HOLLAND'S DRIFT FROM RELIGION
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Th?.- Archbishop of Canterbury's message to the English people has aroused a lot of comment in. the British and foreign Press.- The Archbishop's call is nothing less than a distinct indication that in the British Isles we witness a definite drift from religion, a situation which has conic to light with the public admission by authority of the indifference in the matter of .religion felt by the late King.
It may be of interest to you to know of some of the existing conditions in this respect. in our little country. The figures in Holland's census, which is taken every ten years and the results of which are made available by the Government's Statistical Bureau, are rather illuminating.
The census form enumerates 28 different religions and, moreover, if -there should be still another religion to which one belongs, one is allowed to indicate it. On the other hand, it is possible to reply that one does not want to be considered as belonging to any church or religion. It is quite obvious that anyone replying in the last way definitely wishes to infer that he is churchless even though he be baptised or circumcised. The following official figures illus- trate. the situation very clearly.
Out of every 1,000 inhabitants in the census of 1879, three were churchless ; 15 out of every 1,000 in 1889 ; 23 out of every 1,000 in 1899 ; 50 out of 1,000 in 1910 ; 78 out of 1,0011 in 1920 ; and, at the last census which was taken
in 1931, 144 out of every 1,000 were churchless. In 1920 there were 533,700 churchless, or 7f per cent. of the whole population, and at the last census this number increased to 1,144,400, being 144 per cent. of onr'whOle.population, being
a little Jess than 8 million. "
Our country is divided into 11 provinces, and.the northern provinces claim the largest percentages of churchless. Out of every 1,000 in the Groningen Province, 215 are churchless ; in Friesland 232 and in Noord-Holland 285 out of every 1,000. On the other hand, the percentages are very low in the southern part of the country, where the Roman Catholics are in the majority.
The percentage of Jews is rapidly going back ; whereas in 1889 there were 22 Jews in every 1,000 inhabitants, thera were only 14 per 1,000 in 1931. In 1920 there were 63,000 Jews in Amsterdam : at the normal increase of 10 per cent. in 10 years there should have been 70,000 in 1981, but their number was under 61,000. Next to the Jews, religious belief amongst the Protestants is losing ground.
The figures of the churchless in the capital, Amsterdam, are rapidly rising : in 1899 .. 30,000 1909 .. 67,00() 1919 .. 145,000 1930 .. 264,000
It must be remembered that the total population of the capital in 1930 was 757,000, which means that 36 per cent. of Amsterdam was without church or religion.
Although the figures indicate a percentage of 36 per cent. for Amsterdam, it is nevertheless important to mention that in that city in 1932 6,095 marriages were registered, of which 4,281, or more than 70 per cent., were not followed by a religious ceremony, which means that the real figures of the churchless are much higher than the official ones.
Although not directly bearing on the above, it is worth mentioning that the Prime Minister has decided to abolish the one hour per month on the radio granted to the Free Thinkers' Union, whereas the Roman Catholics have more than 100 hoUrs monthly, in spite of the fact that they com- prise 30 per cent. of the population, being only double the number of churchless. 'It is no exaggeration to say that in Holland there is certainly a decided and rapid drift from the practice of religious beliefs.—I am, Sir, &e., Louis Fiats. ' Amsterdam.
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