Tuesday, December 24, 2013

FatLand Monuments and Public Places

The early residents of FatLand believed strongly in pluralism and in not privileging any one belief system or spirituality over another. This was at least partly because they knew all too well what privileging people who looked a certain way had done on the Other Side/USA.

As time went on and FatLand grew, people who were not quite as firmly pluralistic started to request permission from the FatLand Board to put up religious monuments in public places in FatLand. The Board turned down their requests every time, noting that they felt that public display of such monuments would cause divisiveness and feed rivalries.

In 2046, as yet another wave of emigres travel to FatLand, some among them wish to convert others to their belief systems.  They mount a campaign for FatLanders to be able to erect monuments in public places once again.

The answer of the Board is as follows:  We are all both private and public citizens of FatLand. As private citizens we have the right to put up in our own residences any signs or symbols of our celebrations of holidays. As public citizens we bring our ability to let go of any spiritual beliefs when we enter the public square and be present only as FatLanders. As public FatLanders we all meet together and remain tolerant and welcoming of each other, whatever our beliefs. As private FatLanders we allow anyone we wish into our private sphere and profess any belief we hold true. The two must never meet.

We thus must regretfully inform you that your application to place religious monuments in our parks has been declined.

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