Religion in the Netherlands

Life in the Netherlands
Culture Architecture Cuisine Culture Customs Holidays Music Religion Sport
Economy Economy Recycling Taxation Transport
Society Demographics Education Customs Languages Media Health care
Government Foreign Policy Human Rights Law Law enforcement Military Politics
Policies Gedogen Abortion Drug policy Euthanasia Pillarisation Prostitution Same-sex marriage
v t e

The Netherlands was historically characterized by multitude of religions. Since the mid of the Middle Ages, the Netherlands was a predominantly Christian country until late into the 20th century. Although religious diversity remains to the present day, there is a major decline of religious adherence. Nowadays, the Netherlands is one of the most secular countries in Western Europe, with only 39% being religiously affiliated (31% for those aged under 35), and fewer than 20% visiting church regularly.^[1]

Currently, Roman Catholicism (see Catholicism in the Netherlands) is the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming the religious home of some 23% of the Dutch people in 2012, down from 40% in the 1970s. The Protestant Church of the Netherlands follows with 11% of the population, and another 6% belong to other Protestant churches. Islam has approximately 825,000 followers, making 4% of the Dutch population Muslim.^[2]

History

Religion in the Netherlands

Religious division in the Netherlands in 1849. Catholicism holds a majority in green areas. Protestantism holds a majority in red areas.

The Netherlands declared its independence from Spain in 1581, during the Eighty Years' War; Spain finally accepted this in 1648. The independence was partially religiously motivated: during the Reformation many of the Dutch had adopted Anabaptist, Mennonite or Calvinist forms of Protestantism. These religious movements were suppressed by the Spanish, who supported the Counter Reformation. After independence the Netherlands adopted Calvinism as a state religion, but practiced a degree of religious tolerance towards non-Calvinists. It became considerably safe for Jewish and Protestant refugees from Flanders, France (Huguenots), Germany and England (Pilgrims for instance). There have always been considerable differences between orthodox and liberal interpretations of Calvinism: between Arminianism and Gomarism in the 17th century; and between the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands in the late 19th century. Catholics, who dominated the southern provinces, were not allowed to practice their religion openly. They were emancipated during the late 19th and early 20th century through pillarization, by forming their own social communities. In the 20th century the major religions began to decline: most Dutch Jews did not survive the Holocaust; and in the 1960s and 1970s Protestantism and Catholicism began to decline. There is one major exception: Islam which grew considerably as the result of immigration. Since the year 2000 there has been raised awareness of religion, mainly due to Muslim extremism.^[3]

Abrahamic religion

Christianity

Roman Catholicism

Currently Roman Catholicism is the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming the religious home of some 26.6 % of the Dutch people down from 40 percent in the 1970s. The number of Catholics is not only declining, but many people who identify themselves as Roman Catholics also do not regularly attend Sunday mass. Fewer than 200,000 people or 1.2 % of the Dutch population attends mass on a given Sunday.^[4] Most Catholics live in the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg where they make up the majority of the population. Willem Jacobus Eijk is the highest Catholic authority.^{[citation needed]}

Protestant Churches

The Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) forms the largest Protestant denomination, with some 12.3% of the population, down from 60% in the early 20th century. It was formed in 2004 as a merger of the two major strands of Calvinism: the Dutch Reformed Church (which the represented roughly 8.5% of the population) and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (at that time 3.7% of the population) and a smaller Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands (0.1%). Since the 1970s these three churches had seen a major decline in adherents and had begun to work together. The Church embraces religious pluralism.

A large number of Protestant churches, mostly orthodox Calvinist splits, stayed out of the PKN. They represent some 6% of the population.

Orthodoxy

The first Greek Orthodox congregation in Amsterdam was founded by Erasmus of Arcadia.^[5]

Islam

A Mosque in Terborg.

Islam is a relatively new and fast-growing religion in the Netherlands, as per recent (CBS) statistics about 825,000 or 5% of the Dutch population are Muslims.^[2] Muslim numbers began to rise after the 1970s as the result of immigration. Some migrants from former Dutch colonies, such as Surinam and Indonesia, were sometimes Muslim, but migrant workers from Turkey and Morocco are the biggest part of it, as well as their children. During the 1990s, the Netherlands opened its borders for Muslim refugees from countries like Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Of the immigrant ethnic groups, 99% of Moroccans; 90% of Turks; 69% of Asians; 64% of other Africans, and 12% of Surinamese were Muslims.^[6] Muslims form a diverse group. Social tensions between native Dutch and migrant Muslims began to rise in the early 21st century, with the rise and murder of populist politician Pim Fortuyn by militant animal rights activist Volkert van der Graaf and the murder of Theo van Gogh by an extremist Muslim, Mohammed Bouyeri.

