Religion in the Netherlands
Template:Life in the Netherlands 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
The rebellious Netherlands that had united in the Union of Utrecht (1579) declared their independence from Spain in 1581, during the Eighty Years' War; Spain finally accepted this in 1648. The Dutch revolt was partially religiously motivated: during the Reformation many of the Dutch had adopted Lutheran, Anabaptist, Calvinist or Mennonite forms of Protestantism. These religious movements were suppressed by the Spanish, who supported the Counter Reformation. After independence the Netherlands adopted Calvinism as a quasi state religion (although never formally), 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 (Nederlands Hervormde Kerk) and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland) in the late 19th century, which even led to a denominational difference between hervormd and gereformeerd, though linguistically both meaning "reformed". 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 religions
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.[4] Circa 1904 Algemeen Handelsblad, an Amsterdam newspaper, sent a correspondent to investigate the Bahá'ís in Persia.[5] 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.[6] 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.[6] Following their arrival and conversions of some citizens the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Amsterdam was elected in 1948.[7] In 1957, with 110 Bahá'ís and nine spiritual assemblies, the Bahá'í community in the Netherlands first elected its own National Spiritual Assembly.[6] In 2005 the Netherlands had 34 local spiritual assemblies.[7] In 1997 there were about 1500 Bahá'ís in The Netherlands.[8]
Christianity
Roman Catholicism
Currently, Roman Catholicism is the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming some 24 per cent of the Dutch people in 2011, 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, according to the Catholic University of Nijmegen Institute for Ecclesiastical Statistics (KASKI) in their 2007 annual statistical update of the Dutch Catholic province,[9] Most Catholics live in the southern provinces of North Brabant and Limburg, where they comprise a 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.[10]
Islam
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.[11] 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.[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
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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]
| Religion | Orientation | Adherents | Year | Population (%) (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christianity | 7,500,000 | * | 43.4 % | |
| Catholicism | 4,359,000 | 2006 | 26.6% | |
| Catholicism | Roman Catholic | 4,352,000 | 2006 | 26.6% |
| Old Catholic Church | Old Catholic | 5,981 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Free Catholic Church in the Netherlands | Free Catholic Church | 800 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Protestant | 3,033,831 | * | 18.3% | |
| Protestant Church in the Netherlands | Lutheran and Calvinist | 1,944,000 | 2005 | 12% |
| Restored Reformed Church | Calvinist (Hervormd) |
70,000 | 2005 | 0.4% |
| Continued Reformed Churches | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
3,900 | 2005 | 0.00024% |
| Christian Reformed Churches | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
74,853 | 2005 | 0.46206% |
| Netherlands Reformed Congregations | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
103,272 | 2005 | 0.637481% |
| Reformed Parishes in the Netherlands | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
21,708 | 2005 | 0.134% |
| Continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
3,000 | 2005 | 0.0% |
| Reformed Parishes in the Netherlands (in repaired relations) | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
1,250 | 2005 | 0.0% |
| Old Reformed Parishes in the Netherlands | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
18,000 | 2005 | 0.1% |
| Free Old Reformed Parishes in the Netherlands | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
18,000 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
125,970 | 2005 | 0.8% |
| Netherlands Reformed Churches | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
31,590 | 2004 | 0.2% |
| New Reformed Churches | Calvinist (Gereformeerd) |
1,500 | 2005 | 0.0% |
| Mennonite Church in the Netherlands | Anabaptist (Doopsgezind) |
9,368 | 2005 | 0.1% |
| Remonstant Brotherhood | Remonstrant (Remonstrant) |
4,581 | 2005 | 0.0% |
| Union of Baptist Churches in the Netherlands | Baptist (Baptist) |
11,364 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| Brotherhood of Baptist Churches | Baptist (Baptist) |
4,200 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Independent Free Baptist Churches | Baptist (Baptist) |
