Plural religious beliefs:
A Comparison between the
Dutch and white South Africans
H J C Pieterse - University of South Africa
P L H Scheepers - University of Nijmegen
J A van der Ven - University of Nijmegen
Abstract
T h e co n cep t o f religious beliefs is d istilled from the
perspective of one’s belief in G od. W ith regard to this
b e lie f in G od we p ropose to distinguish b etw een two
dim ensions: The personal versus the a-personal charac­
te r of G od and his tran scen d en t versus his im m anent
nature. This leaves us with a plurality of beliefs in G od.
D oes this plurality o f beliefs exist in the minds of people
in the N etherlands and in South Africa? T ogether with
this we explore the relationship betw een church involve­
m ent and plural religious beliefs in both countries. We
have found a sharp contrast betw een the D utch and a
sam ple of church-going white South A fricans regarding
secularization and church involvem ent. N evertheless,
we have found a highly sim ilar stru c tu re o f religious
beliefs am ong both people.
1. INTRODUCTION
A com p arativ e study on m ultiple religious beliefs betw een the D utch and white
South A fricans ha.s to cope with some objections. First, the geographical distance
betw een the two populations is enorm ous. Second, the N etherlands are considered
to belong to the most secular countries of the world, w hereas South A frica is very
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religious. But there are very strong historical bonds betw een both countries as well
as a com m on language. A comm on core of cuhure p erm eates the counsciousness of
b oth peoples. A very strong religious connectedness p en etrates the hearts of most
c h u rch m em b ers in b o th c o u n trie s. T he exchange b e tw een D u tch an d SouthA frican th eo lo g ian s is rem a rk a b le . D utch theological p u b licatio n s have always
played and a re still playing an im p o rta n t role on the theological scene in South
Africa. T hrough the ecclesiastical m ediation of preaching, worship and catechetics,
one may assum e that D utch theological thinking influences the religious beliefs of
white South Africans in an em inent way.
In the first p art o f this article, we analyse the concept of religious beliefs from
th at of the b elief in G od. In the second, we will form ulate o ur research questions.
In the third, we will determ in e the sam ples and m easurem ents. In the fourth, we
will p re s e n t th e analysis and resu lts and in th e fifth o u r co nclusions and in te r­
pretations.
2. R E L IG IO U S B E U E F S ; B E U E F IN G O D
Analysing the concept of religious beliefs, as distinct from a belief in G od, we do not
start from a functional, but from a substantive definition o f religion. In the form er,
any goal or value that functions as an ultim ate concern in o n e ’s life is considered to
be religious. In the latter, only relatin g o n eself to a tran scen d en t reality, th at is
G od, is considered to be the core of any true religion (K aufm ann 1979). W ithin this
substantive b elief in G od, we propose to distinguish betw een two dim ensions: The
personal versus the a-perso n al c h a ra c ter of G od and his tran scen d en t versus his
im m anent nature.
2.1 Personal versus a-personal
T he m ainstream of theology today stresses the personal ch aracter of G od. Because
the hum an being as a person exceeds all creatures, no b etter m etaphor can be found
to indicate the direction in which G o d ’s being can be adequately approxim ated. In
o rd er not to be m isunderstood, G od is not regarded as a person next to other p er­
sons, as if He were singular but, instead, in an absolute way, as person, w ithout arti­
cle (cf Tillich 1966).
A t th e sam e tim e, som e o bjections have been raised against a ttrib u tin g the
m etaphor ‘person’ to G od. From the perspective of political theology some suggest
that this m etaphor connotes G od as being an absolute m onarch. Instead, som e pro­
pose the symbol of the kingdom o f G od should be replaced by that of G o d ’s federal
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republic in order to stress the image o f G od as liberating his people and prom oting
th eir ju stice and reco n ciliatio n (E v e re tt 1989). F rom the view point o f fem inisttheology, some suggest that the ‘person’ m etaphor has the connotation o f G od as an
absolute patriarch. Instead, they are in favour of replacing this m etaphor by th at of
G od as m other, friend and lover (M cFague 1990).
M ore radical proposals have been form u lated and are still being form ulated.
The proponents wish to give up any personal or hum an m etaphor and replace it with
a-personal symbols, like depth, ground, grounding, source, origin, pow er, strength,
inspiration, fulfilment, et cetera. A serious question here is w hether an Í-Y o u ’ rela­
tionship betw een man and G od is any longer possible, o r at least thinkable. And
also, w hether praying is m eaningful. W ithout that a long history of religious, espe­
cially ritual, practice would be abandoned.
The motives for replacing personal with a-personal m etaphors stem from the socalled m odernization process, which is ch aracterised by m an’s striving for a rela­
tionship betw een him and his environm ent, in term s o f his developing rationality
(W eber 1920; H aberm as 1982). During this process a growing conviction regarding
the autonom y of the hum an subject is emerging. At the same time, a consciousness
of the desubjectivation of the surrounding cosmos is growing (Dux 1982). These two
proces.ses have led to a decreasing plausibility o f the b elief in G od as person(al).
Some theologians think that the personal and the a-personal m etaphors have to
be considered not as real alternatives or poles of a dilem m a, but as m utually co r­
rective and com plem entary (Schoonenberg 1986; Van der Ven 1991). But the real
question is w hether this type of scholarly dialectical and synthetical thinking really
corresponds to what ordinary people think.
