Faith in Society Christian Democratic reflections on the place of religion and world view in the public domain This document is a publication of the Research Institute for the CDA (WI) and the Centre for European Studies (CES) The aim of the Research Institute is to carry out research activities, or to commission such activities, on behalf of the CDA in accordance with the fundamental principles of the CDA and in line with the Programme of Principles. The Policy Institute provides documented advice on the key themes of CDA policy, either on its own initiative or at the request of the CDA and/or the members of the CDA in representative bodies. This publication has received the support of the European Parliament. The Policy Institute for the CDA, the CES and the European Parliament are not responsible for statistics and opinions contained in the publication or for any consequences arising from the use of the information contained in the publication. The report was compiled in 2012. Research Institute for the CDA P.O. Box 30453, 2500 GL The Hague Telephone (070) 3424874 Email [email protected] Internet www.cda.nl/wi Facebook www.facebook.com/wicda ISBN/EAN 978-90-74493-83-3 The Hague, December 2012, Research Institute for the CDA / Centre for European Studies All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a computerised data retrieval system, or made public in any form whatsoever, either electronic, mechanical, by means of photocopying, recordings or any other manner, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Pagina | 2 Contents Foreword ................................................................................................ 5 1 Introductory remarks .............................................................................. 7 2 Religion and secularisation in the Netherlands ................................................. 16 2.1 What is religion? ........................................................................... 16 2.2 Religion and modernity ................................................................... 17 2.2.1 Modernity ............................................................................... 20 2.3 Religions in the Netherlands .............................................................. 26 2.3.1 Christianity .............................................................................. 27 2.3.2 Judaism .................................................................................. 30 2.3.3 Islam..................................................................................... 30 2.3.4 Hinduism and Buddhism ............................................................... 32 2.4 Looking for meaning: new forms of spirituality ......................................... 33 2.5 Assumptions about the role of religion in the public domain ........................... 34 2.6 Source of social cohesion or seed of discord? ........................................... 36 2.6.1 Religion as social capital ............................................................... 37 2.6.2 Religion as a source of social cohesion and social involvement ..................... 40 3 The Christian Democratic vision of society .................................................... 41 3.1 Fundamental principles of the Christian Democratic view of man ..................... 41 3.2 The Christian Democratic vision of the state and society ............................... 44 4 The separation of church and state and the neutrality of government ......................... 48 4.1 Different views of the separation of church and state ................................... 49 4.2 Historical grounds for the separation principle .......................................... 50 4.3 Some implications for church and state .................................................. 52 4.4 Government neutrality .................................................................... 55 4.5 The principle of separation in context: its relation to the rights of freedom ............ 57 5 The freedom of religion and world view within a democratic constitutional state ........... 58 5.1 Freedom and equality ..................................................................... 59 5.2 The historical development of fundamental rights ....................................... 61 5.3 Freedom of religion: its scope and limitations ........................................... 62 5.3.1 What is religion? ........................................................................ 63 5.3.2 Religious organisations and practices: individual and collective .................... 64 5.3.3 Restrictions on freedom of religion: the law as ultimum remedium ................. 67 5.4 The equality principle explained .......................................................... 68 5.4.1 Equality before the law ................................................................. 69 5.4.2 Equality through the law ............................................................... 70 5.5 Freedom of expression: religious criticism and religious utterances .................... 72 6 Conclusions: religion, society and the democratic constitutional state ........................ 73 6.1 The effect of religion and world view in society ......................................... 73 6.1.1 Religion: private and public ........................................................... 74 Pagina | 3 6.1.2 The social-cultural meaning of religion ............................................... 76 6.1.3 The moral significance of religion for the democratic constitutional state .......... 77 6.1.4 The drawbacks of religion: extremism and violence ................................. 80 6.2 Pluriformity and tolerance: equality as diversity ......................................... 82 6.3 Freedom: self-acceptance and responsibility ............................................. 84 6.4 Core values, commonality and citizenship ............................................... 85 7 Conclusion and recommendations ............................................................... 88 7.1 Recommendations ......................................................................... 95 7.1.1 Religion and world view ............................................................... 96 7.1.2 Religion in society ...................................................................... 96 7.1.3 Religion and government .............................................................. 97 Literature list ........................................................................................... 99 Pagina | 4 Foreword The Faith in Society (Geloof in de samenleving) study started in 2011. The Board of the Research Institute (WI) was keen to offer a Christian Democratic perspective in the current – increasingly polarised – debate about the place of religion and faith in society. The key question in this report is therefore what the changes in the landscape of the Netherlands in terms of religion and world view1 mean for existing social relations. What place do religion and philosophy have in society and how should government relate to them? This theme is at the heart of Christian Democracy. The rationale for this is that Christian Democracy sees man as a rational being who seeks to find meaning in life. How people behave socially and politically cannot be considered separately from each individual’s inner calling. What is at stake is the deepest motivation of human beings to determine their identity at the deepest level. It can therefore be seen that the body of ideas inherent in Christian Democracy and the movement’s legitimacy are closely linked to the right of citizens to organise themselves in social groups on the basis of their religion or faith. Religion and faith are therefore not purely private matters: they also have an effect on society, as sources of intangible values, for example, without which no society can survive. Religion and faith have an intrinsic value because they motivate people and offer them a direction; they give people a concept of meaningfulness and community and allow them to construct their individual identity. Seen from the perspective of this Christian Democratic view of man and society, the pluriformity of society is a major asset that is closely related to respect for human dignity. By compiling and publishing this report, the Board of the WI aims to make a fundamental contribution to the debate on the place of religion and faith in society. This report indicates that the manifestations of religion and faith may well be subject to change, but for many people their convictions continue to represent an important source of inspiration. Tried and tested principles will therefore be revisited in this report taking into account the changes apparent in religion, society and government. It cannot be stressed enough that such values as freedom, pluriformity and tolerance are of crucial importance for a harmonious society. We hope that this report will contribute to the debate on this issue, both within and outside the party. The WI is grateful to the sounding board group for the realisation of this report. The sounding board group was chaired by Professor S.C. van Bijsterveld and comprised the following members: Professor E.P.N.M. Borgman, Professor 1 In this study the Dutch word ‘levensbeschouwing’ is translated as ‘world view’. However, this translation does not fully reflect the meaning of the Dutch word ‘levensbeschouwing’ because there is no real equivalent available in English. A better alternative may be