The Making of a Fundamental Value A History of the Concept of Separation of Church and State in the Netherlands

Separation of church and state is one of the key concepts in contemporary
debates in increasingly secular democracies like the Netherlands. It is not
only used to describe the legal and political arrangements between the state
and religious organizations, but is also part of a larger discursive struggle
over national identity and the meaning of citizenship. Th is article traces the
history of the concept of separation of church and state in the Netherlands
since the eighteenth century. First, it shows how the concept has always been
a contested one. Second, it argues that the current framing of separation of
church and state as a fundamental value of Dutch society is relatively recent
and is connected to growing secularism and the position of Islam in Dutch
society.