2.2 Tran.scendent versus immanent
In traditional theological thinking, the relationship betw een m an and G od is assu­
med to be asym m etric. G od is thought o f as sovereignly w eighing up m an ’s good
and bad actions and one-sidedly determ ining m an’s destiny. In oth er words, G od is
regarded as a being of absolute transcendence.
In reaction, m odern theologians strive to present an image of G od in which the
divine attribute of absolute transcendence is replaced by that o f im m anent transcen­
dence. F or them , G od is not apathetic; he does not find him self outside o r above
m an’s life and action.s, unaffected by their good and bad days. Instead, he is in their
midst. His very n ature is to be characterised in term s o f im m anence. By that, they
m ean G od is presen t near m an, deeply engaging him self in m an’s societal history
and his individual biography. But, in this im m anence, G od is transcendent. By that.
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these theologians refer to G od being sym pathetic and com passionate to all hum an
beings in all th eir concreteness at all places in all times. H e is involved in all their
co ncrete lives, con crete ad v en tu res and fate in a way th at can n o t be achieved by
o rd inary hum an beings. In th a t im m anence, H e is tra n sc e n d e n t (S chillebeeckx
1989; H artshorne 1989).
Some theologians even go a step further. They think that G o d ’s transcendence
has to be replaced radically by his im m anence. F or them , G od is exhaustively the
inspiring force striving for justice and love to be actively present am ong men. They
only m eet G od in m an’s actions that aim at liberation from alien atio n and oppres­
sion. G od is th ere and now here else. T h at is to say, G od is n either absolutely nor
im m anently transcendent. Instead, H e is absolutely im m anent. For them , praying
consists only o f reflecting, contem plating, m ed itatin g and co n cen tratin g on o n e’s
own m oral and m ental processes (cf Van Buuren 1963).’
W e intend to conceptualize all these viewpoints on religious beliefs, which one
implicitly or explicitly present in the theological debate. W e start from both dim en­
sions introduced previously: personal versus a-personal, and im m anently tran scen ­
d en t versus absolutely tran scen d en t. From these, the co n cep tu alizatio n leads to
four analytically distinguishable perspectives on ‘belief in G o d ’.
B elief
personal
in
theism
(1)
immanently
transcendent
absolutely
transcendent
theism
(3)
panentheism
God
a-personal
theism
(2)
a-personal
theism
(4)
pantheism
T he term ‘p an en th e ism ’ used in the diagram above o rig in ates from scholars like
H artshorne (1948), Tillich (1966), and Schoonenberg (1986).
3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
A fter having distilled four analytically distin g u ish ab le p ersp ectiv es on ‘b e lie f in
G o d ’, a first set of questions refers to this plurality of beliefs: D oes this plurality of
beliefs in G od exist in the minds of people in the N etherlands and whites in South
A frica? A nd if these plural religious beliefs do exist for both, to w hat extent are
they com parable? A re there differences and to what extent do they differ?
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Next to this general comparison, a second set of questions refers to the differen­
ces betw een m em bers of denom inations in each of both countries. A re some beliefs
in G od m ore typical for one denom ination, and others m ore typical for o th er deno­
m inations? We will explore these questions as well.
A third set of questions refers to the relationship betw een a plurality of religious
beliefs and the extent to which people are involved in church affairs. Som e theolo­
gians declare that religious beliefs can often be found am ong people who are not in­
volved in the institutionalized church. In this respect, they som etim es refer to the
C onstitution on the Church by V atican II, w here church m em bership was defined in
term s of ‘having the Spirit’ {Lum en Gentium 14). The institutional church does not
exhaust this ‘having the Spirit’. Therefore, it also exists outside the church (R ahner
1976). O th er theologians w eaken the connection betw een religiosity and church in­
vo lv em en t from th e o p p o site side, by p o in tin g at th e p h en o m e n o n of ecclesia!
atheism . T his refers to th e n u m b er o f church m em b ers, w ho do not (seem to)
believe anything (Z u leh n e r 1988). A m ong social scientists there is also a dispute
regarding this relationship. Some authors propose that religious beliefs can develop
strongly outside of the institutionalized church because contem porary religiosity is
free, personal, spiritual, on the move and o pen (T hung et al 1985). O th ers have
found that, with a decline in church involvement, religious beliefs seem to disappear
(Felling et al 1986). W hoever is right is not for us to decide. W e will explore the
relationship betw een church involvement and a plurality of religious beliefs in both
countries.
4. SAMPLFiS A N D M EA SU R EM EN TS
4.1 SAM PLI-S
In the N etherlands, a two-stage random sam ple o f the D utch p o p ulation was con­
structed w ithin the fram ew ork o f a research p roject ‘Social and cultural develop­
m ents in the N etherlands 1985’. In the first stage, a num ber of m unicipalities were
selected in such a way that the distribution of region (N orth, Ea.st, South and W est)
and the degree of urbanization (from sm all vilages to big cities) would be rep resen ­
ted proportionately to the national distribution. In the second stage, people aged
from 18 to 69 w ere random ly chosen from the registers of the m unicipalities selec­
ted. A bout 56 percent (N = 3003) of the respondents approached w ere willing to be
interview ed for one and a half hours, during the w inter of 1985-1986. This sample
turned out to be represen tativ e of the whole D utch population regarding sex, age
and m arital status as well as the com bination of these characteristics (see Felling et
al 1987).
