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I agree that full compliance with World Assembly resolutions is essentially impossible for a Catholic nation. The only options are non-compliance and resignation. Auralia has historically taken the first option, though it certainly has its weaknesses.

Auralia, like all World Assembly member states, voluntarily assumed the obligation of compliance with active World Assembly resolutions upon joining the World Assembly. However, the World Assembly possesses no genuine sovereignty. This is clearly established by the fact that member states have the right to revoke their membership at any time, nullifying the legal effect of all resolutions in that member state. Accordingly, upon entering the World Assembly, Auralia filed a reservation limiting its obligation to just laws.

The Auralian government maintains, in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, that the existence of the state is essential to human flourishing; that the perfection of virtue and elimination of vice must be accomplished by man by means of the law; and that all legitimate governments, including those of Auralia and the World Assembly, ultimately derive their mandate to legislate from the natural law. We therefore treat our obligation to comply with World Assembly resolutions with great seriousness and care.

However, precisely because human law derives its force from the natural law, any human law that purports to require defiance of the moral law or prevent the execution of moral obligations is not a law at all, but rather a form of violence. We are in fact obliged by the moral law to resist such "laws". As St. Thomas Aquinas teaches in the Summa Theologica:

"Now in human affairs a thing is said to be just, from being right, according to the rule of reason. But the first rule of reason is the law of nature...Consequently every human law has just so much of the nature of law, as it is derived from the law of nature. But if in any point it deflects from the law of nature, it is no longer a law but a perversion of law."

Unfortunately, a limited subset of World Assembly resolutions meet these criteria, and accordingly the Auralian government shall not comply with these resolutions (either in whole or in part, depending on context) and moreover shall endeavour to repeal them at the first available opportunity.

The following is a list of these resolutions:

  • GAR #128, "On Abortion" and GAR #286, "Reproductive Freedoms" – These resolutions require nations to legalize and provide access to direct abortion.

    The Auralian government maintains, in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, that direct abortion constitutes a form of artificial contraception, which is contrary to the natural end of the sexual act and is gravely immoral.

    Moreover, in light of clear scientific evidence indicating that human life begins at the moment of conception, direct abortion also constitutes a form of unjustifiable homicide. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

    "God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves. Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes."

    The Auralian government is morally obliged to respect and protect human life; this is the most basic function of the state. Accordingly, any attempt by the World Assembly to compel nations to permit a form of unjustifiable homicide is contrary to the natural law and void.

  • GAR #425, "Protection of Biomedical Research" – This resolution requires member states to legalize embryonic stem cell research.

    Embryonic stem cell research requires the destruction of human embryos, which are human beings. As explained above with reference to GAR #128 and GAR #286, any attempt by the World Assembly to compel nations to permit a form of unjustifiable homicide is contrary to the natural law and void.

  • GAR #91, "A Convention on Gender" and GAR #467, "Affordable Transgender Hormone Therapy" – These resolutions compel nations to recognize the legitimacy of a separate "gender identity" that can be at variance with biological sex, as well as to permit "gender-adequation procedures" such as hormone therapy, genital mutilation, and sterilization.

    The Auralian government maintains, in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, that God has created all human beings either male or female. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has taught that "this duality is an essential aspect of what being human is all about, as ordained by God."

    Moreover, sexuality is an integral part of every human being. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that it "affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul." It is an extraordinary gift, but one that is chosen by God at the moment of our creation. It is not subject to the human will. Pope Benedict condemns as false the notion that sexuality is "a social role that we choose for ourselves" rather than "a given element of nature, that man has to accept and personally make sense of."

    The Auralian government is morally obliged to respect these fundamental metaphysical truths about the human person. Accordingly, any attempt by the World Assembly to compel states to recognize the legitimacy of a "gender identity" distinct from one's biological sex, or to sponsor attempts to "change" a person's sex to correspond to this "gender identity", is contrary to the natural law and void.

  • GAR #437, "Ban on Conversion Therapy" – This resolution prohibits attempts to change the sexual orientation or "gender identity" of minors, as well as of any person if performed by a public or governmental body.

