Wednesday, September 03, 2008
De Bijbelgordel
Since I've been pointed out by a (the) reader that here in The Netherlands there is a so called Bible Belt, I made my homework and I tried to inquire about this.
So there is indeed a bible belt also here in The Netherparts (in dutch it's de bijbelgordel) and it's basically a strip of villages inhabited mainly by conservative Protestants.
The Belt can be identify by looking at those towns where the SGP (Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, Political Reformed Party) is getting most of its votes.
The SGP is an orthodox Protestant party whose ideology is pretty much based on the principles of the Christian Reformed Churches and the Reformed Congregations (known colloquially as zwarte-kousenkerken, “black stockings churches"): government based on the bible, against feminism and female suffrage, in favour of the re-introduction of the death penalty, and other nice ideas like these.
The origin of this Belt is not clear, but I think it's a mix of geographic isolation (those villages are located in reclaimed lands, polders, along the depressions at the outlets of the big rivers) and proximity to the border with the Catholic part of the Country.
After Flanders and Brabant were conquered by the Spaniards (Eighty Years' war) the Protestants inhabitants of those areas were forced to emigrate north of the border (the rivers) and there they reclaimed stronger and more orthodox positions from the Dutch Reformed Church in order to protect their beliefs.
This led to a schism in 1832 (nadere reformatie: further reformation) that created more conservative congregations along the border with the Catholic communities, such as those that now are followed in the Bible Belt.
Moreover I think they are still there nowadays because they feel themselves as a sort of contrast with the very liberal general politics of the Country (they are of course against gay rights, abortion, euthanasia, cannabis, &c).
What do they do?
They wear traditional clothes, they have large families and they emphasise traditional values (such as not working during holy-days). Most of them are also against "interfering with the design of God about health" so they don't vaccinate their children (this caused a few epidemics of polio and parotitis in the last decades, very localized in those areas) and they tend not to have any health insurances.
What do the city dwellers think about them?
Some of the people I asked just say "I don't really care, they're not annoying anybody" (meaning that there are other religious group that actually annoy?).
Some other instead look at them as some weird remainders from the past that are leaving out of the big cities, in the countryside (is this why Holland an The Netherlands are almost synonyms?).
What about me?
Well... I'm trying hard to convince Ele to have a instructive tour of De Bijbelgordel of course!!
I have already a couple of pa(l)pable destinations.
The only thing I have to keep in mind is not to go there on Sunday because I've been told the inhabitants don't like to see people driving in their villages during Sundays.
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7 comments:
beh sul non lavorar de sabato e domenica semo d'accordo... magari anche i altri giorni.
e comunque there are other religious group that actually annoy?
podessi far una lista.
mz
vai.
regola 1. niente nomi troppo generali tipo Protestanti, Mussulmani, Italiani.
anzi scusa, la prima regola era: non parlate mai della religione al di fuori della religione.
invece stanotte go sognà che qua sul blog (si, sogno el vostro blog.) parlavisi del problema delle fonti della bibbia, e de un ipotetica bibbia originaria (ur-bibbia ghe ciamavisi...)
e dopo aver concluso che questa bibbia originaria non se rivava a trovar, decidevimo de scriverla noi.
poi me son sveglià e purtroppo iera solo un sogno.
mz
Sappiamo benissimo tutti e due che non era un sogno.
Cmq Ur come la citta`? Figo.
Scritta in Sumero o in Bisiaco?
(tipo: "... e lo ciamavisi Moloch, e'l iera tantonononon cattiverioso.")
ur- sè un prefisso tedesco che vol dir primitivo, originario... ma nella mia mente ga sempre richiamà la città.
figa l'idea della bibbia in bisiacco comunque (e tutti: e l'ur-bibbia già dimenticada?)
mz
wikipedia me informa che esisti anche una Urreligion, pericolosamente simile a "urremengo"
mz
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