Lyceum & Book Club - Week 16 - Lecture Notes on Religion & the Rise of Evangelical Churches
- Apr 1, 2022
- 9 min read
It is Christian holidays that are celebrated by protestants that are national holidays that everyone gets off (paid holidays for state employees?), not holidays that are celebrated by non-dominant populations. Public parades & holidays feature traditions from Christian folklore, not other religions, it is protestant religious figures that shape the national culture, not non-dominant faith leaders, the funding of religious schools as well as state public schools has aided the increased isolation of each sector of Netherland society so that what you read, who you know, what you learn, what sports clubs you support, what news you get is limited to those within your own group - and that favors the dominant population and works against expansion of ideas among all groups, it works against forming alliances that cut across these separate sectors so that issues that affect non-dominant populations are addressed. For such a secular, non-religious society, it bears all the markings of a very closed exclusionary society as much as any based on religion.
The population doesn't have to become a majority of right wing religious followers to assume the same posture, they just have to march in the same cadence as one, under the same banner.
From Brittanica:
One of the characteristic aspects of modern Dutch society began to evolve in this period—the vertical separation of society into “pillars” (zuilen) identified with the different Dutch religions. Calvinist Protestantism became the officially recognized religion of the country, politically favoured and economically supported by government. But the Reformed preachers were thwarted in their efforts to oppress or drive out other religions, to which a far-reaching toleration was extended. Mass conversion to Calvinism had been confined mainly to the earlier decades of the Eighty Years’ War, when Roman Catholics still frequently bore the burden of their preference for the rule of the Catholic monarchs in the southern Netherlands. Sizable islands of Roman Catholicism remained in most of the United Provinces, while Gelderland and the northern parts of Brabant and Flanders conquered by the States General were overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, as they remain today.
Although public practice of Catholicism was forbidden, interference with private worship was rare, even if Catholics sometimes bought their security with bribes to local Protestant authorities. Catholics lost the traditional form of church government by bishops, whose place was taken by a papal vicar directly dependent upon Rome and supervising what was in effect a mission; the political authorities were generally tolerant of secular priests but not of Jesuits, who were vigorous proselytizers and were linked to Spanish interests. Protestants included, along with the predominant Calvinists of the Reformed Church, both Lutherans in small numbers and Mennonites (Anabaptists), who were politically passive but often prospered in business. In addition, the Remonstrants, who were driven out of the Reformed Church after the Synod of Dort (Dordrecht; 1618–19), continued as a small sect with considerable influence among the regents.
Jews settled in the Netherlands to escape persecution; the Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal were more influential in economic, social, and intellectual life, while the Ashkenazim from eastern Europe formed a stratum of impoverished workers, especially in Amsterdam. Despite unusually open contacts with the Christian society around them, Dutch Jews continued to live in their own communities under their own laws and rabbinic leadership. Successful though some Jews were in business, they were by no means the central force in the rise and expansion of Dutch capitalism. Indeed, no clear pattern can be detected of religious affiliation affecting the growth of the Dutch business community; if anything, it was the official Dutch Reformed Church that fulminated most angrily against capitalist attitudes and practices, while the merely tolerated faiths often saw their adherents, to whom economic but not political careers were open, prospering and even amassing fortunes.
————————————-
From wiki:
Religion in the Netherlands was historically dominated by Christianity between the 10th and 20th centuries. In the late 19th century, roughly 60% of the population was Calvinist and 35% was Catholic. Since then, there has been a significant decline in both Catholic and Protestant Christianity, with Protestantism declining to such a degree that Catholicism became the plurality form of the Christian religion. The majority of the Dutch population is secular. A relatively sizable Muslim minority also exists.
In 2015, Statistics Netherlands, the government institute that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands, found that 50.1% of the adult population declared no religious affiliation. Christians comprised 43.8% of the total population; by denomination, Catholicism was 23.7%, the members of the Protestant Church of the Netherlands were 15.5%, and members of other Christian denominations were 4.6%. Islam comprised 4.9% of the total population, Hinduism 0.6%, Buddhism 0.4%, and Judaism 0.1%.[1] Many Dutch people believe religion should not have a significant role in politics and education. Religion is also primarily considered a personal matter which should not be discussed in public.