    Sexual orientation

    The current scientific consensus indicates that existing methods that purport to change sexual orientation are harmful and ineffective. The Auralian government is absolutely opposed to the use of such means.

    However, this does not mean that sexual orientation cannot in principle be changed or that any attempt to do so should be categorically forbidden. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes homosexual inclination as "objectively disordered". Auralia maintains that it is in principle desirable to voluntarily rid oneself of homosexual desire for the same reason that it would be in principle desirable to rid oneself of any kind of disordered desire or other inclination towards sin.

    As such, while Auralia remains in de facto compliance with the sexual orientation provisions of this resolution at the present time, this may change in future should a method to change sexual orientation be discovered that is demonstrated to be safe and effective.

    "Gender identity"

    As explained above with reference to GAR #91 and GAR #467, any attempt by the World Assembly to compel states to recognize the legitimacy of a "gender identity" distinct from one's biological sex is contrary to the natural law. This applies to GAR #437 as well.

    We add here that the current scientific consensus on gender identity is far from clear, but research suggests that gender dysphoric children should be encouraged to accept their biological sex where possible, given that Linkthe majority of prepubescent gender dysphoric children eventually "grow out" of their gender dysphoria. It is therefore likely that GAR #437 prohibits good medical practice.

  • GAR #457, "Defending the Rights of Sexual and Gender Minorities" – This resolution compels nations to recognize same-sex relationships as marriages, to recognize the legitimacy of a "gender identity" distinct from one's biological sex, to refrain from any discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or "gender identity", and to require all private organizations, except religious organizations, to similarly refrain from such discrimination.

    The Auralian government maintains, in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, that marriage is a union between a man and a woman that is naturally ordered towards the procreation and education of children, mutual aid, and the quieting of concupiscence. Two persons of the same sex cannot contract marriage and same-sex sexual acts are intrinsically evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

    Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

    [...]

    Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman. In marriage the physical intimacy of the spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the sacrament.

    [...]

    The spouses' union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple's spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.

    Any attempt to compel member states to recognize same-sex "marriages" is contrary to the natural law and void.

    Further, as explained above with reference to GAR #91 and GAR #467, any attempt by the World Assembly to compel states to recognize the legitimacy of a "gender identity" distinct from one's biological sex is also contrary to the natural law and has no effect.

    Finally, Auralia naturally opposes unjust discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and "gender identity". The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that "[homosexual persons] must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided." This is equally true of transgender persons. However, the state and private organizations must remain free to engage in just discrimination on this basis; one such example would be be refusing to participate in the solemnization of a same-sex "marriage".

  • GAR #440, "Administrative Compliance Act" and GAR #466, "World Assembly Justice Accord" – These resolutions are mechanisms to compel compliance with World Assembly resolutions.

    In general, the Auralian government reluctantly complies with these resolutions, even though we remain opposed in principle to any attempt to use the Assembly's coercive powers to enforce compliance with World Assembly resolutions.

    However, we do not comply with these resolutions in cases where they would require Auralia to impose a fine, a sanction, imprisonment, or any other punitive measure against an individual, organization, state or other entity for refusing to comply with a provision of a World Assembly resolution with which Auralia is also not in compliance for substantially the same reason.

    In addition, we do not comply with these resolutions in cases where they would require Auralia to impose any such punitive measure disproportionate to the non-compliance for which the punishment is imposed, even in cases where Auralia is not engaged in similar non-compliance.

Read factbook

Christian Democrats wrote:For a time, a player operated an independent plug-in that included a "regional assemblies" feature. It's a feature that I wish NationStates, at some point, would add. NationStates already has a system to verify players' identities. That's how it detects WA "multis." If the game administrators were up to the task, they could re-purpose the same verification system and allow regions to have their own assemblies.

I am developing a browser extension providing a re-implementation of the core World Assembly game mechanics with different rules and additional functionality, but with the same look and feel -- it integrates seamlessly into the rest of NationStates.

Among other things, this new organization would enforce one vote per nation and permit nations to publicly opt-out of certain resolutions.

To avoid multis, I was going to piggy-back on NS's existing enforcement mechanism by requiring any members of this new organization also be WA members as of the time of the daily data dump for their votes to be counted. (They don't have to be WA members IC, of course.)

