Response to Under the Banner of Heaven, Chapter 4

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Response to claims made in "Chapter 4: Elizabeth and Ruby"

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A FAIR Analysis of: [[../../|Under the Banner of Heaven]], a work by author: Jon Krakauer

[[../Chapter 5|Chapter 5]]

Response to claims made in Under the Banner of Heaven, "Chapter 4: Elizabeth and Ruby"

Jump to Subtopic:

• Response to claim: 45: Latter-day Saints are raised to "obey figures of Mormon authority unquestioningly"
• Response to claim: 45 - A fourteen-year-old Latter-day Saint girl was forced to wear robes by her kidnapper that "resembled the sacred robes she had donned with her family when they entered the Mormon temple"
• Response to claim: 45 - The "words of Joseph Smith" are taught as having been "handed down by God Himself"

Response to claim: 45: Latter-day Saints are raised to "obey figures of Mormon authority unquestioningly"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that Latter-day Saints are raised to "obey figures of Mormon authority unquestioningly, and to believe that LDS doctrine is the law of God."

FAIR's Response

Obey Brigham unquestioningly?

• Compare with similar treatment in Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), 9.

Latter-day Saints and independent thought

Summary: It is claimed that the Church teaches that we should not exercise independent thought. "When our leaders speak, the thinking has been done."

Jump to Subtopic:

• Question: For Latter-day Saints, when our leaders speak, has the thinking been done?
• Question: Why did President Tanner say: "When the prophet speaks the debate is over"?
• LDS Newsroom: "Belief in prophets and apostles at the head of the Church does not mean that members blindly follow their leaders"

Response to claim: 45 - A fourteen-year-old Latter-day Saint girl was forced to wear robes by her kidnapper that "resembled the sacred robes she had donned with her family when they entered the Mormon temple"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that a fourteen-year-old Latter-day Saint girl was forced to wear robes by her kidnapper that "resembled the sacred robes she had donned with her family when they entered the Mormon temple."

FAIR's Response

Fact checking results: This claim is false

A fourteen-year-old LDS girl's experience with the temple would have only involved performing baptisms for the dead, and would not have required the wearing of any "sacred robes."

Response to claim: 45 - The "words of Joseph Smith" are taught as having been "handed down by God Himself"

The author(s) of Under the Banner of Heaven make(s) the following claim:

The author claims that the "words of Joseph Smith" are taught as having been "handed down by God Himself."

FAIR's Response

That depends upon which of Joseph's words are being referred to.

Notes