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In South A frica there w ere no m eans available to construct a strictly com para­
ble national sam ple. U n d er these conditions and taking account of o ur m ain re ­
search q u estion s, we decided to ap p ro ach a n u m b er of churches in the P reto ria
region requesting them to co-operate in the research. Some churches refused, but
o th e r churches resp o n d ed positively: T he D utch R efo rm ed C hurch (D R C ), the
M eth o d ist C hurch in South A frica (M C ), th e P resb y terian C hurch in S ou th ern
A frica (PC ), and the R om an C atholic C hurch (R C ). T hese churches had registers
containing the addresses o f th eir white m em bers in th eir com m unities, but not for
their black m em bers. O ut of these registers, addresses w ere random ly but systema­
tically selected: 1 out o f 3 addresses for the MC, the PC and the RC, and 1 out of 2
addresses for the D RC. A t the first address, the man was asked to fill in the ques­
tionnaire, at the second address the woman and at the third address a boy or a girl
o ld er than 16 was asked to co-operate. E ventually 262 out of 954 people a p p ro a­
ched w ere willing to co-operate during the sum m er o f 1989, which am ounted to 27
per cent. T hen we rem oved the blacks from the sam ple and ended up with 220 valid
questionnaires. U nfortunately we do not have adequate census data to com pare our
sam ple w ith. We have to em phasize, though th a t this sam ple consists o f highly
educated respondents who live in the eastern suburbs of P retoria which is consider­
ed to be a middle and higher class residential area. T herefore our sam ple cannot be
regarded as representative of the whole P retoria area.
4.2 M easurem ents
C oncerning religious beliefs, a com prehensive conceptualization had been develo­
ped at an early stage of the research on social and cultural developm ents (Felling et
al 1982; 1986). This conceptualization was criticized and then refined by Van der
V en (1990), w hose conceptual schem e was in troduced above. In conform ity with
this schem e, a num ber of items w ere selected, considered to be the most valid indi­
cators of the p articular stances in this schem e, based on previous principal-factoranalysis on the D utch d ata (cf Felling et al 1986:53). These item s w ere translated
from D utch into English so th at the English items w ere considered to be contextual
equivalents of the original D utch ones in the cultural environm ent of South African
church m em bers. E ventually, we inserted into the q u estio n n aire two item s indi­
cating personalistic theism (in appendix 1 referred to as PT-items), three item s indi­
cating a-personalistic theism (in appendix 1 referred to as A T-item s), and two items
indicating pantheism (in appendix 1 referred to as P-items). A com bination of items
referring to personalistic theism on the one hand and pantheism on the other hand
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H J C Pietene, P L H Scheepers A J A van der Ven
would indicate panentheism . U nfortunately, we did not insert item s in the question­
naire that exclusively and explicitly referred to panentheism .
In o rd er to assess church m em bership, the respondents of both sam ples were
first asked w hether they considered them selves to be m em bers of a religious com ­
m unity, and th en , if a p p ro p ria te, o f w hich church they co n sid ered them selves a
m em ber. This two-step question-form at tends to restrict the num ber of people who
declare them selves to be church mem bers, contrary to a so-called one-step questionform at w here one directly asks of which church the respondent considers him self to
be a m em ber (Eisinga et al 1990). In South Africa we found, according to our sam p­
ling design, m em b ers o f th e churches m en tio n ed above. In th e N eth erlan d s we
found m em bers of th e N e th erlan d s R efo rm ed C hurch (N e d e rla n d s H erv o rm d e
K erk), the R eform ed C hurches in the N etherlands (G erefo rm eerd e K erken in N e­
derland) and the R om an Catholic Church, as well as non-m em bers.
T he assessm en t of church involvem ent was based on a nu m b er o f relatively
straightforw ard questions, aim ed to ascertain the degree to which people w ere/a re
actively engaged in church m atters. In previous research, the two general categories
of church involvement and non-involvem ent had been refined (cf Felling et al 1982,
1987).
W ithin the category of church non-involvem ent, three types were distinguished:
second-generation unchurched, that is people whose parents had not been m em bers
nor had they them selves ever been m em bers, first-generation unchurched, whose
parents had been m em bers, but they them selves had not been, and form er church
m em bers, w ho had given up their m em bership recently. Tliese refinem ents ap p ea­
red to be useful in the N etherlands but not in South Africa, w here a negligible num ­
b er of non-m em bers was found in the registers of the churches. F o r the N eth e r­
lands, we re-collapsed these three types into one category of non-involvem ent. And
w ithin the category of church involvem ent, th re e types w ere also d istinguished:
m arginal m em bers, who considered them selves m em b ers b u t who m erely a tte n d
church activities once or twice a year; modal m em bers, w ho atten d ed church activi­
ties regularly, that is at least once a m onth and core m em bers who atten d ed church
activities regularly as well as being active in church comm unity organizations.
Let us first describe the relationship betw een the denom inations and the degree
of church involvem ent in both sam ples. The results are contained in T ables la and
lb.
