Religion in the Netherlands - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

is historically

History of religion in the Netherlands

The history of religion in the Netherlands has been characterized by considerable diversity of religious thought and practice.-Before the Reformation:...

characterized by multitude of religion

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

s. 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.

Currently, Roman Catholicism is the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming the religious home of some 26% of the Dutch people, down from 40% in the 1970s. The Protestant Church of the Netherlands follows with only 11% of the population. Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

has approximately 944,000 followers, making 6% of the Dutch population Muslim.

History

The Netherlands declared its independence from Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

in 1581, during the Eighty Years' War; Spain finally accepted this in 1648. The independence was partially religiously motivated: during the Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

the Dutch had become Anabaptist

Anabaptist

Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites....

, Mennonite

Mennonite

The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...

and Calvinist forms of Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

. These religious movements were suppressed by the Spanish, who supported the Counter Reformation. After independence the Netherlands adopted Calvinism

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

as a state religion

State religion

A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...

, but practiced religious tolerance towards non-Calvinists. It became considerably safe for Jewish and Protestant refugees from Flanders, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

(Huguenots), Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

(Pilgrims for instance). There have always been considerable differences between orthodox and liberal interpretations of Calvinism: between Arminianism

Arminianism

Arminianism is a school of soteriological thought within Protestant Christianity based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic followers, the Remonstrants...

and Gomarism in the 17th century; and between the Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...

and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands was the second largest Protestant church in the Netherlands until it merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2004.-History:...

in the late 19th century. Catholics

Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands

The Catholic Church in the Netherlands; , is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. Although the number of Catholics in the Netherlands has decreased significantly in recent decades, the Dutch Catholic Church is today the largest...

, 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 of the Dutch Jews did not survive the Holocaust; and in the 1960s and 1970s the 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.

Roman Catholicism

Currently Roman Catholicism is the single largest religion of the Netherlands, forming the religious home of some 26.6 % of the Dutch people 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. Most Catholics live in the southern provinces of North Brabant

North Brabant

North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...

and Limburg

Limburg (Netherlands)

Limburg is the southernmost of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. It is located in the southeastern part of the country and bordered by the province of Gelderland to the north, Germany to the east, Belgium to the south and part of the west, andthe Dutch province of North Brabant partly to...

where they make up the majority of the population. Willem Jacobus Eijk is the highest Catholic authority.

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 1960s. It was formed in 2004 as a merger of the two major strands of Calvinism

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

: the Dutch Reformed Church

Dutch Reformed Church

(which the represented roughly 8.5% of the population) and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands was the second largest Protestant church in the Netherlands until it merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2004.-History:...

(at that time 3.7% of the population) and a smaller Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands was a denomination in the Netherlands which under that name existed from 1818 to 2004...

(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

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

was founded by Erasmus of Arcadia

Erasmus of Arcadia

Erasmus of Arcadia , also known as Gerasimos Avlonites , was a Greek Orthodox bishop of the Diocese of Arcadia in Crete, operating under the Patriarch of Smyrna. Erasmus' monastery, located south of Rethymon in central Crete, was a centre of resistance to foreign domination by the Turkish régime. ...

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

is a relatively new and fast-growing religion in the Netherlands, as per recent (CBS) statistics about 944,000 or 6% of the Dutch population are Muslims. Muslim numbers began to rise after the 1970s as the result of immigration. Some migrants from former Dutch colonies

Dutch Empire

The Dutch Empire consisted of the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire, but based on military conquest of already-existing...

