The young are the most Calvinistic: Trouw

Wednesday 29 April 2009

Dutch people in their 20s are more likely to have a Calvinistic approach to life than any other age group, according to research by Trouw.

Calvinism, named after the French religious reformer John Calvin, is associated with a sober, hardworking approach to life and stresses the rule of God in all things.

Young people are more conservative than older people, they are more orthodox in their approach to religion and voted for the Calvinist CDA party at the last election, researcher Joke van Saane of Amsterdam's VU university told the paper.

'It is back to basics. Young people feel the spirit of the times,' Van Saane said.

Since January 70,000 people have completed the Calvinism test put together by Van Saane and Trouw, to mark 400 years since Calvin's birth. The average score out of 100 was 56, but people in their 20s scored an average 65.

But many of the attributes associated with Calvinism no longer hold true in the Netherlands, she said. Dutch people are not anti-sex, they like nice clothes and good food. 'But borrowing money for luxuries is going too far,' she said.

And little remains of the Calvinist work ethic. 'I really noticed how many people said 'I already work hard. I am not working any harder',' she told Trouw.

© DutchNews.nl

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