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Plural rcligioas beliefs
Table la
Church membership and church involvement in the Netherlands
(N=2784)
MarNonginal
Modal
Core
member member member member
Non-members:
100,0
D enom inations:
Ro ma n C a t h o l i c C h u r c h
N eth. Reformed Church
Reformed Church in t h e
N etherlands
Column %
including
Column %
excluding
Table lb
non-members
49,6
non-members
-
-
-
Row
%
49,6
40,7
43,7
44,1
32,4
15,3
23,9
30,6
11,0
9,1
46,7
44,2
8,7
18,1
21,1
11,2
100,0
35,9
41,9
22,2
100,0
Church membership and church involvement in the South African sample
(N= 128)
Mar­
Core
ginal
Modal
Non­
member member member member
Non-members;
D enom inations:
Roman C a t h o l i c C h u r c h
M e th o d is t Church
P r e s b y t e r i a n Church
Dutch Reformed Church
Column %
-
-
-
-
Row
%
-
-
14,3
42,9
15,4
71,4
33,3
28,6
44,6
28, 6
52,4
28,6
40,0
21,9
16,4
10,9
50,8
-
14,8
46,9
38, 3
100,0
-
-
T he differences in the colum n at the right o f T ables la and lb m erely reflect the
denom inational com position of both samples. But the most striking differences oc­
cur betw een the marginal frequencies o f church involvement of both sam ples, at the
bottom of both tables. First, one can ascertain that in the N etherlands about 50 per
c en t o f th e p eo p le co n sid ered them selves n on-m em bers. A lthough we have no
strictly co m p arab le d a ta on S outh-A frica, we know from o th er sources th at ‘u n ­
churched ’ people are negligible h ere (B arret 1982). Second, within the category of
church-going people we even find m ore striking differences b etw een the N eth e r­
lands and the South A frican sam ple. It ap p e a rs th at, of the p eo p le who regard
them selves as church m em bers in the N etherlands, 35,9 p er cent show a marginal
involvem ent with church affairs - that is, they atten d church services only once or
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H J C Pieterse, P L H Scheepen A J A v a n d e r Ven
tw ice a year. A m ong R om an C atholics we found relatively many such m arginal
m em bers as we did am ong m em bers of the N etherlands R eform ed Church. In con­
trast, the percentage of marginal m em bers in our South A frican sam ple am ounts to
a m ere 14,8 per cent. The contrast with the D utch sam ple is even greater when one
notices th a t th ere are no m arginal R om an C atholics in the South A frican sam ple.
Next, we find that 41,9 per cent of Dutch church m em bers can be considered modal
m em bers, that is they attend church services at least once a m onth, which percen ­
tage am ounts to 46,9 in our South African sample. Even m ore striking is the catego­
ry of core m em bers - th at is, the people who atten d church services regularly and
who are active in church community associations. In the N etherlands, 22,2 p er cent
of the church m em bers can be considered core m em bers, am ong which we found re­
latively many m em bers of the R eform ed Churches in the N etherlands. In the South
A frican sam ple 38,3 p er cent are closely involved in the church community, am ong
w hich we found many M ethodists and few er C atholics and Presbyterians, relatively
speaking.
5. ANA1.YSIS A N D R ESU LTS
5.1 C om parability o f religious beliefs?
Taking account of the description of both samples, we can distinghuish several rela­
tively hom ogeneous sub-sam ples that could be relatively h etero g en eo u s regarding
their religious beliefs, based on the criterion of church involvement in each country.
But the result would have been difficult to survey. So, in o rd er to assess the com ­
parability o f the stru ctu re o f religious beliefs critically but still be able to survey
them , we conducted exploratory principal-factor analysis on all religious belief-item s
sim u ltan eo u sly , se p a ra te ly in th re e c ateg o ries: ch u rch -g o in g an d ‘u n c h u rc h e d ’
Dutch, and church-going South Africans, using conventional extraction criteria (Kim
& M ueller 1978, 1984). The results are reported in Appendix 1.2
T he stru ctu res of religious beliefs am ong the th re e groups m en tio n ed above
show a high deg ree of resem blance. L et us begin with w hite church-going South
A frican people. We find a clear, sim ple stru ctu re am ong these people with three
distinct em pirical dim ensions. T he first dim ension contains beliefs referring to apersonalistic theism . The second dim ension contains beliefs referring to pantheism .
A nd the third dim ension contains beliefs referring to personalistic theism. The as­
sociation betw een a-personalistic theistic beliefs versus personalistic theistic beliefs
is high and positive (Pearson r: ,45, p = ,00), w hereas these dim ensions are insignifi­
cantly and negatively co rrelated with the pan th eistic beliefs. T he com bination of
personalistic theism and pantheism does not ap p e ar from the analysis. H ence, we
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Plural religious beliefs
have no indications o f the existence of panen th eism in th e minds of w hite South
African church-going people.
A m ong D utch church-going people this structure is even m ore simple. W e find
only two dim ensions. O ne contains b o th personalistic and a-personalistic theistic
beliefs. T he o th er dim ension contains the pantheistic beliefs. T h e correlation b e­
tw een b o th d im ension s is m o d e ra te and negative (P earso n r = -,25, p = ,00). As
am ong the South A fricans, we have no indications th at p anentheism exists am ong
the D utch church-going people.
T he belief-structure of D utch unchurched people is highly similar: T here is also
one dim ension containing both personalistic and a-personalistic theistic beliefs, and
a n o th e r distin ct d im ension contain in g p an th eistic beliefs. But am ong th ese u n ­
churched peo ple, the correlatio n betw een both dim ensions is m oderately positive
(Pearson r = ,17, p = ,00).
