Survey: Slim Majority of Dutch Know Easter is Christian Holiday

By Ethan Cole, Christian Post Reporter Sunday, April 12, 2009

Slightly more than half of Dutch nationals know that Easter is a Christian holiday, revealed a new survey published this past Thursday.

The survey by research agency NAW-plus found that only 55 percent of citizens of the Netherlands knew that Easter is a Christian holiday while the other 45 percent did not know the meaning of Easter, according to Earth Times.

Furthermore, only 15 percent of Dutch nationals correctly identified Good Friday as the day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

The study had surveyed 12,000 Dutch nationals about the Easter holiday.

In contrast, the vast majority of the American public knows the meaning of Easter.

According to the Knights of Columbus-Marist poll released this past week, eighty-six percent of Americans correctly identified that Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's resurrection though Christians make up only about 76 percent of the U.S. population.

In the Netherlands, Christians make up about 53 percent of the population, while 17 percent of Dutch nationals are atheists and 12 percent agnostics, according to a recent study by the country's Social and Cultural Planning (SCP) Office.

The SCP's bureau on secularization predicts that by 2010, 67 percent of Dutch nationals will not be a member of a church or another religious institution.