Commandments, containing 205 divine revelations he claims to have received since 1961. Unlike extreme fundamentalists, Crossfield rejects violence and teaches that plural marriage must be initiated by women. Most distinctively, Onias taught followers to receive their own divine revelations-a practice common in Joseph Smith's day but abandoned by the modern church. Bernard Brady introduced Dan Lafferty to the School of the Prophets and would later express profound regret: "Looking back on it now, it's unfortunate that I was the catalyst who brought Bob and the Laffertys together." Dan embraced Onias's teachings eagerly, learning techniques to receive divine communication. Ron soon followed, and as his finances crumbled and marriage deteriorated, he became increasingly receptive to spiritual guidance. On July 20, 1984, Ron received his "removal revelation" commanding the deaths of Brenda Lafferty, her baby daughter, Chloe Low, and Richard Stowe. A subsequent revelation designated Ron as "the mouth of God" and Dan as "the arm of God"-meaning Dan would execute the killings. When Ron presented the revelation to the School of the Prophets on April 5, only Ron, Dan, and their father Watson voted to accept it as divine. On Pioneer Day, July 24, the Lafferty brothers arrived at Allen and Brenda's duplex. When Brenda refused to let Dan use the phone, he forced his way inside and wrestled her to the ground. Dan strangled her with a vacuum cleaner cord before slashing her throat. He then proceeded to fifteen-month-old Erica's room, where he cut the baby's throat so deeply he nearly decapitated her. Throughout the brutal murders, Dan remained eerily calm, believing he was fulfilling God's will. They fled to Reno, where police arrested them on August 7.

   Chapter 7

   Where Certainty Leads

   Dan Lafferty sits in maximum security, his white beard wild, sharing a cell block with Mark Hofmann-a Mormon-turned-atheist who killed two people with pipe bombs to hide his scheme selling forged Mormon documents. The pairing is grimly ironic: one killed for religious conviction, the other to cover up religious fraud. Dan shows no remorse, insisting he committed no crime because he was "doing God's will." He believes he is Elijah, destined to announce Christ's return. At Ron's trial, Dr. Gardner testified that Ron's narcissistic personality disorder-marked by grandiosity and lack of empathy-resembles traits in many religious founders. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder. When sentenced to death, Ron chose firing squad, saying, "I've already had the lethal injection of Mormonism." The LDS Church continues explosive growth, trending toward mainstream respectability. Yet fundamentalist groups increasingly attract converts yearning for Joseph Smith's original passion. DeLoy Bateman, an FLDS apostate, reflects on religion's psychological hold. "Nothing makes you feel better than doing what the prophet commands," he explains. Following the prophet absolves believers of responsibility-even for violence. He offers a surprising admission: "People within the religion are probably happier than people on the outside. But some things are more important than being happy. Like being free to think for yourself." There's the tension at faith's heart. Religion offers certainty in chaos, community in isolation, purpose in confusion. But certainty casts shadows. When we're convinced we know God's will, when faith drowns out conscience-belief becomes dangerous. The Laffertys didn't abandon their humanity despite their faith. They abandoned it because of it. The most dangerous people aren't those who doubt, but those who never do.

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