R eview ing th ese resu lts, we found m ore sim ilarities th an d ifferen ces. The
belief-structure of both the church-going and unchurched D utch is simple and clear.
O ne dim ension may be sum m arized as containing theistic beliefs and a n o th e r as
containing pantheistic beliefs. H ence, both the church-going and unchurched Dutch
do not distinguish betw een personalistic and a-personalistic theism . This is the one
and only differen ce with the w hite church-going S o u th-A fricans. A m ong these
people we did find this distinction. So, in term s of plurality, we could state that the
plurality of beliefs is higher in South Africa because of this distinction. But we con­
sider this difference m inor, because the correlation within this subsam ple betw een
these dim ensions is so high. H ence, we consider it, for the sake of com parison, justi­
fiable to distinguish two b elief-dim ensions for each of o u r sub-populations: one
theistic view and one pantheistic view.
5.2 Different levels of religious belief?
Next, we com puted sum m ed L ikert scores for both dim ensions and for all respon­
dents with valid scores on all items. The scale for the theistic view ranges from 5 to
25, and the scale for the pantheistic view ranges from 2 to 10. By m eans o f one-way
analysis of variance, we discovered th at w hite church-going South A frican people
had significantly higher scores on the theistic beliefs (23,3 versus 16,2, F-ratio = 209,
p = ,00), w hereas the D utch had significantly higher scores on pantheistic beliefs (5,8
versus 5,1, F -ratio= 15 , p = ,00). This result conform ed with o ur expectations. But
w hat we thought of as a m ore interesting issue was the m atter of how these beliefs
varied across both denom inations and across levels of church involvem ent in both
sam ples. T hat is why we executed two-way analysis of variance for both samples.
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J A van der Ven
I x t us turn now to the results of this analysis with the denom inations and church
involvement as independents, and the beliefs m entioned above as dependents, sepa­
rately for the D utch and the white church-going South A frican people. Let us start
with the theistic views.
Table 2a
Theistic beliefs related to church membership and church involvement
Dutch sam ple
Mar­
Modal
Core
Me a n
Nonginal
member member member member
Non-members:
Denom inations
Ro m a n C a t h o l i c C h u r c h
N eth. Reformed Church
Reformed Church in th e
N etherlands
Me a n
D enom ination:
Church involvem ent:
Two-way i n t e r a c t i o n :
Table 2b
_
_
_
12,9
16,8
17,0
19,6
21,0
21,0
21,3
18,7
19,3
19,7
16,9
21,4
20,2
21,8
21,4
21,5
16,2
12,9
-
-
12,9
F- r a t i o = 6 , 5 ,
F- r a t i o = 5 8 , 8 ,
F - • r a t i o = l ,, 6 ,
p< ,05
p< ,05
n .£
Theistic beliefs related to church membership and church involvement
South A frica n
sam ple
Mar­
Nonginal
Modal
Core
Me a n
member member member member
Non-members:
D enom inations
Ro m a n C a t h o l i c C h u r c h
M e th o d is t Church
P r e s b y t e r i a n Church
Dutch Reformed Church
(Ned G e r e f )
Me a n
D enom ination:
Church involvem ent:
Two-way i n t e r a c t i o n :
_
-
-
-
-
_
_
17,0
22,5
23,4
21,2
25,0
24,0
23,5
24,7
23,5
21,7
23,7
23,5
22,2
23,7
23,3
23,5
23,6
23,6
23,3
_
F- - r a t i o = 3 , 8 ,
F- ■ r a t i o = 3 , 6 ,
F- - r a t i o = 3 , 0 ,
_
p< ,05
p< ,05
p< ,05
It ap p ears th at th ere are significant differences regarding theistic views betw een
non-m em bers and m em bers of D utch d enom inations. D ifferences in the N eth er­
lands can be simply described as following the religious-orthodoxy continuum : The
unchurched subscribe the least to theistic beliefs, followed by the R om an Catholics,
ISSN 0259 9422 = HTS 4 9 /1 A 2 (1993)
199
Plural religious bclicts
th en m em bers of the N etherlands R eform ed C hurch and the strongest theistic b e­
liefs are found am ong m em bers o f the R eform ed C hurches in the N etherlands. In
o u r South A frican sam ple it ap p ears th at only m em bers of the M ethodist church
subscribe less to theistic views than m em bers of the o th er denom inations who hold
fairly hom ogeneous views. And, both in the N etherlands and in South Africa, it ap ­
pears, simply, th a t the m ore one is involved in church m atter, the stro n g er o n e ’s
theistic beliefs are.^ In term s of plurality, we w ould conclude th at th e re is less
agreem ent am ong D utch than am ong the people in our South A frican sam ple who
hold fairly hom ogeneous views. Now, let us proceed with the pantheistic beliefs.
