\u201cAbout Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons . . .\u00a0 The creator of Hulu\u2019s \u2018Under the Banner of Heaven\u2019 is clear on his disdain for the faith and its followers.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
A couple of passages from Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist: A Criticism of Christianity<\/em> [1888],\u00a0translated by Anthony M. Ludovici (New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006). \u00a0But, first, a few lines from Dennis Sweet\u2019s introduction to this edition:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
In earlier books Nietzsche had made that most profound announcement: \u201cGod is dead.\u201d \u00a0In other words, there are no absolute, unconditional, or objective values in the world. \u00a0Whatever meanings that exist in life are put there by us, by human beings, by \u201cvalue-creators.\u201d<\/strong> \u00a0(vii)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now to Nietzsche himself:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
What is good? \u00a0All that enhances the feeling of power, the Will to Power, and power itself in man. \u00a0What is bad? \u2014 All that proceeds from weakness. \u00a0What is happiness? \u2014 The feeling that power is increasing \u2014 that resistance has been overcome.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nNot contentment, but more power; not peace at any price, but war; not virtue, but efficiency [not quite the right translation, in my view, of T\u00fcchtigkeit<\/em>, but it will serve] (virtue in the Renaissance sense, virt\u00f9<\/em>, free from all moralic acid). \u00a0The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our humanity. \u00a0And they ought even to be helped to perish.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nWhat is more harmful than any vice? \u2014 Practical sympathy with all the botched and the weak \u2014 Christianity.<\/strong> \u00a0(Section 2, page 4)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although I think that Nietzsche would have found Nazism and the Nazis repulsive and contemptible, it\u2019s not difficult to see why they were attracted to at least some of what he said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plainly, too, he had come heavily under the influence of Darwinism:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Christianity is called the religion of pity<\/em>. \u2014 Pity is opposed to the tonic passions which enhance the energy of the feeling of life: its action is depressing. \u00a0A man loses power when he pities. \u00a0By means of pity the drain on strength which suffering itself already introduces into the world is multiplied a thousandfold. \u00a0Through pity, suffering itself becomes infectious; in certain circumstances it may lead to a total loss of life and vital energy. . . . \u00a0On the whole, pity thwarts the law of development which is the law of selection. \u00a0It preserves that which is ripe for death, it fights in favor of the disinherited and the condemned of life; thanks to the multitude of abortions [perhaps better, \u201cmisfits\u201d?] of all kinds which it maintains in life, it lends life itself a sombre and questionable aspect. \u00a0People have dared to call pity a virtue (\u2013 in every noble culture it is considered as a weakness \u2013); people went still further, they exalted it to the<\/em> virtue, the root and origin of all virtues.<\/strong> \u00a0(Section 7, page 6)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
My question, to those who believe that \u201cGod is dead\u201d (or, less literarily, that God never existed) and that, accordingly, there are no absolute, unconditional, or objective values in the world and that whatever meanings that exist in life are put there by us, by human beings, by \u201cvalue-creators,\u201d is this:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
You may well find Nietzsche\u2019s moral stance above distasteful. \u00a0I certainly do. \u00a0But is it \u201cwrong\u201d? \u00a0Can anything<\/em>, in a world where there are no objective or absolute values, actually be said to be \u201cwrong\u201d? \u00a0And, if you believe that it can be, how would you demonstrate<\/em> to someone agreeing with Nietzsche that he or she is \u201cwrong\u201d?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
To take it back to Under the Banner of Heaven<\/em> and the Lafferty murders, on what Nietzschean basis can you condemn the Laffertys?\u00a0 On what basis, even, can you, if you\u2019re a follower of Nietzsche, condemn alleged Latter-day Saint misogyny, patriarchy, obscurantism, and fanaticism?<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Friedrich Nietzsche grew up the son of a Protestant pastor in Switzerland, but soon not only jettisoned both Christianity and theism but became their very famous and influential avowed enemy.\u00a0 By contrast, my father grew up on an isolated farm outside the tiny, unincorporated town of Garske, Ramsey County, North Dakota, in the upper right hand corner of the state.\u00a0 His Norwegian-born mother, my grandmother, wanted him to become a Lutheran pastor.\u00a0 But never felt \u201cthe call.\u201d\u00a0 Not even close.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the time came for him to attend high school, he was obliged to board with relatives in the comparatively large town of Devils Lake, the county seat, which was located roughly fifteen or twenty miles away. \u00a0(In the late 1920s, in a remote and rural area very few cars and lacking good roads, a distance of fifteen to twenty miles was considerably further away, practically speaking, than it is today.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
