Religion
The church has been losing ground in the Netherlands. Half of the Dutch population describes themselves as ‘having no religious affiliation’. The majority of people who are indeed church members only rarely visit their church. A growing number of people believe that there is ‘something’.
Over 25 percent of the Dutch people call themselves Roman-Catholic, 16 percent Protestant (ranging from Dutch Reformed to Orthodox Reformed) and about 6 percent of the population is Muslim. One in five Dutch people go to church more than once.
The figures for Arnhem Nijmegen Cool Region differ somewhat from the general picture; the Region has more members of the Dutch Reformed Church and fewer Catholics. The distribution of the various religions across the Netherlands is remarkable: north of the major rivers Dutch people are primarily Protestants and south of the rivers largely Catholics. Arnhem is only just above this line and Nijmegen just below. This division has to do with Dutch history: the southern part has been dominated by the Catholic Spaniards for a much longer period of time.
Another striking geographical distribution can be found with the reformed group that make up seven percent of the Dutch population. The ‘Bible belt’ runs straight through the Netherlands, from Zeeland to the Veluwe area. A startling number of members of the strict branch of the Dutch Reformed Church are residents of this area. As they believe that God is almighty, part of this group of people are neither insured nor vaccinated. Secularisation is of no relevance here.
The group of Muslims in the Netherlands, often of Turkish or Moroccan origin, is roughly the same size. They primarily live in the cities. Half of the Muslims call themselves ‘pious’.
Those who believe in ‘something’ are winning ground; they believe that there must be something between heaven and earth yet do not belong to a specific religious group. For instance, a quarter of all Dutch people believe in lucky charms, fortune-tellers, astrology and faith healers.
