Buiten kerk en moskee

Summary
Religion in a pluralistic society
A focus on diversity and change
Part 3: Beyond church and mosque
A closer examination of the ideological world of non-followers of (traditional) religions and
modern-day spirituals
This report is the third and concluding part of a series on religion and ideology, in which the
central focus is on alternative spirituality, meaningfulness and Dutch citizens who profess
not to follow a (traditional) religion. What is meaningfulness and how might we be able to
measure it? Who derives a lot of meaning from life, and who does not? How many modern-day
spirituals, atheists and agnostics are there in the Netherlands? How does this compare
with the size of these groups in other (European) countries? Are they clearly distinguishable
from each other, or are there also correspondences? What is their relationship to
religious groups in the Netherlands? And how do these modern-day spirituals and religious
‘nones’ stand on the great ideological questions, which do not only play a role in the lives
of those who follow (traditional) religions. These are the central research questions
addressed in this study, with extra attention for modern-day spirituals and religious
‘nones’ (i.e. self-identified atheists and agnostics), given that these two groups, after Muslims
and Christians in the first and second parts, respectively, of this trilogy of ideological
studies, are the main focus in this concluding part.
The Netherlands is secularising rapidly, including in a European perspective
Based on international research, the conclusion in chapter 2 of this report is that the Netherlands
has secularised extremely rapidly in recent years, including when compared with
other countries, and, together with the Scandinavian countries and the Czech Republic, is
now among the most secular countries in Europe. This sharp decline in traditional (Christian)
religious affiliation is offset only partially by a (small) increase in modern-day spirituality,
with current indications suggesting that this may be a temporary phenomenon that is
already in decline. ‘Beyond church and mosque’, then, there has been an especially sharp
rise in the number of agnostics and atheists in the Netherlands, especially in recent years.
Spiritual affiliation in the Netherlands is not especially high compared with other European
countries, with only around one in seven Dutch people believing in various aspects of
modern-day spirituality. That compares with two in five in the Czech Republic and Slovakia,
for example, although a relatively high proportion of Dutch people do (currently) still
describe themselves as unaffiliated (modern-day) spirituals. At first sight, the decline in
(traditional Christian) religion might seem to have made it more difficult for people in the
Netherlands and elsewhere to derive meaning from their lives. On the other hand, people
167 s u m m a r y