NationStates

The title of this issue is a reference to another draft we have up on the forums, 'The Waiting is the Hardest Part'. Together, they form a complete rhyming lyric from "The Waiting" by Tom Petty (you take it on faith / you take it to the heart / but the waiting is the hardest part) Other than that, the issues are unrelated, but we thought it would be fun to try pairing the titles like this. We believe that each issue's title also works well on its own.

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This issue is co-authored by Jim the Baptist

Must have Theocracy

The issue

Scientists from Dàguó claim they have uncovered irrefutable evidence that the creation story of @@faith@@ is false.

1- Your assistant plays a VHS tape sent from the scientists in Dàguó, who appear on the television screen in front of you. "Greetings, @@LEADER@@. No one wants to say 'I told you so', but it's time you admit defeat: repeal your farcical state religion and surrender to technology. We all make mistakes. Dàguó would even be happy to fund evolution and science education centres for @@name@@ through our generous and entirely innocuous Dàguó-AID program."
Effect: the nation's faithful are being marched en masse to education camps for religious deprogramming

2- The television cuts to black. You look to your assistant, and notice @@him@@ aggressively gripping the remote in rage. "You're not listening to this rubbish, are you? Our faith says more than real 'evidence' ever could. They're obviously just trying to undermine our supreme religious teachings and poison our nation's purity with their toxic lies and propaganda. Just tell everyone we've found newer, better 'evidence', and send those Dàguórens your own tape telling them where they can shove their science."
Effect: "Dude, trust me," is the nation's standard threshold for evidence

3- "The Great Darkness hath befallen us!" proselytises local preacher Denis Copeland. "Listen ye faithful, for this is what the prophecy hath foretold in the ancient scriptures! We were warned of an evil spirit that will attempt to undermine our faith, and destroy our religious sovereignty. The end is nigh lest we protect our sacred divinity by building a border wall higher than our gods dwell in the sky! I summon you all to take up your tools - brick by brick we will fortify our glorious nation so we shall never have to deal with the sinful outside world ever again!"
Effect: a crisis of faith is just another brick in the wall

Reserved.

I noticed the paired titles on the forum. Great song.

The draft is not bad either. "The heathens have cometh" is not grammatically correct. Are you trying to make the character look stupid or was it just a mistake?

In my experience, atheists have already been claiming for a long time to have "proof" that religion is wrong, and religious people have an equally long track record of completely ignoring their arguments.

I don't think that one more piece of newly-uncovered evidence is going to drastically change the equation.

I knew this was going to be another JTB/Dabara collaboration as soon as I saw the title for some reason (that reason had nothing to do with Tom Petty btw)

The first "Dàguo" in Option 1 should probably be Dàguó. The second comma in effect line 2 probably shouldn't be there either, LOL.

Is the purported evidence deliberately left blank?

USS Monitor wrote:I noticed the paired titles on the forum. Great song.

The draft is not bad either. "The heathens have cometh" is not grammatically correct. Are you trying to make the character look stupid or was it just a mistake?

Thank you, we have amended this now.

Trotterdam wrote:In my experience, atheists have already been claiming for a long time to have "proof" that religion is wrong, and religious people have an equally long track record of completely ignoring their arguments.

I don't think that one more piece of newly-uncovered evidence is going to drastically change the equation.

That might be true in the real world but considering there isn't already an issue about people claiming the national religion is wrong from a scientific perspective, we can't assume what people may or may not have been saying up until now. Surely even the most simple dilemmas need addressing.

Tinhampton wrote:I knew this was going to be another JTB/Dabara collaboration as soon as I saw the title for some reason (that reason had nothing to do with Tom Petty btw)

The first "Dàguo" in Option 1 should probably be Dàguó. The second comma in effect line 2 probably shouldn't be there either, LOL.

Is the purported evidence deliberately left blank?

Thank you, we fixed the Dàguó and yes it is blank as we wanted to keep the 'evidence' vague so as to avoid making assumptions about the nature of people's religion/faith.

You may submit this now.

The Marsupial Illuminati wrote:You may submit this now.

Thank you. We have now submitted this draft (and we have also submitted its partner issue by paired-titled for good measure, just in case).

I would say good luck, but you don't need it for this draft.