The Republic of Displaced Calvinists

Displaced Calvinists The Republic of Displaced Calvinists was founded by a group of persecuted Calvinistic French Protestants belonging to the Reformed Church who were forced to flee their homeland. Starting as a tiny band of Huguenots, they sailed for West Africa and built a small colony in order to practice their faith in peace. They were later joined by several families of Scottish Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed backgrounds who wished to lend their support to the fledgling colony.

The Belgic Confession Rocks!

Nation Information
Displaced Calvinists is growing new nation with citizens primarily of French ethnicity whose religion is Protestant Christianity. It is a backwards nation when it comes to technology and many refer to it unkindly as a 'Third World Nation'. The citizens of Displaced Calvinists work diligently to produce Cattle and Water as tradable resources for their nation. It is a very passive country when it comes to foreign affairs and has no interests in war. Displaced Calvinists is currently researching nuclear technology for the use of nuclear power plants but believes nuclear weapons should be banned. The military of Displaced Calvinists has been positioned at all border crossings and is arresting all drug traffickers. Displaced Calvinists allows its citizens to protest their government but uses a strong police force to monitor things and arrest lawbreakers. It has an open border policy, but in order for immigrants to remain in the country they will have to become citizens first. Displaced Calvinists believes in the freedom of speech and feels that it is every citizens right to speak freely about their government. The government gives whatever is necessary to help others out in times of crisis, even it means hurting its own economy. Displaced Calvinists will not make deals with another country that has a poor history of inhuman treatment of its citizens.

Cities
The largest city is New Batavia Colony, which serves as the capital of the Republic.

Other notable settlements include Coligny and Huguesville.

Government
Originally founded as a Republic, Displaced Calvinists have recently changed their form of government to more closely resemble the wishes of the people, and have adopted a pro-business Capitalist administration.

The Head of State is the colonial Governor-General, currently Sheldomar Bolak, who is serving a five year term.

The Legislature is called the Classis, and consists of six elected secular businessmen and three Protestant clergymen. Each member of the Classis serves a one year term.

The Governor-General serves also as the mayor of the captial city, and the Classis serves as the capital's city council. Plans are underway to separate the governmental bodies of New Batavia Colony and the Republic as the nation grows.

Military
Public Safety Minister Yves Purdue is head of Displaced Calvinist's paramilitary police force, Le Gendarmerie Nationale. State security, national defense, civic police work, disaster response, and search-and-rescue duties all fall under the umbrella of the Gendarmerie Nationale.

Armament is mostly surplus equipment purchased from other nations. The Infantry-Militia is equiped with a variety of small-arms purchased on eBay. Heavy armament is limited to four 50-caliber machine gun crews, two mortar crews, and one converted bass boat mounted with a WWII surplus recoiless rifle that serves on river patrol duty. Displaced Calvinists also has available six jeeps, four military trucks, three motor cycles, and a command/communications car.

Displaced Calvinists currently has no Naval or Air Forces.

Economy
Displaced Calvinists' current pro-business, Capitalist administration has provided a healthy atmosphere for thriving industrial ventures. International trade has vaulted this tiny plantation colony into a moderately successful and prosperous little nation.

The primary natural resources that form the base of the nation's ecomomy are cattle and water. Cattle ranching is the largest industry in Displaced Calvinists, as evidenced by the large number of ranches dotting the mostly flat countryside. Bottling water from the famous Volta River in West Africa serves as a second major source of exportable income for the country.

Displaced Calvinists' oldest trading partner is Crazyland, a Jewish nation that provides access to silver and pigs. The Bismarck Nation, another Jewish nation, serves as the source for the country's aluminum and rubber supplies. The Democracy of Yasnaya Polyana is the major source of furs and spices, and the Sihk dictatorship of Chafer supplies Displaced Calvinists with sugar and uranium.

Besides cattle ranching and water bottling, Displaced Calvinists has a thriving Fast Food industry, with Ferrel's Geneva Fried Chicken chain giving a healthy competition to the popular Knox Hamburger restaurants, famous for their Trumpet-Blaster Burgers and Iconoclastic milkshakes.

The nation's Bible printing house produces Bibles, psalter-hymnals, and Protestant Christian literature in several languages for distribution world-wide. This particular venture is subsidized by the government directly, as it is not a profitable enterprise, but does provide employment for several dozen citizens.

Other attempted businesses, such as starting coffee plantations and salt mines, have proved to be less financially rewarding, causing these failed industries to shut down as resources are diverted toward more profitable ventures.