The Constitution of the Netherlands guarantees freedom of education, which means that all schools that adhere to general quality criteria receive the same government funding. This includes schools based on religious principles by religious groups. Three out of nineteen political parties in the States General (CDA, CU and SGP) are based upon the Christian belief. Several Christian religious holidays are national holidays (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and the Ascension of Jesus).[8] Atheism, Agnosticism, and Christian atheism are on the rise and are widely accepted and considered to be non-controversial. Even among those who adhere to Christianity, there are high percentages of atheists, agnostics, and Ietsists, since affiliation with a Christian denomination is also used in a way of cultural identification in various parts of the Netherlands.
2000s
While 67.8% of the Dutch population are not members of any religious community, the remainder report affiliation with a multitude of religions. 24.5% of the Dutch population is affiliated with a Christian church. The largest group, 11.7% in 2015, is Roman Catholic. The rest are distributed over a multitude of Protestant churches, which made up 12.8% of the population in 2012. The largest these is the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (8.6%), which in fact is an alliance of three churches, two Calvinist and one Lutheran. Smaller churches make up about 0.1% of the Dutch population. These churches have either been the result of conflicts within the Calvinist Church or have been imported, mainly from the United States. Other Christians (Eastern Orthodox and Restorationists) make up only a small percentage. The remaining 7.7% of the population are members of another religion, such as Islam (5.8%), Hinduism, Judaism, Baháʼí, Buddhism, or indigenous religions.
Different sources give very different percentages. in 2006, fewer than 7% attend church or mosque regularly (at least once a month). 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 organized religion.
The Bible Belt (De Bijbelgordel in Dutch) is the name given to a strip of land in the Netherlands, after the Bible Belt of the United States. The belt is inhabited by a large number of conservative Protestants. The Bible Belt stretches from Zeeland, through the West-Betuwe and Veluwe, to the northern parts of the province Overijssel. However, some communities with strong conservative Protestant leanings are situated outside the belt. For example, Urk, considered by many as one of the most traditional communities in the country, and some municipalities of Friesland have characteristics typical of the Bible Belt. Other places in this area are Yerseke, Tholen, Ouddorp, Opheusden, Kesteren, Barneveld, Nunspeet, Elspeet and Staphorst. The three biggest cities regarded to be part of the Bible Belt are Ede, Veenendaal and Kampen.
A 2015 study estimates some 4,500 Christian believers from a Muslim background in the country, most of them belonging to some form of Protestantism.
The majority of muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination, with a sizeable Shia minority. Muslim numbers began to rise after the 1970s as the result of immigration. Some migrants from former Dutch colonies, such as Surinam and Indonesia, are majority Muslim. Migrant workers from Turkey and Morocco and their children make up the most substantial proportion of the Muslim population of the Netherlands.
During the 1990s, the Netherlands opened its borders for Muslim refugees from countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Somalia, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Of the immigrant ethnic groups, 100% of Bosniaks; 99% of Moroccans; 90% of Turks; 69% of Asians; 64% of other Africans, and 12% of Surinamese were Muslims. Muslims form a diverse group.
During the late 20th century, Islam increased from 0% to 5%. The main Islamic immigrants came from Surinam and Indonesia, as a result of decolonization; Turkey and Morocco, as migrant workers; and Iraq, Iran, Bosnia and Afghanistan as political refugees.
In the early 21st century, religious tensions between native Dutch people and migrant Muslims has increased in some areas. The popular politician Pim Fortuyn provoked controversy by defending the Dutch liberal culture against what he considered a "backward religion", conservative Islam. Stricter immigration laws were enacted. Religious tensions heightened after film director Theo van Gogh was killed in 2004 by Mohammed Bouyeri.
