Discussing
Critiquing Religion in Under the Banner of Heaven

Even amidst its criticisms of Mormonism, the true-crime series offers examples of good faith.

I appreciate your thoughtful review, and the insights about the fact that the LDS characters such as Brenda were good examples of living out their faith. For those of us who are ex-Mormons (and a substantial number of ex-Mormons are either agnostic or atheist), the show was more about the loss of faith, a phenomenon I've written about in several of my books. I watched Under the Banner of Heaven with one eye open, like a scary movie. I knew that red book, remember opening it like one would in shame and secrecy open the blackest porn, and the horror of finding out that every single word in it was truest reality and that every single thing I once thought was good, and noble, and eternal was a lie told in smoothest voices. Any of us who went through that will be vomiting in a trash can for the rest of our lives. We will never, ever, ever be completely over it.