The Nettie Report

ACCORDING to a recent report on " Secularisation in the Netherlands, 1966-1991" I appear to be living in one of the most secular countries in the world. The report looks at a table of fifteen countries listing the percentage of the population which believed in God in 1991. They range from 95 per cent in the Philippines to 25 per cent in East Germany; the Netherlands with 55 per cent are in 14th place, after Norway (nearly 60 per cent). Of those Dutch believers, only half have unquestioning faith in God, the other half sometimes has doubts. Anyway, the number of people who did not belong to a church was 57 per cent and it is expected that in 2020 no more than a quarter of the Dutch population will be church members, while only 10 per cent will be going to church regularly (at least once a fortnight) as compared to 16 per cent in 1991.

The report mentions five important developments which have contributed to the rapid secularization since 1960 when 18.3 per cent were registered as not belonging to a church. In the first place there was the emancipation of religious groupings such as the Roman Catholics. Secondly, the rise of television enabled people to get acquainted with various relgious and nonreligious views. Thirdly, the growth and the spreading of prosperity. Fourth, increase in education and finally the availability of the contraceptive pill.

Some other facts I found quite interesting were:

• until 1950 there was hardly any relationship between church membership and age. Since then young people were leaving the churches much quicker than older ones. In 1991, 72 per cent of the 17-30-year-olds had become secular, 59 per cent of the 31-50-year-olds and 41 per cent of the 51-70-year-olds.
• conversion of secular people hardly occurs, and those who have left the church hardly ever return to the church either.

- for a long time secularism was much higher in the three largest cities than in the rest of the country. Particularly over the last decade towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants have caught up in this respect. In rural areas, church allegiance has remained relatively high.

• Nearly half the Dutch population believe in a hereafter, 41 per cent believe in heaven. Belief in the devil and hell is only 20 and 15 per cent. Among Calvinist protestants 79 per cent believe in the devil.

Right after publication of the report the new president of the Dutch Humanist League, Paul Cliteur, was invited to take part in a television programme to discuss the findings with representatives of the churches. Among others he said he was happy that the report supported the humanist view that a democratic society can function very well without religious tenets. He did an excellent P.R. job for the Dutch humanists.

In Germany, where church attendance is decreasing rapidly as well, conservative christian politicians are on the contrary trying to strengthen the position of God, so to speak. By means of a recently proposed reference to God in the preamble of their new Constitution they are implying the superiority of religious beliefs over non-religious beliefs. The argument for the proposal is that the immorality of the Third Reich shows a need for the constitution to have a religious basis. As if Nazism is to blame on nonreligious people.

Of course, our German humanist friends are very worried about this campaign against the religious neutrality of their state, and the implied rejection of the large minority of the population who are not religious. They have already issued statements against the proposed reference to God, and so has IHEU (see pl).

In order to work more efficiently IHEU intends to establish international/European secretaries for particular issues and projects, which will be run by professionals of (special departments of) member organizations. The idea is that they may co-ordinate developments and maintain contacts with similar organizations in their field. So far we have received a lot of positive reactions from our members and the list of proposed secretariats looks as follows:

*Anti-racism Human Etisk Forbund, Norway

*Councelling in the Army Humanist Councelling in the Army, Netherlands

*Councelling/housing for the Aged Humanist Foundation for Housing the Aged, Netherlands

*Counselling in prisons Humanist Counselling in Prisons, Netherlands

*Development work Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries

(Hivos), Netherlands

*Education Humanist Ethical Education Organisation (HVO), Netherlands

*Eastern European Projects Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands

*Gays & lesbians Gay & lesbian Humanist Association, UK.

*Human rights Humanist committee on Human rights (HOM), Netherlands

*Media Humanist Broadcasting Foundation (HOS), Netherlands

*Sects Human Etisk Forbund, Norway

*Women’s network Humanistischer verband Deutschlands

The plans and proposals of these secretaries will be discussed in the IHEU -Board meeting in Toronto this summer.

In conclusion a festive note: One of our very active members in India, the Indian Secular Society, is celebrating its Silver Jubilee this year. As its chairman and very dedicated IHEU Board member, Abe Solomon, puts it modestly: "It would not be altogether wrong to say that the activities of the Society and its publications have made some impact in the social and cultural field in favour of more rational, liberal and tolerant outlook on life, and resisted to some extent the rise of religious obscurantism and fanaticism."

The ISS concentrates on promoting humanist ideas and values with publications, lectures and courses particularly for young people; in the past it has conducted campaigns for the Uniform Civil Code and the emancipation of women, particularly Muslim women who are most oppressed in India.

If the ISS is to continue its activities it badly needs a more solid financial basis than it has had so far. So if you would like to give the ISS a birthday present you can contribute to its Endowment Fund. (See p. 15 for the address of the Indian Secular Society)