Social tensions between native Dutch and migrant Muslims began to rise in the early 21st century, with the murder of politician Pim Fortuyn by militant animal rights activist Volkert van der Graaf and the murder of Theo van Gogh by extremist Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri, part of the Hofstad Network.
The history of religion in the Netherlands has been characterized by considerable diversity of religious thought and practice. From 1600 until the second half of the 20th century, the North and West had embraced the Protestant Reformation and were Calvinist. The southeast was predominately Catholic. Associated with immigration from North Africa and the Mideast of the 20th century, Muslims and other minority religions were concentrated in ethnic neighborhoods in the cities.
Secularization, or the decline in religious adherence and practice, first became noticeable after 1960 in the Protestant rural towns of Friesland and Groningen. It became more obvious in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the other large cities in the west. Finally, the Catholic south also showed declines in religious practice and belief. By contrast, there has been a religious revival in the Protestant Bible Belt of the Netherlands. In addition, there has been growth of Hindu and Muslim communities as a result of immigration and higher birth rates.
After the Second World War, the major religions began to decline. With higher immigration of workers from North Africa and the Mideast, the number of people practicing Islam increased. During the 1960s and 1970s, the traditional pillarization began to weaken and the population became less religious.
In the 21st century, a large majority of the Dutch population believes in the separation of church and state, that is, that religion should not play a decisive role in politics or public education. Religion is also decreasingly seen as a social binder. Religion in the Netherlands is generally considered a personal matter, which is not supposed to be propagated in public.
—————————-
From Brittanica:
Remonstrant, any of the Dutch Protestants who, following the views of Jacobus Arminius, presented to the States-General in 1610 a “remonstrance” setting forth their points of divergence from stricter Calvinism. The Remonstrants, assailed on all sides, were expelled from the Netherlands by the Protestant Synod of Dort (1618–19), which declared Remonstrant theology contrary to Scripture. Allowed back in the Netherlands by 1630, they were officially recognized in 1798. The movement is still strong, and its liberal school of theology has reacted powerfully on the Dutch state church and on other Christian denominations.
———————————
From Evangelical Times:
Missionary Spotlight – Evangelicalism in the Netherlands - from 2001
https://www.evangelical-times.org/articles/world-mission/europe/western-europe/netherlands/missionary-spotlight-evangelicalism-in-the-netherlands/
—————————
The rise of evangelical churches
https://europeanacademyofreligionandsociety.com/news/the-rise-of-evangelical-churches/
Traditional churches in several European countries are losing members to evangelical churches at an increasing rate.
European rise in evangelicalism
One European country in which the rise of evangelical churches has been clear is in the Netherlands. Dutch traditional churches, such as reformed churches, are losing members to evangelical churches at an increasing rate.
The rise of evangelical churches in different parts of the world contradicts the wider trend of societies becoming less religious. Whereas many traditional churches in Europe are struggling with declining numbers of members, evangelical churches are quickly increasing the size of their communities. This is partly due to the fact that evangelical churches are able to reach all members of society. Helped by support networks and flexibility in pastor selection, evangelical churches can reach poorer levels of the community, whereas they also connect with middle- and upper-class faithful by echoing their political views. However, it must be stressed that this trend varies from country to country.
————————-
Another View:
Church Growth in Times of Secularization: A Case Study of People Joining Evangelical Congregations in the Netherlands - from 2020
Today the Dutch religious landscape is characterized by two opposite trends. On the one hand, there is a massive and dominant trend of religious disaffiliation which mostly affects the Roman Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant churches, while on the other hand the Netherlands also witnesses the emergence of several independent, evangelical congregations of near megachurch size.
Conclusions and Implications:
This insight puts the alleged success of these evangelical congregations in more perspective. It shows that their success is more a matter of circulating, religious believers and not so much a matter of successfully reaching out to the unchurched. In all likelihood, then, thriving evangelical congregations will remain an exception in secular societies like the Netherlands and evangelical church growth in no way marks a break with the ongoing trend of religious disaffiliation.
————————
For a more in-depth view from post WW2 up to the ‘80s
https://studenttheses.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2610324/view
Comments