I created a Discord server for this new organization, which I can share on the regional Discord server for those who are interested.

The current approach involves re-using much of the existing WA HTML, though, so I was hoping to get approval from NS before proceeding much further; see viewtopic.php?f=15&t=518447.

Christian Democrats, Attike, Novi comi res publica, Cristero, and 4 othersInsulusia, Johnpaulopolis, Ottovanus, and Sancti sepulcri

Castle Federation wrote:That certainly explains how the political leanings in the mainstream regions of NationStates remain so monolithic. The ironic appeal to unique individuality makes most of those types quite unextraordinary and a reinforcer of unobserved group thinking.

I'm not picking on anyone, but I should probably provide an example. This player, commended by the Security Council, has held government offices in (1) the North Pacific, (2) the East Pacific, (3) the West Pacific, (4) Lazarus, and (5) Europeia. This player has also been a government officer in (6) the South Pacific and is a citizen of (7) the Rejected Realms.

https://tspforums.xyz/thread-1400.html?highlight=dyr+nasad
https://rejectedrealms.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=8418567

Again, I'm not picking on this player. There are plenty of players who are similarly cosmopolitan. Some of them use the same usernames across regions; others use different usernames (alternate identities).

When most of the major regions have very liberal citizenship requirements (residence, forum membership, a cursory security check, and maybe an oath) and when a number of players obtain citizenships and government offices across major regions, the ultimate effect is the emergence of a global governing class. The major regions often look the same not because they're thinking on the same wavelength. In fact, a lot of them are actually governed by the exact same players or groups of players. Discord has made this problem worse in recent years.

If all players used identical usernames across regions, if all the major regions made their rosters of citizens publicly accessible, and if you compared those rosters to one another, you'd see that the major regions are largely governed by a few dozen players, who hold citizenship in three, four, five, or sometimes even more major regions. It's not really a secret, but it's also not advertised to the ordinary NationStates player.

By the way, it's very difficult to push back. If you try to push back, an election will often be rigged, or a coup will occur. One of the worst episodes happened in Osiris a number of years ago. A newer player won a very close election for Pharaoh in Osiris. His platform was essentially populist: let's overthrow the elites who run all the major regions and make Osiris a region for Osirians only. After he won, Cormac and Tim -- both members of the global governing class -- made up some story about violations of regional election laws. The election was voided. Then, a number of military allies -- also members of the global governing class -- flooded into the region and reinstated the establishment leadership.

Then, you get lame excuses like this one:

"Whether you like it or not, most of those who opposed the coup -- with notable exceptions like Raven, Kyorgia, and one or two others -- contributed very little to Osiris. Jesus Whale himself accumulated only 239 posts on the regional forum over the course of two years. That was the guy you folks thought should be Pharaoh, who wanted to demonize and ostracize a so-called 'old guard' that had been actually contributing to Osiris while his only contributions were 'Aye' and 'Nay.' Jesus Whale explicitly included Raven in that old guard, by the way, until he decided Raven was politically useful to him. He and most of his supporters were some of our least active citizens, engaged in demagoguery against those who were contributing the most to Osiris, plain and simple."

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=395368&p=30722527#p30722527

"[O]ur least active citizens" = players who were citizens of Osiris only
"[T]hose who were contributing the most to Osiris" = global governing class

Attike, Cristero, Insulusia, and Ottovanus

Peace be upon you all.

My girlfriend and I are recently undergoing the Marian Consecration. Your prayers would be much appreciated. Also, I've had a spiritual renewal in my faith lately. God is good. It's been a while since I've checked in on this region.

Well a lot of the names you mention, CD, are historical. There are still some from 5, 6 years ago that still play a role in current politics, but there are certainly new threats to NationStates though it’s still the same old political ideas in my view. I’m sure the dinosaurs such as Fedele have more insight into this.

Attike and Insulusia

The faces change, but feeder/sinker politics essentially stay the same. One of my current complaints about this game is the proliferation of puppet dumps, card farms, and jump points. You look through the current list of regions, and there are a lot of boring ones in there.

