Banner of Heaven
Status: Hoax website
Banner of Heaven is (or rather was) a weblog run by a group of mormons who wrote about their experiences trying to balance the pressures of daily life with the demands of their religion. The cast included:Jenn: "a perky, 20-something Mormon, seeking an eternal mate in the Big Apple"
Mari: "the shyest character, got her neighbor's package by mistake and was afraid to deliver it to him in case he got mad"
Miranda: "the feminist who is disappointed in her husband's ambitions."
Septimus: "a divorced returned missionary with social anxiety and sweaty hands"
Aaron: "a wannabe prophet who sees God's hand in everything"
and Greg: "who isn't Mormon but hangs out with them."
The blog attracted quite a following in the Mormon community, but as an article in the Salt Lake Tribune reveals, it was a hoax. All the characters were fictional:
The storytellers were planning to out themselves by Thanksgiving. But two weeks ago, a group of readers got suspicious. Folks at ninemoons.com offered a free T-shirt to anyone who correctly identified the real people behind Banner's six characters. On Oct. 28, Gibson, Evans and the rest of the Banner gang came clean, publishing groveling mea culpas, apologizing to readers, acknowledging they got carried away. They are sorry for tricking and hurting people or fueling opponents of the LDS Church... Some critics of the LDS Church grabbed onto the Banner of Heaven episode as a parallel for the church's own founding, saying that it was like founder Joseph Smith claiming invented revelations. That is most upsetting to Banner creators who are all believing Mormons, Evans says. "Religion is more than telling a beautiful story, it's about truth."
Posted By: Alex | Date: Tue Nov 22, 2005 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 9
Category: Websites, Religion
Category: Websites, Religion
Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
Page 1 of 1 pages
greg just hangs around with mormons? thats a werid describition of someone, to me it describes a closet mormon
Posted by joeodd on Tue Nov 22, 2005 at 11:59 PM
How Ironic! Serves those weak minded morons right!
Posted by KJ in Beijing, China on Wed Nov 23, 2005 at 04:41 PM
Even though it's all fake, the list of people sounds like a whos-who of the world of EXTREMELY devout geeks. No offence to religion.
Posted by Lady Hedoniste in Chilling with 14 other tiny people in your head. on Sun Nov 27, 2005 at 10:54 AM
Wow "to me it describes a closet mormon" ... "those weak minded morons" ... Just goes to show you don't have to go too far to find hate speech on the Internet.
Posted by ...Is this thing on? TAP TAP TAP in Fort Worth, TX on Mon Nov 28, 2005 at 03:11 PM
"Just goes to show you don't have to go too far to find hate speech on the Internet."
You're an idiot.
Posted by J on Wed Nov 30, 2005 at 11:10 AM
You're an idiot.
Best hoax ever. Tons of fun. These guys ROCK!!!
Posted by diet coke on Wed Nov 30, 2005 at 03:54 PM
Wasn't the founder of the church arrested, jailed and murdered by an angry mob, because some people back then didn't like what he was saying?
Hopefully things have cooled down since then and hate speech is the only kind of actions ignorant people can rise to.
I'd take hate speech over a hate beat-down anyday.
Posted by Big Jugs in Kansas City on Thu Dec 29, 2005 at 10:55 PM
Hopefully things have cooled down since then and hate speech is the only kind of actions ignorant people can rise to.
I'd take hate speech over a hate beat-down anyday.
I'm actually Wiccan, and since I've joined a coven, it's sometimes hard to keep up with the others.
Posted by Meerkat on Wed Aug 09, 2006 at 03:51 PM
Okay, that sounded dumb. Sorry.
Posted by Meerkat on Thu Aug 10, 2006 at 06:05 PM
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