A friend of my who toured the Netherlands recently bemoaned the current state of godlessness found there despite its rich Christian past. So I am wondering what brought that on?

Can anyone explain or point to articles or analysis of what led to Holland spurning its Christian heritage? It might have just been the reasons for the rest of western Europe, but the Netherlands seem to have fallen further. It was just the beginning of the last century when they elected Abraham Kuyper as PM. He was an acclaimed calvinist theologian who emphasized the 'sphere sovereignty' in that God is ruling in all parts of a person's life. He must have faced bitter opposition, but was there any part of his teaching or civil ruling that may have precipitated the eventual downfall.

Maybe another element in this was the migration of so many dutch to North America. What were the reasons for that - Christian persecution or just economic with the loss of farm land?

Finally, since the Netherlands was seen as mostly calvinism in its Christianity, did the falling away affected Christianity in general in dismissing calvinism from mainstream christian teaching?

John Chaney

"having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith . . ." Colossians 2:7