Table 3a
Pantheistic beliefs related to church membership and church involvement
Dutch sam ple
Mar­
Nonginal
Modal
Core
Mean
member member member member
Non-members:
D enom inations
Roman C a t h o l i c C h u r c h
N eth. Reformed Church
Reformed Church in th e
N etherlands
Mean
D enom ination:
Church in v o lv e m en t:
Two-way i n t e r a c t i o n :
Table 3b
5,8
5,8
6,4
6,0
6,3
5,3
5,9
4,7
6,3
5,5
4,6
6,3
4,4
5,8
4,2
5,0
4,3
5,8
F-ratio= 42 ,1,
F -ratio = 7 ,3 ,
F -ratio = l,8 ,
p< ,05
p< ,05
n.s
Pantheistic beliefs related to church membership and church involvement
South A frica n
sam ple
Mar­
Nonginal
Modal
Core
Me a n
member member member member
Non-members:
D enom inations
Roman C a t h o l i c C h u r c h
M e th o d is t Church
P r e s b y t e r i a n Church
Dutch Reformed Church
(Ned G e r e f )
Mean
D enom ination:
Church involvem ent:
Two-way i n t e r a c t i o n :
200
_
5,8
_
_
-
_
-
-
-
,
5,7
4,2
3,9
7,5
6,7
5,5
5,3
4,0
4,3
6,1
4,8
4,2
4,5
5,8
5,4
5,0
5,1
5,3
5,1
F- - r a t i o = 2 1 3 ,
F- ■ r a t i o = l , , 5 ,
F- ■ r a t i o = l , , 2 ,
n.s .
n.s.
n.s.
UTS 49/1 & 2 (1993)
H J C P ietm e, P L HScheepen A J A van derVen
In the N etherlands th ere ap p ear to be m ajor differences betw een both d en o m in a­
tions and church involvem ent. First, it ap p ears th a t the D utch R o m an C atholics
hold fairly strong pantheistic beliefs, stronger than those of non-m em bers. Second,
it appears that these pantheistic views are much less p opular am ong m em bers o f the
N eth erlan d s R efo rm ed C hurch and the R efo rm ed C h u rch es in the N eth erlan d s.
T hese people tend to cling m ore to theistic beliefs, as we have shown in T able 2a.
T h ird , we ascerta in a fairly sim ple relatio n sh ip b e tw een p a n th e istic beliefs and
church involvem ent: T he less one is involved in church affairs, the m ore one sub­
scribes to p an th e istic views. H ence, it a p p e a rs th a t th e p eo p le w ho are loosely
attached to church as an institution in the N etherlands, th at is m arginal m em bers,
hold fairly strong pantheistic beliefs.
TTiese findings certainly do not hold for the South African sam ple, w here in fact
we found no significant differences at all. H ence, o u r sam ple holds fairly hom o­
geneous pantheistic views; th at is, they reject these views. Y et th ere are notable
trends. T he first is th at pantheistic beliefs are least popular am ong R om an C atho­
lics and m ost popular am ong M ethodists. T he second tendency is th at pantheistic
views are subscribed to most strongly by m odal m em bers. This holds for all m ain­
line denom inations, except for the R om an Catholics.
A m ore distant view on the levels of pantheistic beliefs in both sam ples shows us
a particular paradox. W hereas the R om an C atholics in the N etherlands are fairly
loosely attach ed to the church and in favour o f these views, R om an C atholics in
South A frica ap p ea r to be closely involved in church m atters and opposed to these
beliefs.
In term s of plurality, again we have to conclude that the D utch hold less hom o­
geneous views than the South Africans. In the last p art of this p ap er we will try to
interpret these findings.
6. C O N C LU SIO N S A N D DISCUSSION
W e have ascertained a sharp contrast betw een the D utch and the sam ple o f white
church-going South Africans. It appears that half of the D utch population lives in a
secularized world, far from the religious institutions. In the N etherlands, am ong the
people that are m ore o r less involved in the church, 35,9 p er cent belong to the m ar­
ginal m em bers, 41,9 p er cent to the m odal m em bers and 22,2 p e r cent to the core
m em bers. A mong the sam ple of the white South Africans, the figures are different:
Only 14,8 belong to the marginal m em bers (less than half those in the N etherlands),
46,9 per cent to the modal m em bers (about as many as in the N etherlands) and 38,3
I.SSN 0259 9422 = UTS 49/1 <t 2 (1993)
201
Plural religious beliefs
per cent to the core m em bers (alm ost twice those in the N etherlands). Set aside the
position of the modal mem bers, it seem s hard to im agine g reater differences.
Y et, we have ascertain ed a highly sim ilar structure of religious beliefs am ong
both people. We have found a theistic dom ain of belief, in which the personal and
a-personal aspects go together. A p art from that, we have found a pantheistic d o ­
main. Lastly, it is also w orthw hile to m ention w hat we did not find, nam ely in the
dom ain of panentheism . Let us reflect on these results.
W ith regard to theism , am ong the D utch we found no distinction betw een the
belief in the personal and the a-personal aspects o f G od. This distinction was p re­
sent am ong the white South Africans. However, both aspects appeared to be highly
associated am ong the latter. T hese findings sharply contrast with the C hristian tra­
dition. In this tradition, the b elief in G od is uniformly interpreted in term s o f p er­
sonal im ages of G od, like F ather, C reator, R edeem er, L iberator, Legislator, King,
Judge, Friend. H e is supposed to think, feel, want and act in a way that transcends
hum an conditions and boundaries, but in a m anner that nevertheless is m arked by
characteristics that stem from ‘la condition hum aine’, although in an analogical way.
