TESTING 1-2-3, TESTING 1-2-3, this is Radio Free Mormon, on the air, broadcasting behind

enemy lines.

Tonight's episode, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Greek Tragedy.

Today's date is Saturday, May 14, 2022, and as most of you are doubtless aware, the Hulu

Network has produced a mini-series based upon John Crackauer's book Under the Banner

of Heaven.

The fourth episode in the series dropped just this past week.

The film version stars Andrew Garfield as a fictional detective named Pyrrhe, who is

investigating the grizzly double murder of Brenda Lafferty and her 15-month-old baby.

As the series progresses, we find that Andrew Garfield, who is a devout Latter-day Saint,

has to begin to confront elements of early Mormonism that he had no idea existed except

perhaps in whispers in the foyer at church.

These doctrines are early teachings in the church, in Joseph Smith's day particularly

in Brigham Young's day, but they are teachings that the Lafferty's relied upon in order

to justify the commission of this horrific murder, and by that I should clarify to say

not all the Lafferty's, but those certainly who were involved in the murder, and included

among these teachings is the one called Blood Atonement.

The idea, taught by Brigham Young and others of his associates, that there are some sense

a person can't commit that are so grievous that they put them beyond the saving power

of Jesus Christ's atonement and the shedding of his blood, and that require for forgiveness

the shedding of one's own blood in order to make atonement for so great a sin.

These ideas are incorporated into the temple endowment in the penalties, which were discontinued

...