Religion
Protestantism

Having been founded as a colony of refuge for persecuted Huguenots (French Calvinistic Protestant Christians), Displaced Calvinists' major and official religion is the Reformed Church. The Belgic Confession and the Heidelburg Catechism are actually placed in an appendix on the end of the nation's constitution. Freedom for Protestants is guaranteed under law.

The nation is 96% Protestant Christian, broken down into the following groups:

French Reformed Church (78%)

Scottish Presbyterian (9%)

Dutch Reformed Church (4%)

French Lutheran (3%)

French Baptist (2%).

Roman Catholicism, as well as groups officially labeled by the government as "cults" (such as Mormonism, Christian Scientists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Third Wave Charismatics) are banned, and the penalty for attempting to spread these faiths within the boundaries of Displaced Calvinists is immediate deportation. Simply holding to any of these officially "abberant" faiths is not considered a crime unto itself in the civil courts, but may lead to excommunication from the Reformed Church.

Officially, there is a broad tollerance provided for non-Christian religions, particularly Judaism.

Judaisim The largest non-Christian religion is Judaism at approximately 3% of the population.

There is a unique relationship between the Christians and Jews of Displaced Calvinists. By law, the Jews are required to observe the Jewish sabbath (sunset Friday to sunset Saturday), while Christians are required to observe Sunday as an official Day of Rest. While the majority Christian population is observing their Day of Rest, the Jewish working population keeps the infrastructure of the nation running, holding important positions in the military, public safety, police, and health-care industries. Most of the Jewish population of Displaced Calvinists migrated as part of the hired military-police protection for the colony at the invitation of the Public Saftey Minister, Yves Perdue.

Other Religions Other religions, mostly Indigenous Animists, comprise nearly 1% of the population.

These are made up of the local native population who have attached themselves to some of the outlying ranches and plantations as ranch hands. While efforts have been made to convert them to Protestant Christianity, there is no penalty or discrimination for those who do not wish to become Christians.

Culture and Media
Much of the culture of Displaced Calvinists has been imported from the native lands of its inhabitants, and is currently dominated by a French Protestant world-view. Freedom of religion for Protestants, the Bible and psalm-singing currently play prominent roles in the national psyche.

Media consists of the weekly national newspaper, The New Batavian Herald, and the country's state-owned AM radio station. A Bible publishing house produces written materials for both domestic use and for distribution overseas.

Current Events
The Mid-Week Prayer Meeting Riots of Oct. 25th

Finance Minister Jean Bruchard-Cleuseau Accused of Spying for Jesuits

Due to some rather exceptional blunders by members of Displaced Calvinists' government, particularly on the part of former Finance Minister Jean Bruchard-Cleuseau, a portion of the population rose up in a minor but boisterous rebellion, known as the Mid-Week Prayer Meeting Riots of October 25th. It had been made public by Classis Member, Reverend Ian MacKenzie of the Scottish Free Presbyterian congregation, that Jean Bruchard-Cleuseau had been behind the recent failure of the colony's coffee plantations and salt mines, and accused the Finance Minister of being a Jesuit spy sent to sabotage the colony. The Scottish Presbyterians took to the streets in protest, and soon the entire population of New Batavia Colony was in an uproar, demanding Bruchard-Cleuseau's immediate ouster. Governor-General Sheldomar Bolak and Public Safety Minister Yves Perdue made speeches in the public square and over the national radio station appealing for calm while an offical inquiry took place.

Before an inquiry officially could begin, Jean Bruchard-Cleuseau fled the country with a sizable but undisclosed portion of the nation's wealth. Found in his personal possessions left behind were a rosary, five vials of holy water, a Roman Catholic Missal, a small desk flag from Vatican City, and the clerical garb of a Roman Catholic priest in Bruchard-Cleuseau's size. When the evidence was handed over to the Governor-General, the rosary exploded, and would have killed Mr. Bolak had not his deluxe copy of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion shielded him from the blast.

The Great Recession of Oct. 21st

Coffee Plantations Fail; Salt Mine Explosion Kills Mining Project

Further inquiries have revealed that the Great Recession of Oct. 21st was also directly attributable to former Finance Minister Jean Bruchard-Cleuseau as a direct result of his personally sabotaging the coffee milling equipment purchased for the fledgling plantations. His finger prints were also found on a set of explosives caps that were used to dynamite the new salt mines closed just as the Governor-General was officiating at their Grand Opening. The explosion took place just as the Governor-General cut the ribbon to the mine's entrance. That act of sabotage put an end to the mining project permanently, and nearly killed Governor-General Sheldomar Bolak and injured four members of the ruling Legislative Classis, including Reverend Ian MacKenzie.