'Banner' author reads parts of book, fields questions

LDS Church criticism of his new book about religious extremists has been painful, author Jon Krakauer says.

"I personally was hurt and offended by it," he said. "I hope this book isn't perceived as anti-Mormon."

Before a packed 770-seat theater Friday night, Krakauer read portions of his controversial new book and fielded questions ranging from why he wanted to write a book about religious extremists to how he felt about the criticism the book has received from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Krakauer, who made a stop at Salt Lake City's Trolley Corners movie theater after promoting his book on the East Coast, said he was surprised when LDS Church officials sent a fault-finding reaction to the book, "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith," to media outlets around the country.

The book tells the story of convicted murderers Dan and Ron Lafferty, who in 1984 killed their sister-in-law and her 15-month-old daughter.

Krakauer says if it weren't for religious belief, he doesn't think Dan Lafferty, the one of the two brothers he interviewed, would have committed the murders.

"There may be no force more potent than religion," he said. "Faith is the very antithesis of reason."

One of the church's main criticisms of the book is that it makes broad statements about religion by linking fanatics like the Laffertys with members of the LDS Church.

"I think Krakauer in the past has suggested the Laffertys are an offshoot of the church, as though these so-called Mormon fundamentalists are just another branch of the church tree, when in fact the Laffertys are not connected with this tree at all," Richard E. Turley Jr., managing director of the Family and Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in a telephone interview before Krakauer's speech. "They are a couple of bad apples that were severed from the tree a long time ago and they're not connected to it."

Krakauer said he did make a distinction in his book between fundamentalist fanatics and members of the LDS Church, one he thought the church would appreciate.

But Friday night he also made statements, such as "fundamentalists number less than 1 percent of the church," that lump them together.

He also said the LDS Church should not wash its hands of the actions of religious extremists who are former church members simply because they have been excommunicated.