Judaism

Judaism has been present in the Netherlands for much of the country's history and several sources claim it arrived in the Netherlands before Christianity.^{[citation needed]} Because of its social tolerance, the Dutch Republic formed a haven for Jews that were persecuted because of their beliefs throughout Europe. Prominent Dutch Jews include Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century philosopher, Aletta Jacobs, a 19th century feminist, and Henri Polak, who founded both the socialist party SDAP and the labor union NVV. The majority of Jews lived in Amsterdam, where they formed an eighth (90,000) of the population. During the Second World War about 75% of Dutch Jews were deported and murdered in the Holocaust.^[7]

Bahá'í Faith

The first mentions of the Bahá'í Faith in the Netherlands were in Dutch newspapers which in 1852 covered some of the events relating to the Bábí movement which the Bahá'í Faith regards as a precursor religion.^[8] Circa 1904 Algemeen Handelsblad, an Amsterdam newspaper, sent a correspondent to investigate the Bahá'ís in Persia.^[9] The first Bahá'ís to settle in the Netherlands were a couple of families — the Tijssens and Greevens, both of whom left Germany for the Netherlands in 1937 as business practices were affected by Nazi policies.^[10] Following World War II the Bahá'ís established a committee to oversee introducing the religion across Europe and so the permanent growth of the community in the Netherlands begins with Bahá'í pioneers arriving in 1946.^[10] Following their arrival and conversions of some citizens the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Amsterdam was elected in 1948.^[11] In 1957, with 110 Bahá'ís and nine spiritual assemblies, the Bahá'í community in the Netherlands first elected its own National Spiritual Assembly.^[10] In 2005 the Netherlands had 34 local spiritual assemblies.^[11] In 1997 there were about 1500 Bahá'ís in The Netherlands.^[12]

Cults, sects, and new religious movements

The Dutch government chose not to make special laws regarding cults, sects or new religious movements (generally all informally called "sekten" in Dutch). This decision was based on reports made after the 1978 Jonestown mass murder and suicide. Nor is there any officially assigned institute that provides information to the public about these movements and organizations.^[13]

Educational institutes

This section requires expansion.

• Freedom of education
• Schoolstrijd
• Special school (Netherlands)

Demographics

In the following table one can see the complexity of religion in the Netherlands: while 45% of the Dutch population are not members of any religious community, the other 55% are distributed over a diversity of religions. 43.4% of the Dutch population is affiliated with a Christian church. The largest group, 26.6%, is Roman Catholic. The rest is distributed over a multitude of Protestant churches. The largest of which is the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, which in fact is an alliance of three churches, two Calvinist and one Lutheran. Some 12.3% of the population is member of this church. Smaller churches have either been the result of conflicts within the Calvinist Church or been imported, mainly from the United States. The remaining 10% of the population are members of another religion, such as Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Baha'i, or Buddhism.

It should be noted that different sources give very different percentages.^[14] A 2007 research God in Nederland, based on in-depth interviews of 1132 people concluded that 61% of the Dutch are non-affiliated. Fewer than 20% attend church regularly. Similar studies were done in 1966, 1979 and 1996, showing a steady decline of religious affiliation. That this trend is likely to continue is illustrated by the fact that in the age group under 35, 69% are non-affiliated. However, those who are religious tend to be more profoundly religious than in the past. Religious belief is also regarded as a very personal affair, as is illustrated by the fact that 60% of self-described believers are not affiliated with any organised religion. There is a stronger stress on positive sides of belief, with Hell and the concept of damnation being pushed into the background. One quarter of non-believers sometimes pray, but more in a sense of meditative self-reflection.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Ietsism (Dutch term for an undetermined faith in a higher force)
• Sikhism in the Netherlands
• Buddhism in the Netherlands
• History of Dutch religion
• Hinduism in the Netherlands
• Islam in the Netherlands
• Judaism in the Netherlands
• Religion by country
• Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands

References