My grandfather \u2014 my father\u2019s father \u2014 was Danish, though he grew up in America. \u00a0My grandmother had arrived in the United States from Norway at the age of eighteen.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was a fairly strict Lutheran, in her way, and she taught her children, including my father, that swearing would send them to Hell.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This posed a problem for my Dad. \u00a0One of his duties on the family farm was to milk the cows. \u00a0(His father\u2019s rule was that the boys could stay up as late as they wanted \u2014 so long as they were up before dawn to attend to their milking duties. \u00a0That put a natural brake on their propensity to be adolescent night owls.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anyway, as a boy, my father was convinced that it was impossible \u2014 simply and literally impossible \u2014 to milk cows without swearing. \u00a0They would invariably hit you in the face with their indescribably filthy tails. \u00a0Or, alternatively, just when you had filled the milk bucket, they would kick it over, or plant an incredibly filthy foot in it. \u00a0So you simply had to swear. \u00a0And they were so stupid, he said, that swearing was the only language that they could understand.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
This worried him. \u00a0Was he bound for Hell?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
But then, when he went off to Devils Lake to stay with his \u201ccity cousins,\u201d the theological problem of evil became even more acute for him:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because they lived in the city rather than on a farm, of course, his cousins never had to milk cows. \u00a0Which meant that they didn\u2019t need to swear. \u00a0Therefore, it seemed to him, salvation depended upon geography. \u00a0Because they had grown up in a town, his cousins had a very good chance of going to Heaven. \u00a0By contrast, though, and solely because he had had the misfortune of being raised on a farm, my father was fated to be damned.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thus did the theological problem of evil begin to weigh upon the mind of a young North Dakota boy in the late 1920s.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Jerusalem, Israel<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the subject: \u00a0 \u201cWhat \u2018Under the Banner of Heaven\u2019 gets right \u2014 and wrong \u2014 about Mormons\u201d \u00a0 I don\u2019t agree with everything in the interview.\u00a0 I do, however, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[12388,12391,1806,24089,19231,2286,9467,740,19234,2283,28839,19270,2271,8610,28842,28833,1724,28836,28242],"class_list":["post-95004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cow","tag-cows","tag-darwin","tag-devils-lake","tag-friedrich-nietzsche","tag-garske","tag-moral","tag-morality","tag-nietzsche","tag-north-dakota","tag-overman","tag-pity","tag-problem-of-evil","tag-relativism","tag-superman","tag-survival-of-the-fittest","tag-theodicy","tag-ubermensch","tag-under-the-banner-of-heaven"],"yoast_head":"\n
"About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" *** Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" *** Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-06T05:30:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-14T03:28:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/06\/776px-Orsonhyde2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T05:30:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-14T03:28:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" *** Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons\"","description":" *** Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons\"","og_description":" *** Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2022-05-06T05:30:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-14T03:28:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/06\/776px-Orsonhyde2.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html","name":"\"About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-06T05:30:24+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-14T03:28:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" *** Under the Banner of Heaven continues to enjoy its fifteen minutes of fame, so here are another couple of interesting reads on the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/05\/about-those-dangerous-mormons.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“About Those \u2018Dangerous\u2019 Mormons”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"O.](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2018\/06\/776px-Orsonhyde2.jpg\")
<\/a>