Calvinism in the Netherlands: more than a religion
Since the Second World War, Protestants have no longer been in the majority in the Netherlands, where Catholicism is now the most widely practiced religion. So, while a quarter of Dutch people claim to be followers of the various Reformed churches, Roman Catholicism still accounts for a third of the population. But, as the saying goes, "The Dutch, whether Catholic, Jew, freethinker, communist or agnostic, are all Calvinists."
Calvinism takes its name from Calvin, the French theologian, reformer and emblematic pastor of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. The movement first spread to Flanders and Hainaut. Calvinism became established in the republic of the United Provinces. The Reformed Church was founded in Friesland in 1571 and became the Church of the Republic a few years later. The Golden Age marked the spread of Reformed Protestantism, while the following century coincided with the arrival of Huguenots from France following the abolition of the Edict of Nantes.
More than a religion, Calvinism refers to the way of thinking and acting that characterizes the Dutch. In the Netherlands, sobriety and efficiency are the order of the day, and for a long time, children were brought up to say "Act normally, it's crazy enough". Nurtured by these values, the Dutch are known for not spending thoughtlessly, but investing instead. This sometimes exaggerated reputation for frugality has its roots in Calvinism.
Today, the Protestant Church has 2.6 million members (just under 15% of the population). The Catholic Church has 3.6 million members (around 20% of the population) and is traditionally located in the south of the country. The area of strict, conservative Protestantism stretching from Zeeland in the west to the province of Overijssel is known as Biblebelt. This area is characterized by low vaccination rates and a high fertility rate of almost three children per household.
Festivals and popular traditions
The main religious holidays are Easter, Pentecost, Ascension and Christmas. Depending on one's environment, these holidays may or may not be celebrated with greater fervor. Carnival, in February, is a tradition in the southern regions of the Netherlands. These celebrations take place over three days in Limburg and Brabant. Carnival is a fancy-dress party, often with lots of booze.
Easter and Christmas are synonymous with elaborate meals with family and sometimes friends. Christmas is always celebrated over two days, December 25 and 26, with the 26th called "Second Christmas Day". These two major religious holidays are also marked by concerts in the country's major concert halls. Amsterdam's Concertgebouw is renowned for its performances of Handel's Messiah and Bach's St. Matthew Passion . The festivals of other major religions, such as Ramadan, are publicized in the press and through dedicated communications at work, with great respect for freedom of worship.
Islam in the Netherlands
Historically, Muslims have long been present in the Netherlands, but their numbers increased in the 1960s with the arrival of workers from Morocco and Turkey, who set up mosques (around 300 to date, for a total of around 1 million Muslims). The first Qur'an in Dutch with commentary only dates from 2005. The number of Dutch converts is around 15,000. Moroccans form the largest group of Muslims in the Netherlands, followed by Turks and Surinamese, Afghans and Iraqis. Ramadan is often a time of intense exchanges between the different communities in the Netherlands.
September 11th as a crystallization of tensions. The attacks of September 11, 2001 made many criticisms of radical Islam audible. Pim Fortuyn, who had embodied a flamboyant critique of Islam, was assassinated in May 2002 by a left-wing activist who feared the threat he posed to Dutch society. His criticism of Islam was echoed by the particularly virulent filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was also murdered in the street in Amsterdam.
Geert Wilders or the embodiment of Dutch anti-Islam. This politician heads his own party, the Party for Freedom (PVV), based on criticism of Islam, which he associates with a fascist ideology. He wants to ban the Koran, which he compares to Mein Kampf , and introduce a tax on Islamic headscarves to ban them from public spaces. As elsewhere in Europe, the Netherlands is facing a rise in far-right extremism: the PVV won the parliamentary elections in November 2023.
Judaism in the Netherlands
The Jewish community first settled in the Netherlands in the 17th century. Most of them were descendants of Spanish and Portuguese refugees. It was also at this time that many Huguenots fled France to settle in the Netherlands. They settled there for freedom of worship. The community gathered around the Portuguese Jews, who were the most numerous.
The Jewish community made a major contribution to the country's development, particularly during the Golden Age. At that time, 6,000 Dutch Jews lived in Amsterdam, compared with 8,000 in the rest of the country. Most were Sephardic. Several leading figures of the Jewish faith played a key role in the country's overall development. Isaac Pinto, for example, was a prominent businessman.
During this period, the Esnoga, the incredible Portuguese synagogue, was built. In the 18th century, the Dutch Jewish community was the most affluent and played a central role in the worldwide organization of the diaspora, notably through its printing activities. The Netherlands, and Amsterdam in particular, enjoyed an illustrious reputation in the community: it was a welcoming land where life was good.
The 18th century granted full rights to the Jews of the Netherlands, who were now obliged to integrate into the Dutch community. Gradually, this community lost its influence in the diaspora. At the end of the 19th century, a wave of immigrants from Russia and Lithuania arrived in the Netherlands.
The Holocaust in the Netherlands saw the disappearance of 75% of the country's Jewish community. From 1942, Jews were deported via the Dutch camp of Westerbork to Sobibor and Auschwitz, where they were exterminated.
To this day, the Holocaust remains an enormous trauma for the country. The very low rate of survivors suggests intense cooperation with the Nazis on the part of the Dutch authorities. Amsterdamers in particular did little to help the Jews. Some also point to the orderly and highly efficient population registers to explain the easy location and identification of Jewish communities. The Netherlands, however, was slow to acknowledge its role in this crime against humanity. We quote King Willem Alexander's poignant speech at the May 2020 commemorations: "Hundreds of people have, without any form of protest, watched the crowded streetcars pass before them, under tight surveillance, through this city, through this country... Sobibor began at the Vondelpark with a sign 'Forbidden to Jews'". This speech still resonates to this day, and the monument to the names of the Holocaust pays tribute to the 102,000 victims in the heart of Amsterdam's Jewish quarter, more than seventy years after the fact.
