Enige aspecten van de ontwikkeling van de kerkelijke gezindte na 1960

Samenvatting

The 10 year census taken in the Netherlands includes information on religious affiliations. Between 1947 and 1960, there was a strong decline in the number of people affiliated with the Nederlandse hervormde kerk (Dutch reformed church) and an increase in the number of people giving no preference. A significantly greater number of people declare themselves as nonreligious in the census than do so when registering the birth of a child. However, the number of children who are registered without declaring a particular denomination has increased. This differs according to denomination of the parents, the Dutch reformed church again showing the greatest losses. A specific denomination is more often declared for children who are born of parents of the same denomination than for those coming from a 'mixed' marriage. By far the greatest % of children for whom no denomination is declared comes from families where both parents do not declare a specific denomination. Large families tend to occur more often with roman catholic and gereformeerde (reformed) parents, although the number of children has been decreasing measurably since 1960. The 1st census which included the category of no religious affiliation was in 1879, when 0.3% chose this option. No doubt in the 1971 census the number will be considerably higher. 13 tables. P. Tiersma.