, such as Surinam and Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, were sometimes Muslim, but migrant workers from Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

and Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

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

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

. Of the immigrant ethnic groups, 99% of Moroccans; 90% of Turks; 69% of Asians; 64% of other Africans, and 12% of Surinamese were Muslims. 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

Pim Fortuyn

Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ....

by militant animal rights activist Volkert van der Graaf

Volkert van der Graaf

Volkert van der Graaf is known for assassinating the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on 6 May 2002 during the political campaign. Van der Graaf was an animal rights and environmental activist, founder of a group that worked through litigation...

and the murder of Theo van Gogh

Theo van Gogh (film director)

Theodoor "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch film director, film producer, columnist, author and actor.Van Gogh worked with the Somali-born writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali to produce the film Submission, which criticized the treatment of women in Islam and aroused controversy among Muslims...

by an extremist Muslim, Mohammed Bouyeri

Mohammed Bouyeri

Mohammed Bouyeri is an Islamist Dutch–Moroccan and convicted murderer. He is currently serving a life sentence without parole for the assassination of Dutch film director Theo van Gogh. He holds both Dutch and Moroccan citizenship...

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

has been present in the Netherlands for much of the country's history and several sources claim it arrived in the Netherlands before Christianity. Because of its social tolerance, the Dutch Republic

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

formed a haven for Jews that were persecuted because of their beliefs throughout Europe. Prominent Dutch Jews include Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza

Baruch de Spinoza and later Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death...

, a 17th century philosopher, Aletta Jacobs

Aletta Jacobs

Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs, better known as Aletta Jacobs was the first woman to complete a university course in the Netherlands and the first female physician. She was born to a Jewish doctor's family in Sappemeer...

, a 19th century feminist, and Henri Polak, who founded both the socialist party SDAP and the labor union NVV

Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen

The Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen was a Dutch social-democratic trade union.-History:...

. The majority of Jews lived in Amsterdam

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.

Bahá'í Faith

The first mentions of the Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

in the Netherlands were in Dutch newspapers which in 1852 covered some of the events relating to the Bábí movement

Bábism

The Babi Faith is a religious movement that flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire as well as underground. Its founder was Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi, who took the title Báb—meaning "Gate"—from a Shi'a theological term...

which the Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

regards as a precursor religion. Circa 1904 Algemeen Handelsblad

Algemeen Handelsblad

Algemeen Handelsblad was an influential Amsterdam-based liberal daily newspaper, founded in 1828 by J.W. van den Biesen. At the peak of its influence -- from the time of the Boer War, when it championed the Boer cause in South Africa, through World War I -- it was edited by Charles Boissevain.It...

, an Amsterdam

Amsterdam

newspaper, sent a correspondent to investigate the Bahá'ís in Persia. The first Bahá'ís to settle in the Netherlands

Netherlands

were a couple of families — the Tijssens and Greevens, both of whom left Germany

Germany

for the Netherlands in 1937 as business practices were affected by Nazi policies. Following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

the Bahá'ís established a committee to oversee introducing the religion across Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

and so the permanent growth of the community in the Netherlands begins with Bahá'í pioneers

Pioneering (Bahá'í)

A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...

arriving in 1946. Following their arrival and conversions of some citizens the first Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

was elected in 1948. In 1957, with 110 Bahá'ís and nine spiritual assemblies, the Bahá'í community in the Netherlands first elected its own National Spiritual Assembly. In 2005 the Netherlands had 34 local spiritual assemblies. In 1997 there were about 1500 Bahá'ís in The Netherlands.

Cults, sects, and new religious movements

The Dutch government chose not to make special laws regarding cult

Cult

The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...

s, sect

Sect

A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...

s or new religious movement

New religious movement

A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...

s (generally all informally called "sekten" in Dutch). This decision was based on reports made after the 1978 Jonestown

Jonestown

Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...

mass murder and suicide. Nor is there any officially assigned institute that provides information to the public about these movements and organizations.

Educational institutes

Freedom of education
Freedom of education
Freedom of education is a constitutional concept that has been included in the European Convention on Human Rights, Protocol 1, Article 2 and several national constitutions, e.g. the , the Belgian constitution and the Dutch constitution...
Schoolstrijd
Special school (Netherlands)
Special school (Netherlands)
A special school , in the education system of the Netherlands, is a separate category from a public or private school. It is not to be confused with "speciaal onderwijs", which refers to schools specialized to deal with severe learning disabilities.It is administered by an independent board, as...