When I started playing NationStates, there were a lot of interesting middle-tier regions that simply don't exist anymore.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100107004350/http://www.nationstates.net/page=list_regions/sort=pop

Fortunately, this region is still around, but most of the other middle-tier regions have greatly diminished or been wiped out altogether (e.g., Coalition of Catholic States). As a result, there are now fewer opportunities for inter-regional politics, cultural exchange, warfare, etc.

Now, don't get me wrong. There have been a lot of improvements on the game, including the number and quality of daily issues, the addition of issue statistics, and regional message boards that save more than ten posts. As far as regional politics go, however, there has been a decline. NationStates has fewer active regions, and there's more imbalance between the game-created and user-created regions.

I don’t like inside baseball

Attike and Sancti sepulcri

Sancti sepulcri

Geadhland wrote:I don’t like inside baseball

Inside baseball is a thing?

Attike and Geadhland

Sancti sepulcri wrote:Inside baseball is a thing?

Well I like baseball, I like hurling more though, but it’s a phrase that means like the most intricate details of an issue.

Of course I think it’s fine to talk about. I personally just like things really simple. But to my constant dismay, sadly sometimes things in this life are so unbelievably complicated they require complicated language.

Attike and Novi comi res publica

Hello brothers. If I may ask a question for those who want to answer it; what do you think of Christian Socialism?

Attike, Novi comi res publica, and Cristero

Castle Federation wrote:Well a lot of the names you mention, CD, are historical. There are still some from 5, 6 years ago that still play a role in current politics, but there are certainly new threats to NationStates though it’s still the same old political ideas in my view. I’m sure the dinosaurs such as Fedele have more insight into this.

Am I at such a point where I too am considered a dinosaur? lol

Christian Democrats, Castle Federation, Attike, and Novi comi res publica

Ossetania wrote:Hello brothers. If I may ask a question for those who want to answer it; what do you think of Christian Socialism?

It attempts (and fails) to use Christianity to justify an economic system that is incompatible with upholding the dignity of the human person. The same can be said for Christians who try to use the faith to justify libertarianism.

Christian Democrats, Attike, The Pilgrims in the Desert, Ossetania, and 2 othersOttovanus, and Sancti sepulcri

Evangelium wrote:It attempts (and fails) to use Christianity to justify an economic system that is incompatible with upholding the dignity of the human person. The same can be said for Christians who try to use the faith to justify libertarianism.

What economic system would be most compatible with Christianity?

Attike and Beiranoah

Sancti sepulcri

Ossetania wrote:What economic system would be most compatible with Christianity?

Capitalism ordered by Catholic social teaching. As the purely economic consequence of human activity, it respects the dignity of the human person, but doesn’t proscribe a normative ethic like libertarianism or socialism. Capitalism is a reflection of the human will -a blank template- and will manifest into whatever form the society takes. If the individuals of a society are immoral and disordered, then so too will a capitalist society become. But on its own, it’s not a disorder system in itself since it’s an analysis of what happens when people are free to act according to their will. And those wills should be in accord with right order.

Piacentini, Attike, The Pilgrims in the Desert, Ossetania, and 3 othersOttovanus, Beiranoah, and Geadhland

Ossetania

Sancti sepulcri wrote:Capitalism ordered by Catholic social teaching. As the purely economic consequence of human activity, it respects the dignity of the human person, but doesn’t proscribe a normative ethic like libertarianism or socialism. Capitalism is a reflection of the human will -a blank template- and will manifest into whatever form the society takes. If the individuals of a society are immoral and disordered, then so too will a capitalist society become. But on its own, it’s not a disorder system in itself since it’s an analysis of what happens when people are free to act according to their will. And those wills should be in accord with right order.

I see. The more I read and learn of capitalism, the more I realise that its problems ultimately stems from the consumers, and their ideologies and morals, as well as the lack of consumer education in the world. Capitalism is not, in itself, inherently evil.

Attike, Beiranoah, Geadhland, and Sancti sepulcri

Evangelium wrote:It attempts (and fails) to use Christianity to justify an economic system that is incompatible with upholding the dignity of the human person. The same can be said for Christians who try to use the faith to justify libertarianism.

