He was also excommunicated from the Church. His wife left him after refusing to practice polygamy. Ron, too, began having issues in his family. Dan refused to pay taxes or follow traffic laws.Īll six brothers soon began to rail against the LDS Church and the federal government, and Ron and Dan both believed themselves to be prophets.ĭan was excommunicated in 1982 after he tried to take his 14-year-old stepdaughter as a second wife. The brothers grew up in the Mormon Church, but seemed to take extreme stances early on. Their father was strict and tempestuous and once beat the family dog to death with a baseball bat. The brothers grew up in a family six boys and two girls in Payson, Arizona. George Frey/RETIRED Under the Banner of Heaven Tells the True Story of the Lafferty Brothers How did things really unfold before and after publication? “The story of Ron and Dan Lafferty is a story that should be told, but told in a way that emphasizes repeatedly the vital distinctions between mainline Latter-day Saint believers and those who have gone beyond the mark, been severed from the faith, and violated the standards of both church and state.” department had to say about the focus of the original story.
#REAL GAY FUCKING BROTHER IN LAW SERIES#
To me, the television series attempts to do the same.”Īs for what the P.R. But there are many Mormons who, I would be willing to bet, read Jon’s book and had that lightning strike to their heart of, “I’m going to listen to my doubt for a minute.” That hurt is uncomfortable, but it’s a growing pain. department of the Mormon Church has their response. In a recent interview with The New York Times, Black explained what he hoped to accomplish with the adaptation: "The P.R. Years later, Black is now the creator of FX’s adaptation of the book, also titled Under the Banner of Heaven, and starring Andrew Garfield. While the Lafferty’s religious convictions were not affiliated with the Mormon Church (both were excommunicated by the LDS Church Ron then formed a breakaway sect called the School of the Prophets), both their actions are, nevertheless, enmeshed in LDS Church history.įor Dustin Lance Black, who had already come out as gay and left the LDS Church upon publication of the book, reading the book was formative experience, a window into a faith under which he was raised, but about which remained unexamined. Published in 2003, Under the Banner of Heaven was an explosive book, garnering expected criticism and rebuke from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS)- which labeled it “not history” and called Krakauer “a storyteller who cuts corners to make the story sound good.” “You don’t want to offend Him by refusing to do His work.” He spoke without remorse. The one who held the knife that cut the throats of Brenda and the infant elaborated on Ron’s holy revelation. They used only the knives.Ĭonducting interviews for what would become the book Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, Jon Krakauer spoke to one of the imprisoned brothers years later. Inside the duplex, the two brothers found their divine obstacles, Brenda Lafferty, 24, and her infant daughter, Erica, 15 months.
First thy brother’s wife Brenda and her baby.” For they have truly become obstacles in my path and I will not allow my work to be stopped. “It is my will and commandment that ye remove the following individuals in order that my work might go forward. “Thus saith the Lord unto my servants the prophets,” he began. Three months earlier, Ron had written down a message on yellow legal pad, rationalizing what was about to happen at the duplex. Inside the car, they carried a sawed-off shotgun, a Winchester rifle, a dear rifle, and two knives.
On a July afternoon in 1984, in the quiet town of American Fork, Utah, two brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, pulled up to their youngest brother’s duplex in a beat-up green station wagon.