Journal of Religion in Europe Journal of Religion in Europe 3 (2010) 125–154 brill.nl/jre Journeying Towards Multiculturalism? Th e Relationship between Immigrant Christians and Dutch Indigenous Churches Martha Th . Frederiks Centre IIMO/Department of Th eology and Religious Studies Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, Th e Netherlands
[email protected] Nienke Pruiksma Centre IIMO/Department of Th eology and Religious Studies Faculty of Humanities, Utrecht University Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS Utrecht, Th e Netherlands
[email protected] Abstract Due to globalisation and migration western Europe has become home to adher- ents of many diff erent religions. Th is article focuses on one aspect of the changes on the religious scene; it investigates in what way immigration—and Christian immigrant religiosity particularly—has aff ected the structure and identity of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. We argue that the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands has been able to accommodate a substantial group of immigrants whilst the PCN seems to encoun- ter more problems responding to the increasingly multicultural society. We con- clude that both churches, however, in structure and theology, remain largely unaff ected by the infl ux of immigrant Christians. Keywords immigration , Christianity , western Europe , multiculturalism , churches , identity , Netherlands , Protestantism © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010 DOI 10.1163/187489209X478328 126 M. Th . Frederiks, N. Pruiksma / Journal of Religion in Europe 3 (2010) 125–154 1. Introduction In the present age of increased migration the famous words by Heraclitus, panta rhei (everything is moving), could be rephrased as pantes rheousin , everybody is moving.