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In fact - to call the Netherlands a Protestant nation would be folly at best. Other than in the Bible Belt, Protestantism (even more so than the Catholic Church) collapsed decades ago. What the Netherlands, essentially, were was a majority Catholic or unaffiliated nation. Yes: not being affiliated with a church as an institution does not make you, in the Dutch tradition, irreligious. Not joining one was often a moral choice, going back all the way to the 17th century as a church was seen as political and thus human institution and in those days Catholics in the North could not hold their services so they relied on hidden churches and travelling clandestine priests and officially they would have been unaffiliated as there was one officially allowed church - the Dutch Reformed Church - and the others just had to keep their mouth shut and worship behind closed doors - this would change by the 18th century though and by 1795 the French gave the Catholics the freedom to worship and King Louis Napoleon began to take back churches from the ruling Protestant elite but it would take until 1853 when Catholics truly were free to worship again and the Episcopal Hierarchy restored. This is the image today (as measured per municipality):
Again: why respondents may declare Protestant or Catholic, they would refer to the rite that they follow and not necessarily mean that they are affiliated with the institution. This is, probably, why a lot of people would say that they are unaffiliated.
While 67.8% of the Dutch population are not members of any religious community, the other 32.2% are distributed over a diversity 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 is distributed over a multitude of Protestant churches making up the 12.8% of the population in 2012. The largest of which 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 the 0.1% of the Dutch population. These churches have either been the result of conflicts within the Calvinist Church or 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, Baha'i, Buddhism or indigenous religions.
Different sources give very different percentages.[56] 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 organised religion. There is a stronger stress on positive sides of belief, with Hell and the concept of damnation being pushed into the background. 53% of the Dutch population believe in a form of life after death, of which a third believes in some kind of heaven (with or without a god), but only 4% believe in a Hell. Of the entire population 10% believes in a reunion of family and loved ones, and 10% in survival of the spirit, soul or consciousness. Of the people who answer positive on the question whether they believe there is life after death, 15% think of the afterlife as "living on in the memory of others". Further believe 6 percent in reincarnation and 5% in a later return to earth as only in a human form.[57] One quarter of non-believers sometimes pray, but more in a sense of meditative self-reflection.[56] Also atheism, agnosticism and Christian atheism are on the rise; and are being broadly accepted.[7] The expected rise of spirituality (ietsism) has come to a halt according to research in 2015. In 2006 40% of respondents considered themselves spiritual, in 2015 this has dropped to 31%. The number who believed in the existence of a higher power (theists and certain ietsists) fell from 36% to 28% over the same period.[4]
A research done in 2015 by Ton Bernts and Joantine Berghuijs has concluded that 67.8% of the Dutch population considers themselves to be irreligious.[8][58] In 2006, 34% of the Dutch population was still a church member. In 2015 only 25% of the population adheres to one of the Christian churches, 5% is Muslim and 2% adheres to Hinduism or Buddhism, based on indepth interviewing.[4] In 2015, a vast majority of the inhabitants of the Netherlands (82%) says to never or almost never visit a church, and 59% stated that to never have been to a church of any kind. Of all the people questioned, 25% see themselves as atheist, an increase of 11% compared to the previous study done in 2006.[59]
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Originally Posted by Supercomputer
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