Post "post-Christianity" in Holland?

Jan 1, 2007
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The Weekly Standard carries an article about religion in Holland that is well worth the read. Conventional wisdom in Europe is that it is a "post-Christian" region where traditional religion has no future. while there are many signs to validate that hypothesis there seem to be other signs, notably in Holland, that religion is finding a new expression in the younger generation. Here are the opening lines of the article:
 

When the "corporate prayer" movement first started in 1996, few people in Holland took any notice. Why should they have done so? After all, Holland's manifest destiny was to become a fully secularized country, in which prayer was considered at best an irrational but harmless pastime. That was then. Cue forward to 2006, when prayer in the workplace is fast becoming a universally accepted phenomenon. More than 100 companies participate. Government ministries, universities, multinational companies like Philips, KLM, and ABN AMRO--all allow groups of employees to organize regular prayer meetings at their premises. Trade unions have even started lobbying the government for recognition of workers' right to prayer in the workplace. The idea that secularization is the irreversible wave of the future is still the conventional wisdom in intellectual circles here. They would be bemused, to say the least, at a Dutch relapse into religiosity. But as the authors of a recently published study called De Toekomst van God (The Future of God) point out, organized prayer in the workplace is just one among several pieces of evidence suggesting that Holland is on the threshold of a new era--one we might call the age of "post-secularization." In their book, Adjiedj Bakas, a professional trend-watcher, and Minne Buwalda, a journalist, argue that Holland is experiencing a fundamental shift in religious orientation: "Throughout Western Europe, and also in Holland, liberal Protestantism is in its death throes. It will be replaced by a new orthodoxy."


What I find interesting in the article is the religious ferment in Holland. Protestantism and Catholicism are going through major changes. Islam is also making a defining statement. People are seeking something to fill the empty promises of secularization and liberalism. Large segments of people are open to a message that gives meaning and definition to their life. I suspect this is taking place continent wide. 

Religion and faith define Europe, always have. In the coming months you will hear a great deal about the question, "What is Europe?" Any discussion on this matter that omits the deep historic fact that religion, and specifically the christian religion  defined by Rome, is central to the identity of Europe will go nowhere. Only when religion is factored into the discussion will the European project move off "dead center".

The Weekly Standard article is worth reading in its entirety.

Holland
The Future of God
Adjiedj Bakas
Minne Buwalda
Islam
News and Prophecy
World Regions
Europe

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Darris McNeely

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.