4,200 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| League of Free Evangelican Parishes | Lutheran | 5,821 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Evangelican Brotherhood | Lutheran | 12,000 | 2005 | 0.1% |
| New Apostolic Church | Pentecostal | 11,856 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| Apostolic Community | Pentecostal | 18,673 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| United Pentecostal and Gospelchurches | Pentecostal | 19,820 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| Other Pentecostal | Pentecostal | 50,830 | 2004 | 0.4% |
| Anglican Church in the Netherlands | Anglican | 33,000 | 2004 | 0.2% |
| Seventh-day Adventist Church | Restorationist | 4,500 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Gathering of Religious | Dispensationalism | 10,000 | * | 0.1% |
| Salvation Army | Methodism | 6,840 | 2005 | 0.0% |
| Geredja Indjili Maluku | unknown | 25,000 | 2004 | 0.2% |
| Christian Church Netherlands (Nordic Brotherhood) |
unknown | 2,100 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Quaker | * | 200 | * | 0.0% |
| Liberal Religious Community NPB | * | 5,338 | 2004 | 0.0% |
| Zwingli Union | * | 150 | * | 0.0% |
| Eastern Orthodox | 22,000 | 2004 | 0.1% | |
| Eastern Orthodox | Orthodox | 22,000 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| Islam | 944,000 | 2004 | 5.8% | |
| Islam | Islam | 944,000 | 2004 | 5.8% |
| Judaism | 35,900 | * | 0.2% | |
| Nederlands Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap | Judaism | 5,000 | * | 0.0% |
| Union of Religious Liberal Jews in the Netherlands | Judaism | 3,500 | * | 0.0% |
| Portugees-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap | Judaism | 600 | * | 0.0% |
| Hinduism | 215,000 | 2004 | 1.3% | |
| Hinduism | Hinduism | 215,000 | * | 1.3% |
| Buddhism | 169,000 | 2004 | 1.0% | |
| Buddhism | Buddhism | 169,000 | 2004 | 1.0% |
| Sikhism | 12,000 | 2004 | 0.1% | |
| Sikhism | Sikhism | 12,000 | 2004 | 0.1% |
| No religious affiliation | 7,230,000 | * | 42.7% | |
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
- Irreligion in the Netherlands
- Islam in the Netherlands
- Judaism in the Netherlands
- Religion by country
- Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands
References
- ^ Becker, Jos and Joep de Hart (2006). Godsdienstige veranderingen in Nederland (in Dutch). Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau. ISBN 90-377-0259-7. OCLC 84601762.
- ^ a b "Religion in the beginning of the 21st century" (PDF), Central Bureau of Statistics, the Netherlands, 2009, retrieved 2012-02-14
- ^ Knippenberg, Hans "The Changing Religious Landscape of Europe" edited by Knippenberg published by Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam 2005 ISBN 90-5589-248-3, pages 102-104
- ^ de Vries 2002, pp. 18–20
- ^ de Vries 2002, pp. 65–69
- ^ a b c C. van den Hoonaard, Will (1993-11-08). "Netherlands". draft of A Short Encyclopedia of the Baha'i Faith. Baha'i Library Online. Retrieved 2008-12-25.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - ^ a b C. Vieten, Gunter (2006). "THE DUTCH BAHA'I COMMUNITY". Retrieved 2008-12-25.
{{cite web}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - ^ Hoekstra 2000, pp. 61
- ^ http://www.ru.nl/kaski/kerkelijke/statistiek/[dead link]
- ^ Authority and Order: John Wesley and his Preachers. Ashgate Publishing. Retrieved 2007-12-31.
Tyerman has told that John Jones wrote to the patriarch of Smyrna and received confirmation that Erasmus was indeed Biship of Arcadia, in Crete. The Greeks in Amsterdam, rather than denounce him as an imposture, acknowledged him as founding the first Greek Church there. He was not an ignorant man, but a renowned scholar, having participated in the publication of a serious work in London and Amsterdam.
- ^ "Godsdienstige veranderingen in Nederland" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
- ^ JCH Blom (1989). "The Persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands: A Comparative Western European Perspective". European History Quarterly. 19 (3): 333–351. doi:10.1177/026569148901900302.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ http://www.rug.nl/corporate/nieuws/opinie/2011/opinie11_2011?lang=en
- ^ Knippenberg, Hans "The Changing Religious Landscape of Europe" edited by Knippenberg published by Het Spinhuis, Amsterdam 2005 ISBN 90-5589-248-3, page 92
- ^ 2004 data drawn from 2007 SCP report
- de Vries, Jelle (2002). The Babi Question You Mentioned--: The Origins of the Baha'i Community of the Netherlands, 1844-1962. Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-90-429-1109-3.
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- Hoekstra, E.G.; Ypenburg, M.H. (2000). Wegwijs in religieus en levensbeschouwelijk Nederland. Kampen: Uitgeverij Kok. ISBN 90-435-0028-3.
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