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Drs Jet Wiegand-Timmer wrote this contribution as a post on Thinknet after the resignation of the second recent ChristianDemocrat-led coalition government in the Netherlands. Her account mentions her own involvement in Dutch politics, and gives us a point of view upon a fermentive political process among Christians there. Outside of her political and social activities, Wiegand-Timmer serves as Director of the Center of the Association for Reformational Philosopy now headquartered in Soest, the Netherlands. The Association maintains a Dutch and English website Stichting voor Reformatorische Wijsbegeerte (SRW). The remarks below are republished digitally with the permission of the author. -- refWrite
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Some years ago I wrote that I was glad with the new Christian-democratic members of our government. Quite a few people who sympathize with our Reformational thinking became members of this government.
I have to admit that after a few years I became disappointed in their actions. They looked more like neo-liberals than Christian democrats. Especially the Christian-social (Kuyperian) tradition seemed to have disappeared from their minds. I organized a group of influential Christian-social people, with whom we wrote a critical letter to our Christian democratic party, the CDA [English > Christian Democratic Appeal]. We had a long and sometimes hard discussion about the meaning of sphere sovereignty. Some people think this means that the primary responsibility lies with the individual and the state should not take over too soon. I think that there is a specific Christian way in which neither the individual is thrown back upon oneself nor the state has to take over. I think that communities provide an in-between function, helping weak individuals but keeping the state at a distance. These communities can integrate religious values into their policy, where the state often can not.
Since that letter things have improved a bit. I know that the selection committee in the CDA is specifically looking for Christian social people for the list for the next elections. These elections were planned for May 2007. There are other political parties in the Netherlands that are based on the Bible like the ChristenUnie (CU) and the Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP). The problem with the SGP is that their first principle is to establish theocracy. They take part in democracy but are not really acknowledging this. They also don't want women to take an active part in public life. So that rules me out. The CU is the party of Egbert Schuurman [the well-known philosopher of technology]. Their roots are very Kuyperian. They have strong principles. Although their leader is highly respected; they are very small and little heard.
But yes, our government has fallen. We do have a complicated system of coalition governments. One of the parties, [Democraten1966] D66, a neo-liberal party, has stepped out. I am not sad with them stepping out, since they became more and more haters of religion in public life. But I am sad that the reason for the
fall of the government is so absurd. You have perhaps heard about the Ayaan Hirsi Ali affair. One of the ministers (Verdonk) made mistakes in that case. She admitted that and corrected it, just as our parliament had asked, but also blamed Hirsi Ali for causing it and made her sign a letter admitting that. Then D66 wanted this Verdonk to resign, even though a majority of the parliament didn't want that. Even Hirsi Ali didn't want the government to fall over this. But in the end the government had no choice left but to let go of the D66 ministers and leave it up to the Queen and her advisers whether the government should continue as a "demisionair" government (that is, is governing without the permission to make important decisions) or as a core-government (that has the permission to make important decisions).
I hope my explanation and my analysis makes sense to you. It is all very complicated. I hope to learn more in the next days from my political friends.
Now, about the remarks of Egbert Schuurman. I agree to some point with him. More and more the evangelical way of thinking takes over in our Christian communities. This implies that they see their Christian faith only as a personal relationship with God/Christ. The important task of a Christian is to evangelize. But they forget God's command in taking care of his creation. They neglect their task in structures of public life. They don't bother about problems of society, only about the souls of individuals. But on the other hand, I think that Schuurman's definition of who are Christians may be too narrow. There are people who call themselves Christians, but are neither evangelicals nor traditional Christians. These Christians don't want to talk about theological issues, but want to show their faith in their actions. The
gap between these two groups of Christians is huge. With Egbert Schuurman, I would like to encourage Christians more to take action in public life but at the same time I would like that Christians in public life would show more of their Christian faith.
So far my contribution. Since I am very much involved in Dutch politics I would appreciate some comments from you as distant spectators.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
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