Ossetania wrote:I see. The more I read and learn of capitalism, the more I realise that its problems ultimately stems from the consumers, and their ideologies and morals, as well as the lack of consumer education in the world. Capitalism is not, in itself, inherently evil.

I like the notion of capitalism consisting of free will, because it makes sense that that particular crux would end up resulting in the corruption we see with a lot of these systems. Doesn't help that we are also disposed towards evil as well.

Attike, Ossetania, and Sancti sepulcri

Hello everyone. I am new around here!

Christian Democrats, Castle Federation, Fredgast, Totern, and 7 othersQwertyl, Attike, Novi comi res publica, Insulusia, Ottovanus, Geadhland, and Sancti sepulcri

Sancti sepulcri

Sutekh wrote:Hello everyone. I am new around here!

Welcome

Christian Democrats, Fredgast, Totern, Attike, and 1 otherSutekh

I've finally achieved the highest Average Disposable Income in the region!

page=list_nations/region=catholic?censusid=85

Christian Democrats, Attike, Novi comi res publica, Ottovanus, and 1 otherSancti sepulcri

Ossetania wrote:What economic system would be most compatible with Christianity?

The closest thing I've come across is something called distributism. It's an economic system that promotes the widespread distribution of capital to generate economic activity. Chesterton summed it up best by saying, "The problem with capitalism [as we've experienced it] is that there aren't enough capitalists [i.e., owners of capital]." It differs from capitalism (as we've experienced it), because capitalism concentrates capital in the hands of a few people. It also differs from socialism, because socialism concentrates capital in the hands of the government. In a distributist economy, for instance, instead of large/multinational corporations (or the government) employing a large swath of the population, the economy is almost all small and maybe medium-sized businesses. Instead of financial institutions like for-profit banks, there would be community-focused, member-owned credit unions. Instead of taxing wealth and income, taxes would be levied on wealth that is generated but not produced through human activity.

Christian Democrats, Qwertyl, Attike, Ossetania, and 2 othersOttovanus, and Beiranoah

Catholic latin empire

My friend is a Baptist but wants to convert to Catholic. Any advice?

Christian Democrats, Piacentini, Fredgast, Qwertyl, and 4 othersAttike, Evangelium, Insulusia, and Sancti sepulcri

Catholic latin empire wrote:My friend is a Baptist but wants to convert to Catholic. Any advice?

I highly recommend it :)

In all seriousness though, find an RCIA program at a nearby church. It may be helpful if you accompany your friend as s/he starts the program so there's a familiar face in the room.

Christian Democrats, Castle Federation, Piacentini, Catholic latin empire, and 4 othersAttike, Insulusia, Ottovanus, and Sancti sepulcri

Sancti sepulcri

Catholic latin empire wrote:My friend is a Baptist but wants to convert to Catholic. Any advice?

Is there anything preventing your friend from seeking out a nearby parish? My only warning would be that not all RCIA programs are equal but that shouldn’t deter them from seeking to learn more about the faith. You might offer some books. My Catholic Faith by Louis LaRavoire Morrow is good for catechesis and they could bring questions they have from it to their RCIA discussion. And Evangelium is right. You may consider attending with them so that they feel more comfortable with the experience, and you might find you enjoy going yourself. You might also consider gifting them some of Trent Horn’s books like Why we’re Catholic, the Case for Catholicism, or Scott Hahn’s Rome Sweet Home, as supplemental material.

Piacentini, Attike, and Insulusia

Catholic latin empire wrote:My friend is a Baptist but wants to convert to Catholic. Any advice?

Apart from seeking out an RCIA program. I would really encourage your friend to read as much as possible (assuming he/she hasn't) and to learn as much as possible and to be truly sure that Catholicism is truth, and not that your friend is just looking for a new identity. I fell into that trap with Orthodoxy a few years ago but came out after studying the Papacy.

Catholic latin empire, Attike, and Sancti sepulcri

I know I'm kind of raining on your friend's parade, but it's the same advice I give any potential convert since converts who are sure of themselves and the faith have a fire in their hearts which is what our church needs today.

Attike, Insulusia, and Sancti sepulcri

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