[debok]

You mention in the article:

> Which undoubtedly well meaning civil servant long before World War II came up with the brilliant idea of registering religious affiliation during the census is lost in the mists of time.

I guess this happened because The Netherlands used to be a very religious nation?

I mean, in 1901 they got Abraham Kuyper[0] as a prime minister. Abraham Kuyper was a Christian minister, and is well-known among Reformed Christian circles as a very impactful theologian.

It is very understandable that a nation like that would want to list religion as part of their census data.

0: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Kuyper>

[sofixa]

They used to be so religious that it incited a revolt in the southern parts of the country that were of a different religious branch. That's how Belgium came to be, with the only unifying trait for the new country being their shared religion, Catholics, regardless of the many other differences (French-speaking Walloons with many merchants and tradespeople, and Dutch-speaking Flemish that were mostly farmers, and mostly oppressed by the French-speaking ruling classes).

[jacquesm]

> I guess this happened because The Netherlands used to be a very religious nation?

Yes.