MARIJKE TER VOERT ALBERT FELLING JAN PETERS

PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS

IN THE NETHERLANDS

A dialectical versus an analogical imagination?

Summary

According to Greeley, Catholics are communitarian, and Protestants are individualis- tic, due to their different images of . In this study, Greeley's argument is tested against data from two Dutch nationwide surveys conducted in 1985 (N=3003) and 1990 (N=2384). Differences between Catholics, three types of Protestants, and non- members are investigated. Catholics were, amongst others, expected to be more likely than Protestants to conform to and be involved in their neighbourhood, be tolerant towards ethnic groups, value equality and emphasize institutional . Protestants were expected to be more oriented towards freedom in relationships and personal autonomy. The findings indicate that Greeley's argument does not give reliable predictions about the Netherlands. Furthermore, they show that Protestants cannot be treated as a homogeneous group. The extent to which religious groups are open to influences from the secular might be a more appropriate explanation of the differences in attitudes between the religious categories.

Differences between Catholics and Protestants have been the topic of many studies and discussions. Recent investigations have addressed the question whether the distinctive orientations of the two denominations persist in mod- em secularized society. According to Greeley (1989), the Protestant ethic and the Catholic ethic are alive and well. Protestants are individualists, because of an imagination of society as 'sinful and God-forsaken', and Catholics are communitarian, because of an imagination of society as sacramental, that is, revelatory of God. Greeley argued that, because of their analogical imagina- tion, Catholics would be more likely to value social relationships, equality

21 and social change. Protestants, on the other hand, would be more likely to stress individual freedom and independence from group control. The present study will examine to what extent Greeley's theory is supported in the Neth- erlands.

1. Theoretical considerations

1.1 Greeley's study

Greeley (1989) sees religion as a set of symbols which provide answers to issues of the ultimate meaning of life. These symbols explain, imaginatively, what the world is about and provide templates for response to the world. In other words, religion is a collection of directing 'pictures' through which organize and give meaning to the phenomena which impinge on their consciousness. Theological and ethical codes are derivative, built on an imaginative and preconscious infrastructure. The fundamental differences between Catholicism and , then, are not doctrinal or ethical. The different propositional codes of the two are but manifestations of more funda- mental differing sets of symbols. Catholics and Protestants 'see' the world differently, because the preconscious 'organizing' pictures of the two tradi- tions are different. According to Greeley, these preconscious 'worldviews' are not totally different, but different enough to produce different doctrinal and ethical codes, different church structures, and different behaviour rates.

Greeley suggests that the Catholic imagination is 'analogical' and the Protes- tant imagination is 'dialectical'. Catholics assume a God who is present in the world, and who discloses Herself in and through creation. They tend to see society as a set of ordered relationships, governed by both and love, which reveal, however imperfectly, the presence of God. Society is 'natural' and 'good' for humans, and their natural response to God is social. Protes- tants, on the other hand, tend to see human society as 'God-forsaken' and therefore unnatural and oppressive. The world and all its events, objects, and people tend to be radically different from God. Humans become fully human only when they are able to break away from social oppression and relate to the absent God as a completely free individual. The analogical and dialectical imaginations exist side by side in personalities; 'rarely does one encounter a religious imagination that is purely analogical or purely dialectical' (p.486). Greeley formulates several expectations of how the two imaginations would shape values. Because of their different imaginations, Catholics are more communitarian and Protestants are more individualistic. Therefore, he expects

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