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

Protestant Church in the Netherlands

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the Netherlands. With 2,000 congregations and a membership of some 1.8 million , it is the second largest church in the Netherlands after the Roman Catholic Church.It was founded 1 May 2004 as a merger of...

, 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. 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

Hell

In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...

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.

**Membership of Religious Communities according to 2004 data from a 2007 SCP report**
Religion	Orientation	Adherents	Year	Population (%) (estimate)
Christianity Christianity Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...		7,500,000	*	43.4 %
Catholicism Catholicism Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....		4,359,000	2006	26.6%
Catholicism Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands The Catholic Church in the Netherlands; , is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. Although the number of Catholics in the Netherlands has decreased significantly in recent decades, the Dutch Catholic Church is today the largest...	Roman Catholic	4,352,000	2006	26.6%
Old Catholic Church Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands; , is the mother church related to the Old Catholic Churches. It is sometimes called Ancient Catholic Church, Church of Utrecht or Dutch Roman Catholic Church of the Old Episcopal Order...	Old Catholic Old Catholic Church The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...	5,981	2004	0.0%
Free Catholic Church in the Netherlands	Free Catholic Church Free Catholic Church The Free Catholic Church is a German derivative movement of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church.-Church background:In 1937 the Roman Catholic bishop Carlos Duarte Costa - and his diocese of Botucatu, Brazil - severed ties with the Vatican. The bishop was excommunicated in 1945 after he accused...	800	2004	0.0%
Protestant		3,033,831	*	18.3%
Protestant Church in the Netherlands Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the Netherlands. With 2,000 congregations and a membership of some 1.8 million , it is the second largest church in the Netherlands after the Roman Catholic Church.It was founded 1 May 2004 as a merger of...	Lutheran and Calvinist	1,944,000	2005	12%
Restored Reformed Church Restored Reformed Church The Restored Reformed Church is a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It was founded on May 1, 2004, by a minority of the Reformed Bond inside the Dutch Reformed Church who opposed that church's merger with two other Protestant churches into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands...	Calvinist (Hervormd)	70,000	2005	0.4%
Continued Reformed Churches	Calvinist (Gereformeerd)	3,900	2005	0.00024%
Christian Reformed Churches Christian Reformed Churches The Christian Reformed Churches are a Protestant church in the Netherlands with about 75,000 members.The original name of the church was Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands . The church was formed in 1869 by the merger of two churches, both separated from the Dutch Reformed Church in 1834...	Calvinist (Gereformeerd)	74,853	2005	0.46206%
Netherlands Reformed Congregations Netherlands Reformed Congregations The Netherlands Reformed Congregations, is a highly conservative denomination with congregations mostly in Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands.-Baptism:...	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 Netherlands Reformed Churches The Netherlands Reformed Churches are a conservative Reformed Protestant Christian denomination in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The denomination came into existence in 1967 out of a schism within the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands ....	Calvinist (Gereformeerd)	31,590	2004	0.2%
New Reformed Churches	Calvinist (Gereformeerd)	1,500	2005	\|0.0%
Mennonite Church in the Netherlands Mennonite Church in the Netherlands The Mennonite Church in the Netherlands, or Algemene Doopsgezinde Sociëteit, is a body of Mennonite Christians in the Netherlands.The Mennonites are named for Menno Simons , a Dutch Roman Catholic priest from the Province of Friesland who converted to Anabaptism around 1536...	Anabaptist Anabaptist Anabaptists are Protestant Christians of the Radical Reformation of 16th-century Europe, and their direct descendants, particularly the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites.... (Doopsgezind)	9,368	2005	0.1%
Remonstant Brotherhood	Remonstrant (Remonstrant)	4,581	2005	0.0%
Union of Baptist Churches in the Netherlands Union of Baptist Churches in the Netherlands The Union of Baptist Churches in the Netherlands is a union of Baptist churches formed by seven congregations in 1881. The first Baptist church in the Netherlands was formed by Englishman John Smyth. The present work is not historically connected to Smyth's congregation...	Baptist Baptist Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion... (Baptist)	11,364	2004	0.1%