The relevance of o ur research finding is that this personal image of G od is not dis­
tinguished from an a-personal image by the Dutch, and appears to be highly a.ssociated with an a-personal image by the white South Africans.
This may lead to re-interpreting G od’s image in term s of the tension betw een its
personal and a-personal aspects. O ne of the theo-‘logical’ questions im plied in that
refers to the n atu re of the antonym ‘p e rso n al/a -p erso n al’. W hat is the m eaning of
‘a’personal? D oes this ‘a-’ refer to an opposition that is contradictory (b lack /n o tblack), contrary (black/w hite) or com plem entary, respectively implying (black/notw hite)? T his question is not specifically theological, it is logical in nature, it p e r­
m eates a lot o f sem antic fields in all kinds o f disciplines. Some theologians think
that ‘personal’ and ‘a-personal’ refer to a com plem entary opposition. They point to
the com plex n atu re of the concept ‘im m anent tran scen d en ce’, which holds im m a­
nence and transcendence together. T he aspect of tran.scendence may refer to G od
as ‘person al’, w hereas the aspect of im m anence may relate to G od as ‘a-p erso n al’.
T he antonym ‘p erso n al/a-p erso n al’ may be considered com plem entary as the an to ­
nym ‘im m anent transcendence’ are. A whole new perspective of rethinking old, tra ­
d itio n al th eo lo g ical co n cep ts em erg es h e re (S ch o o n en b erg 1986; V an d e r Ven
1991).
A n o th er in terestin g point th at arises from our research refers to the fact that
pantheism exists isolated from personal and a-personal theism. It is a phenom enon
apart in both the D utch and the South-African populations. But we arrived at an o ­
th er interesting insight. Theism is connected with active church involvement, p an ­
202
IITS 4 9 /1 A 2 (1993)
H J C Pieterse, P L H Scheepers A J A vanderVen
theism m ore or less with ecclesial distanciation. T he m ore one is involved in church
activities, the m ore one is com m itted to theism and the less to pantheism and vice
versa. This leads to the question of how this relationship can be understood. Two
h yp o th eses may be fo rm u la te d . Lx)gically speaking, th e less one is involved in
church activities, the less one is confronted with the m ain religious stream th at is
present in the Christian tradition, namely theism. From this, pantheism may be un­
derstood in term s of religious erosion, which is caused by decreasing church involve­
m ent. This in terp re tatio n has its point of d ep artu re in a m ore o r less conventional
ap p ro ach to th e relatio n sh ip betw een religiosity and church, in w hich church in ­
volvem ent functions as an indicator o f religiosity. But an alternative hypothesis, in
order to understand w hat is happening, might be plausible as well; a m ore non-conventional one. P erhaps pantheism belongs to the underlying structure of p eo p le’s
religiosity, which is covered and oppressed by ecclesiastical m echanism s. P erhaps
this d e e p e r layer of religiosity, which refers to G o d ’s presence in the m idst of the
w orld and hum an life, can develop itself in as m uch as it is lib erated from eccle­
siastical pressure, th at is ecclesiastical dogm atism , m oralism and discipline. From
the history of the Jewish and the C hristian religion, we know o f a g reat num ber of
exam ples in which all kinds of pantheistic understream s have been rem oved by the
official tem ple and church authorities. T he most striking illustration may be found
in the so-called Baal religion in the O ld T estam en t tim es in which ‘m other e a rth ’
was associated with religious images, affections and rites. This kind o f ‘natural th eo ­
logy’ has always been confronted with resistance and condem nation by the official
church in C hristian times, especially in Calvinist circles. In this in terpretation, the
am bivalent relationship betw een ‘n atu ral’ religiosity and church plays a m ajor role.
Religiosity and church do not always go hand in hand. The latter som etim es dom es­
ticates, restricts and oppresses the form er. The question is w hether pantheism may
be seen as an indicator of increasing secularisation or o f increasing liberated religio­
sity. O u r study ascerta in e d th at p an th eism is strongly presen t am ong both n o n ­
m em bers and marginal m em bers in the N etherlands. But our finding th at p an th e­
ism is subscribed to m ore strongly by marginal m em bers than by non-m em bers may
be interpreted as an indicator of pantheism as a m ode of liberated religiosity. H ere,
a new horizon of a-conventional thinking emerges.
An interesting result of our research - a negative one - refers to what we have
not found. We found no indication of what we have called panentheism . T hat does
n o t m ean that it is not a relevant concept. Some highly regarded theological scho­
lars, who were very sensitive to what was religiously going on am ong people, such as
H a rtsh o rn e, Tillich and S choonenberg, proposed th at p an en th e ism as a concept
exactly expresses the m etaphors and feelings that are im plied in m odern m an’s b e ­
ISSN 0259 9422 •= IfTS 49/1 & 2 (1993)
203
Plural rcUgioiis beliefs
lief in G od. It refers to the tension betw een the internal and the external dim en­
sion of religiosity. T he internal dim ension relates to the spark o r even flam e of di­
vine inspiration th at exists in the inner core of man and which perm eates his whole
life. G od is m ore interior to man than man is intim ate to himself, as A ugustine said
{interior intim o m eo). T he external dim ension refers to G o d ’s all-overshadow ing
presence that covers the whole world and holds all hum an beings together. G od is
all-encom passing. At the sam e tim e, G od lives w ithin man and surrounds him (cf
D evenish & G oodw in 1989). T his co n cep t is highly im p o rtan t not only from an
C hristian perspective. The dialogue betw een Christian and Buddhist thinkers points
in exactly the sam e direction. It has been called m etatheism . T h e word ‘m eta’ re ­
fers to transcending the personal aspects o f theism into the direction of G od being
an open mystery that has both internal and external dim ensions (K riiger 1989). We
expected to find this concept by facto r analysis of the item s on religious beliefs,
especially by exploring som e com binations of item s th at belong to personal theism
and pantheism , because p an en th e ism is supposed to be a d ialectical synthesis of
both. But we did not succeed. T he reason may lie in the fact that we did not subm it
item s that refer directly and exclusively to panentheism to o u r respondents. H ere,
an interesting perspective for further new steps in the field of religious research is
dawning.
