Nehaveigur

In They Call me Trinity, a comedy western starring Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, a group of Mormon pioneers is harassed by a languid, land-grabbing criminal called the Major and an allied band of Mexican bandits. Because their religion does not permit them to fight, the Mormons initially respond to the Major’s and the bandits’ harassment with kindness, and only later, once Spencer’s and Hill’s characters come to their rescue, they learn how to fight.

It may have been because of this movie that I’ve always assumed that Mormons are forbidden from committing violence. Or it may have been because most Mormons I’ve met have been kind and good company. My mother’s mother converted to Mormonism at some point, so my mother and her six siblings grew up in the faith. By the time I was born, my mother had become an apostate, but some of her friends were still practicing the religion, and one of them in particular had a lot of kids that were around my age, so our families spent a lot of time together and are still connected.

Until I read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, I wasn’t aware that there were Mormon fundamentalists. In retrospect, I should’ve guessed, since every other religion has theirs. Mormon fundamentalists reject the mainstream LDS church, which in turn denies any connection to the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists claim to practice a purer, earlier version of the faith, including polygamy, which the mainline church has phased out in the early 20th century. The fundamentalists have their own prophets who continue to receive revelations from God and pass them on to their flock, in at least one case from prison.

Krakauer’s book is about two murders committed by fundamentalist Mormons in the 1980s, and to explain how they happened, he goes deep into the history of the faith, starting with Joseph Smith. They Call me Trinity gets one thing right: They were relentlessly harassed in their early days, not just by criminals but by mainstream American society. What isn’t true is that they didn’t fight back once they started moving West. At some point, Joseph Smith commanded a well-trained militia, and when they settled in Utah, they became very hostile towards anyone – including the federal government – interfering with their affairs. One notable incidence was the Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which the Mormons murdered more than 100 unarmed members of a wagon train passing through their territory. Brigham Young, the church’s leader at time, may have condoned the massacre, but it’s hard to tell. The church is still not opening its archives to impartial historians.

Krakauer excels at asking the hard questions. Why is there religious fundamentalism? Is it just religion plus fire, or do its differences to organized religion go further than that? Who is susceptible? Is mental disease a valid defense for those who commit atrocities driven by their fundamentalist beliefs?

The zealot may be outwardly motivated by a great reward at the other end – wealth, fame, eternal salvation – but the real recompense is probably the obsession itself. This is no less true for a religious fanatic than for the fanatical pianist or the fanatical mountain climber. As a result of his infatuation, existence overflows with purpose. Ambiguity vanishes from the fanatic’s worldview; a narcissistic sense of self-assurance displaces all doubt. A delicious rage quickens his pulse, fueled by the sins and shortcomings of lesser mortals, who are soiling the world wherever he looks. His perspective narrows until the last remnants of proportion are shed from his life. Through immoderation, he experiences something akin to rapture.

Although the far territory of the extreme can exert and intoxicating pull on susceptible individuals of all bents, extremism seems to be especially prevalent among those inclined by temperament or upbringing toward religious pursuits.