The Christian Union is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more socially conservative positions on issues such as abortion and euthanasia. The party describes itself as "social Christian".
The Reformed Political Party is a conservative Calvinist political party in the Netherlands. The term Reformed is not a reference to political reform but is a synonym for Calvinism—a major branch of Protestantism. The SGP is the oldest political party in the Netherlands existing in its present form, and has been in opposition for its entire existence. Since 1925, it has won between 1.6% and 2.5% of the votes in general elections. Owing to its orthodox political ideals and its traditional role in the opposition, the party has been called a testimonial party. Since the general election of 2012, it has held 3 of the 150 seats of the House of Representatives.
Christian Union – Reformed Political Party is a parliamentary common list for the European Parliament formed by two Dutch orthodox Protestant parties: the Christian Union and the Reformed Political Party. Both parties are eurosceptic and morally conservative, and each has candidates on the common list. The CU and SGP also regularly co-operate in municipal elections, often gaining above-average results in municipalities which form part of the Dutch Bible Belt.
The Socialist Party is a democratic socialist political party in the Netherlands. Founded in 1971 as the Communist Party of the Netherlands/Marxist–Leninist, the party has since moderated itself from Marxism–Leninism and Maoism towards democratic socialism and social democracy. The SP has also been described as left-wing populist and soft Eurosceptic, and is an advocate of Dutch republicanism.
De Grootste Nederlander was a public poll held in 2004 by the broadcasting company KRO of the Publieke Omroep. The series has the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons TV format. During the series, it included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme.
The European Christian Political Movement (ECPM) is the only European political party explicitly working on promoting Christian values. The party unites national parties and individuals from across Europe who share policies influenced by Christianity, largely following the ideals of Christian democracy. The member parties are generally more socially conservative and Eurosceptic.
Capital punishment in the Netherlands was abolished in 1870 in criminal law after the States General recognized it was "cruel and uncivilized". The bill was introduced by liberal-catholic Minister of Justice Franciscus van Lilaar and debated in both the Senate and House of Representatives for seven days before approval. Following the abolition of the death penalty, life imprisonment was made an official punishment in 1878.
The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) (Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (vrijgemaakt)) are an orthodox Calvinist federation of churches. This church body arose in 1944 out of the so-called Liberation (Vrijmaking) from the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, when many pastors and members refused to go along with the General Synod's demand to hold to "presumed regeneration of infants" at their baptism. Klaas Schilder played an important role in the Liberation. There are currently 270 affiliated local congregations with a total of about 120,000 members in 2016.
Cornelis Gerrit "Kees" van der Staaij is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 1998 and Leader of the Reformed Political Party since 2010. As a parliamentarian, he focuses on matters of judiciary, home affairs, Kingdom relations, foreign policy, the European Union, development aid, the defense, public health, welfare, sports, immigration and political asylum. Since 2017 Van der Staaij has been the longest running current member of the House of Representatives.
Elbert Dijkgraaf is a Dutch economist and politician. He is professor at the Erasmus School of Economics where he holds the chair "Empirical economics of the public sector". He also is fellow of the Tinbergen Institute. As a member of the Reformed Political Party he was an MP from 17 June 2010 until 10 April 2018, when he stepped down for reasons of a familial nature. He focuses on matters of financial, economic and social affairs, infrastructure, natural environment, education and culture.
The Reformed Political League was an orthodox Protestant political party in the Netherlands. The GPV is one of the predecessors of the Christian Union. The party was a testimonial party.
The Leader of the Reformed Political Party is the most senior politician within the Reformed Political Party in the Netherlands. The post is currently held by Kees van der Staaij, who succeeded Bas van der Vlies in 2010.
The Theological University of Apeldoorn (TUA) is the Dutch theological university of the Christian Reformed Churches. More than 130 students study at the university in Apeldoorn. The theological course lasts six years. The student is in the bachelor's program for the first three years. This has a more orientating character, and includes the languages Classic Greek and Koine Greek, Latin and Biblical Hebrew. In the three-year master's program that follows, further studies and specialization are discussed. The training is specifically aimed at educating pastors. Furthermore, one tries to keep together the reformed character of the faith and the church and the scientific level of the university. The syllabus consists of subjects such as ethics, apologetics, Old and New Testament, canonical studies, dogmatics, church history, church law and civil subjects.
Willem Banning was a Dutch theologian, philosopher, sociologist and politician, who played an important role in Dutch 20th-century politics.
The Turffontein Reformed Church was a congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK) in southern Johannesburg, Transvaal. It was founded in 1906 and for years had a large membership, at times exceeding 3,000.
Jan van der Graaf was a Dutch church administrator and engineer. He was General Secretary of the Reformed Association in the Dutch Reformed Church between 1973 and 2000. Van der Graaf also wrote several books, was chief editor of the Reformed Association's magazine De Waarheidsvriend and associated with the Evangelische Omroep.