T he results of our research, and the above reflection on the question of our con­
cept of G od, put a challenge to o u r reform ed thinking on G od. T he challenge is to
engage in a thorough theological study of our reform ed tradition, o ur interpretation
o f biblical revelation, and a herm eneutical-theological interpretation of our under­
standing of G od in the the light of contem porary pluralistic beliefs am ong the p eo ­
ple to w hom we com m unicate the G ospel. Such a study would enrich o u r theologi­
cal account o f what we as theologians and the m em bers of the church believe about
God.
Endnotes
1.
In o rd er to prevent any m isunderstanding, the term ‘absolute im m anence’ refers
to religious im m anence, because it relates to the im m anence of G od. T he term
‘absolute im m anency’ can also be used with regard to forms of a-religious im ­
m anence, in which any divine reality is absolutely absent. Religious im m anen­
ce has to be considered an attrib u te of the divine mystery, w hereas a-religious
im m anence refers to agnosticism, scepticism or nihilism.
2.
W e first p erfo rm ed prin cip al-facto r analysis (F A C T O R , PA2 of SPSSX: Nie
1983). But with this procedure we could not find an adequate solution, in term s
204
t r r s 4 9 /! & 2 (1993)
H J C Pietene, P L H Scheepm & J A vanderVen
of the convergence criterion, for the South African sam ple. T h at is why we p e r­
form ed principal-com ponent analysis for this sample.
3.
T h ere are two exceptions, though, in the South A frican sam ple, as indicated by
the significant interactive term . O ne is that, in the Presbyterian Church, modal
m em bers subscribe m ore strongly to theistic views than do core m em bers. The
o ther is th at in the D utch R eform ed C hurch, m odal m em bers subscribe m ore
strongly to these views than both marginal and m odal m em bers. As there are so
few exceptions that disturb the clear analytical picture, we consider them neg­
ligible.
Appendix
1
Factor a n a ly sis
W hite S outh A fric a n
on r e l i g i o u s
churched
b eliefs
(N=117)
h2
AT T h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g l i k e a s u p r e m e
being c o n tr o llin g l i f e
AT T h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g b e y o n d t h i s w o r l d
AT I b e l i e v e i n t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a
supreme b e in g
P T o m e , Go d i s n o t h i n g b u t t h e
v a l u a b l e i n human b e i n g
P Go d i s n o t u p t h e r e b u t o n l y i n t h e
h e a r t s of th e people
PT T h e r e i s a God w h o o c c u p i e s H i m s e l f
w i t h e v e r y human b e i n g p e r s o n a l l y
PT T h e r e i s a God w h o w a n t s t o b e God
fo r us
Dutch ch u rch e d
loadings
,84
,45
,92
,47
,79
,92
,71
,82
,75
,87
,88
,95
,87
,92
(N=1382)
AT T h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g l i k e a s u p r e m e
being c o n tro llin g l i f e
AT T h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g b e y o n d t h i s w o r l d
AT I b e l i e v e i n t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a
supreme being
P T o m e , Go d i s n o t h i n g b u t t h e
v a l u a b l e i n human b e i n g
P Go d i s n o t u p t h e r e b u t o n l y i n t h e
h e a r t s of th e people
PT T h e r e i s a Go d wh o o c c u p i e s H i m s e l f
w i t h e v e r y human b e i n g p e r s o n a l l y
PT T h e r e i s a Go d wh o w a n t s t o b e God
fo r us
ISSN 0259 9422 = H 7S 4 9 /1 A 2 (1993)
h2
loadings
,37
,36
,63
,56
,47
,69
,49
,70
,49
,69
,60
,74
,62
,76
205
Plural religioiis beliefs
Dutch u n c h u rch e d
(N=1107)
AT T h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g l i k e a s u p r e m e
being c o n tr o llin g l i f e
AT T h e r e i s s o m e t h i n g b e y o n d t h i s w o r l d
AT I b e l i e v e i n t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a
supreme b e in g
P To me, God i s n o t h i n g b u t t h e
v a l u a b l e i n human b e i n g
P Go d i s n o t u p t h e r e b u t o n l y i n t h e
h e a r ts of th e people
PT T h e r e i s a Go d wh o o c c u p i e s H i m s e l f
w i t h e v e r y human b e i n g p e r s o n a l l y
FT T h e r e i s a Go d wh o w a n t s t o b e Go d
for us
h2
loadings
,56
,42
,73
,63
,68
,83
,53
,72
,43
,66
,64
,81
,60
,78
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