[DRAFT] Crisis of Faith

[Cretox State]

Draft 2.

Crisis of Faith

Validity: Atheism, has elections, and has a legislature.

Description
A member of the opposition party incited national outrage by performing a technically legal praying motion with her hands and loudly pleading "Violet give me strength" prior to casting the deciding vote against a major tax reform bill.

Option 1
"Being a politician is stressful. I get it. Between the whims of the people, the economy, and your mistresses, things can be difficult," jokes your Minister of Morality, glancing nervously around the room. "But that's no excuse for making a mockery of our great nation's beliefs! As the dominant party, we need to do what's best for the people, which just so happens to be what's best for us politically. We need to run that legislator out of office, and make sure to publicly reaffirm our commitment to state-mandated atheism. For the people."

Effect: people who report hearing voices in their heads are no longer given top government positions

Option 2
"I did nothing wrong, as concluded by my public relations director!" shouts the opposition member in question from inside a plexiglass box. "When I clasped my hands together, I was merely wiping the sweat off my palms before casting such an important vote. When I invoked the name of Violet, I was merely remembering the violet flowers my gigolo would get me every time we silenced another bogus harassment claim. @@LEADER@@, if you use my faith- in our people- as a crude weapon against me, I will have no choice but to command Vio- the voters- to smite you the next time your hands are in a slightly odd position. By voting against you."

Effect: a surprisingly large number of people claim to have long-dead relatives named after religious deities

Option 3
"After catching wind of this scandal, I received a divine vision that your religion ban itself is the problem, and our shareholders agree," says @@RANDOMNAME@@, CEO of a United Federation megachurch, phoning in from a private jet just outside @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ airspace. "Let us set up an outreach center in every major city, and promote our company- er, religion to your people. So long as your party continues to support us, you'll get advertising, campaign support, and a nice fat cut of our profits."

Effect: politicians insist that the "Church of Boosting @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Jobs" is a real religious sect

[Cretox State]

Crisis of Faith

Validity: Atheism, public protest, high patriotism, has elections, and has a legislature.

Description
A member of the opposition party incited national outrage by performing a technically legal praying motion with her hands and looking up at the sky prior to casting the deciding vote against a major tax reform bill.

Option 1
"Being a politician is stressful. I get it. Between the whims of the people, the economy, and your mistresses, things can be difficult," jokes your Minister of Morality, glancing nervously around the room. "But that's no excuse for making a mockery of our great nation's beliefs! As the dominant party, we need to do what's best for the people, which just so happens to be what's best for us politically. We need to run that legislator out of office, and make sure to publicly reaffirm our commitment to state-mandated atheism. For the people."

Effect: people who report hearing voices in their heads are no longer given top government positions

Option 2
"I believe that we need to unite as a nation. As @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@. That goes for everyone, including the angry mob that my security team contained behind reinforced barricades a safe distance from this stage!" shouts the opposition member in question from inside a plexiglass box. "What I did was the mistake of a younger woman. But an even larger mistake is maintaining this silly religion ban! My campaign research shows that many @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ may even agree with me! I believe it's time to accommodate that voting population and tear down the walls that divide us! Metaphorically, of course."

Effect: politicians insist that the "Church of Boosting @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ Jobs" is a real religious sect

"I received a vision that @@NAME@@ would be a great place for us to spread our divine word, and our shareholders agree," says @@RANDOMNAME@@, CEO of a United Federation megachurch, phoning in from a private jet just outside @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ airspace. "Let us set up an outreach center in every major city, and promote our company- er, religion to your people. So long as your party continues to support us, you'll get advertising, campaign support, and a nice fat cut of our profits."

Effect: people who ask when a government official last went to church are sentenced to eternal damnation

[Trotterdam]

I'm worried that this is a bit too much "people don't like what you did". I'm supposed to rethink a law I signed off on just because someone broke that law? Even if that person happens to be a politician, it doesn't feel like something that warrants drastic government action. Just throw it to the courts.

[Cretox State]

I'm worried that this is a bit too much "people don't like what you did". I'm supposed to rethink a law I signed off on just because someone broke that law? Even if that person happens to be a politician, it doesn't feel like something that warrants drastic government action. Just throw it to the courts.

The intended meaning isn't that the politician broke the law per se, but that they did something that could be interpreted as religious in nature. I edited it to try and make that more clear.

[Trotterdam]

The intended meaning isn't that the politician broke the law per se, but that she did something that could be interpreted as religious in nature. I edited it to try and make that more clear.

If the point is determining whether an ambiguous gesture should be interpreted as an indication of religion or not, then that's undermined by the politician in question outright admitting to being religious (or at least supporting a controversial pro-religion position) in the second option.

More sensible counterarguments would be giving a non-religious excuse for why someone would want to make that gesture, or arguing that the government should stick to cracking down on organized religion rater than punishing people for private thoughts that they're not bothering anyone else with.

Most options should accept the premise that religion is banned and then discuss exactly how far we're taking that. Right now two out of three options are reversals that legalize religion, which is the wrong way to make a followup issue.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Agree with Trotterdam's last post there. I think the issue works better narratively if the individual claims there was nothing religious about their clasping of hands and looking skywards, and that "please God, let me have this" was an entirely secular expression that was intended to communicate emphatic belief, and OBVIOUSLY not implying belief in an obviously fictional deity, obviously.

[Cretox State]

Edits made; draft 2 up.