Vrijzinnige Geloofsgemeenschap NPB
The Vrijzinnige Geloofsgemeenschap NPB (German: Free-minded Faith Community , sometimes also translated as Freethinker ) is a liberal - Protestant church in the Netherlands . She sees herself as a representative of a non-dogmatic free Christianity.
The liberals are, together with Christian and non-Christian Unitarians and universalists, members of the Unitarian-Universialist World Association (ICUU) . The Dutch Liberals have 4,381 members in 47 parishes.
history
The liberals emerged under the influence of humanism and the Enlightenment in the 19th century as a counter-movement to an orthodox Calvinist model of faith. The Nederlandse Protestanten Bond (NPB) (≈ Dutch Protestant Association) was founded in 1870 as a gathering point for liberal Protestants within the Reformed Church . Its founding was also a reaction to the founding of the more conservative Confessionele Vereniging (≈ denominational association) in 1864 . However, a dispute soon arose within the NPB as to whether the liberals should remain in the Reformed Church or build an independent church structure. While the NPB eventually developed into an independent church association, the free-minded people within the Reformed Church founded the Vereniging van Vrijzinnig Hervormden (VVH) (Association of Free-Minded Reformed) , today the Vereniging van Vrijzinnige Protestants (VVP) . The NPB finally renamed itself in 1991 to its current name Vrijzinnige Geloofsgemeenschap NPB .
The free minds of the NPB are today in many areas close to the Dutch remonstrants , the baptismal / Mennonites (Doopsgezinde) and of course the free minds within the Protestant Church (Vereniging van Vrijzinnige Protestants) . In terms of content, there are also points of contact with the free religious movement in 19th century Germany.
In 2013 the Liberals published a joint ecumenical hymn book (Liedboek - zingen en bidden in huis en kerk) together with other Protestant churches in the Netherlands ( Protestant Church , Remonstrants , Mennonites / baptismal people and others) .
The establishment of the public broadcasting company VPRO (Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep) in 1926 goes back to the Dutch liberals.