Brotherhood of Baptist Churches Brotherhood of Baptist Churches The Brotherhood of Baptist Churches is a Baptist fellowship that includes most Baptists not belonging to the Union of Baptist Churches in the Netherlands....	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 New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church is a chiliastic church, converted to Protestantism as a free church from the Catholic Apostolic Church. The church has existed since 1879 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands...	Pentecostal	11,856	2004	0.1%
Apostolic Community	Pentecostal	18,673	2004	0.1%
United Pentecostal and Gospelchurches United Pentecostal and Evangelical churches The United Pentecostal and Evangelical Churches is the largest Pentecostal and evangelical Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It was created on February 16, 2002, when the Brotherhood of Pentecostal Churches and the Full Gospel Churches of the Netherlands merged together...	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 Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...	Restorationist	4,500	2004	0.0%
Gathering of Religious	Dispensationalism Dispensationalism Dispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...	10,000	*	0.1%
Salvation Army Salvation Army The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....	Methodism Methodism Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...	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 Islam Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...		944,000	2004	5.8%
Islam Islam in the Netherlands The history of Islam in the Netherlands started in the 19th century when the Netherlands experienced sporadic Muslim migration from the Dutch East Indies when it was a colony from the Netherlands...	Islam Islam Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...	944,000	2004	5.8%
Judaism History of the Jews in the Netherlands Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the 16th century and World War II.The area now known as the Netherlands was once part of the Spanish Empire but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence...		35,900	*	0.2%
Nederlands Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap Nederlands Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap The Nederlands-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap is the umbrella organisation for most Jewish communities in the Netherlands, and is Orthodox in nature, while to be described as traditional in outlook. The expression Orthodox, is for the Dutch situation at least, of a later date than the existence of...	Judaism Judaism Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...	5,000	*	0.0%
Union of Religious Liberal Jews in the Netherlands Verbond voor Liberaal-Religieuze Joden in Nederland The Nederlands Verbond voor Progressief Jodendom is the umbrella organisation for Progressive Jews in the Netherlands, and is affiliated to the World Union for Progressive Judaism. It was founded in 1931 under the name of Verbond voor Liberaal-Religieuze Joden in Nederland The Nederlands Verbond...	Judaism	3,500	*	0.0%
Portugees-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap Portugees-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap The Portugees-Israëlitisch Kerkgenootschap is the community for Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands. Sephardic Jews have been living in the Netherlands since the 16th century with the forced relocation of Spanish but above all Portuguese Jews from their home countries due to the Inquisition...	Judaism	600	*	0.0%
Hinduism Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...		215,000	2004	1.3%
Hinduism Hinduism in the Netherlands Hinduism is a minority religion in the Netherlands, with around 100,000 adherents out of a population of 16,500,000. Most of these are relatively recent first or second generation "Hindoestanen" immigrants, South Asians who had been resident in the former Dutch colony of Surinam and travelled to...	Hinduism Hinduism Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...	215,000	*	1.3%
Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...		169,000	2004	1.0%
Buddhism Buddhism in the Netherlands Buddhism is a small minority religion in the Netherlands, but it has shown rapid growth in recent years. As of the 2006 estimate, 170,000 Dutch people identified their religion as Buddhist .-Early history:...	Buddhism Buddhism Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...	169,000	2004	1.0%
Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...		12,000	2004	0.1%
Sikhism Sikhism in the Netherlands Sikhs are a religious minority in the Netherlands. They number around 12,000 and most of them live in or around Amsterdam. There are 5 gurudwaras in Netherland.-Gurdwaras:Gurdwara Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, RotterdamShri Guru Nanak Gurdwara, Amsterdam...	Sikhism Sikhism Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...	12,000	2004	0.1%
No religious affiliation		7,230,000	*	42.7%

History

Roman Catholicism

Protestant Churches

Orthodoxy

Islam

Judaism

Bahá'í Faith

Cults, sects, and new religious movements

Educational institutes

Demographics

See also