Dutch Protestants Merge & Offer Gay Weddings

by 365Gay.com from the Web, January 1, 2004

Amsterdam , Holland   Dec.30 -- The three largest Protestant denominations in the Netherlands have agreed to merge, putting aside their ideological differences and agreeing to perform same-sex weddings.

The Dutch Reformed Church, the Calvinist Reformist Church , and the small Lutheran Church will unite to form the Protestant Church of the Netherlands , together representing about 2.2 million churchgoers - or about 14 percent of the population.

The merger has the backing of Queen Beatrix.  The Dutch royal family is by tradition Dutch Reformed.

The synods of the three churches approved the merger by large majorities at three separate meetings.

Conservative members of the Dutch Reformed Church viewed the merger with "great apprehension," but decided that unifying the church was more important, chairman Arie van der Plas was quoted saying by the Dutch broadcaster NOS.

One of the concerns was gay marriage. Van der Plas put aside his worries when it was agreed no individual church would be forced to conduct the marriage ceremonies.  

Nevertheless, some conservative congregations remain unhappy with the decision.  A small ultraconservative group of churches is expected to break with the new church and be independent.

Although the new church won't officially exist until May 1, 2004 , many churches are already holding joint services.

Roman Catholicism remains the country's single largest religion, representing around 30 percent. Islam follow the Protestants as third largest, with 5 percent, and is the only religion that is still growing, because of high birth and immigration rates in the country's Turkish and Moroccan communities.

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