Buiten kerk en moskee

ack of its involvement in the social domain in particular(Mensink et al. 2013). Will it be
possible to find enough of the volunteers needed in the future? The government can influence
developments in voluntary activities in different ways. For example, there are various
central-government schemes and programmes via which it is trying to facilitate voluntary
activities. Under the Dutch Social Support Act (Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning, Wmo),
municipalities are required to put together plans setting out policy intentions designed to
support volunteers. At municipal level, measures to encourage individuals to do volunteer
work include facilitating the coordination of volunteer agencies. The extent to which the
government will actively commit itself to and steer volunteer work in the future will contribute
to the way in which any shortages as a result of changes in ideological groups can be
compensated in this respect.
At the same time – as is very clear from the two chapters about ‘meaningfulness’ (Chapters
4 and 5) in the publication before you – ‘doing something for others’ (giving rather
than taking) is experienced as uniquely ‘meaningful’. In other words: it might be possible
to fill the existential hole that might be created by secularisation in full or in part by doing
volunteer work in particular or through all kinds of other participation intended to contribute
to the well-being of society and others in general. As such, government measures to
encourage individuals to do volunteer work would ‘kill two birds with one stone’: the
decrease expected in the number of volunteers (due to secularisation) would be absorbed
and could also contribute to a sense of meaningfulness in individuals to whom religion no
longer matters.
8.4 In conclusion
Finally, the category of individuals who do not have a great affinity with either institutionalised
religion or alternative spirituality has been growing steadily for decades now. This is a
development that would seem to be accelerating rather than showing any signs of slowing
down, particularly since the beginning of this century and in comparison with other European
countries (Chapter 2). Added to this, the break with Christian faith is gradually consolidating,
and the distance felt to religion in the Netherlands is growing. Surveys show that,
in comparison with non-churchgoers more than 30 years ago, more of today’s non-churchgoers
have been raised without religion and categorise themselves more as outspoken
atheists and also, without qualification, as strong non-believers (De Hart and Van Houwelingen
2018). The chance is small that this group will ever find its way back to churches or
other religions. It is important for us not to suddenly start to label people who say that
they no longer have any connection with churches as ‘people searching for meaning’. The
question is whether they are ‘searching’ for something en masse. Whatever the case, the
interviews with atheists and agnostics in Chapter 5 show that many of these individuals are
happy with their situation and are not necessarily looking for meaningfulness, alternative
or otherwise. As one of them concisely put it, ‘My life has no point at all, but I still enjoy it.’
As the publication before you has shown, the absence of an overarching point to life (mean-
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