The Theme Of Evil In Jon Krakauer's Under The Banner Of Heaven

What does it mean in 2016 to call someone or something evil? The word has become increasingly difficult to define as its usage in our daily lives only increases. Throughout history evil had almost always been attributed to theodicy, or the defense of God's goodness and omnipotence in view of the existence of evil. It was easy to assign all evil as the work of the Devil or some other satanic being, but as time has moved on theodicy has been left in the past by essentially everyone minus some religious fundamentalist groups. So the question of evil has largely become a secular one. Since the fall of theodicy the question of evil and how it pertains to man has sprouted one main school of thought, that evil itself is intentional acts of malevolence towards another man or being. Yet even this idea is deeply flawed when

In the book Krakauer explains the ideologies of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FDLS Church) and tells the story of the double murder committed in God’s name by two brothers subscribing to the church’s doctrine. These brothers violently murdered their sister-in-law and infant niece because they believed they were told to do so in a revelation from God. Are these two men evil? Almost everyone would certainly agree that these men are the worst kind of evil, but if we return to the modern philosophers definition of evil it would seem to suggest the men were not evil but perhaps justified as they believed they were doing God’s work. This is where we meet the paradox of modern evil, how can someone be evil if they themselves believe they’re doing good. The next logical step would be to proclaim evilness is derived at birth, that one has no choice in the matter. This theory can be comforting in the sense it’s easy to mentally justify that some people are just born evil while most are born