CONTRADICTIONS IN DUTCH CULTURE AND SOCIETY

ALEX CHADWICK, host:

As of yesterday, certain medical patients in the Netherlands can ease their
ailments by buying government marijuana in pharmacies. The Dutch have long
been known for their socially tolerant ways. But the Netherlands was also a
bastion of the austere religious tradition of Calvinism. And the Dutch have a
reputation as hardworking, clog-wearing types. DAY TO DAY's Madeleine Brand
explores the contradictions.

MADELEINE BRAND reporting:

Remember Pim Fortuyn? He was the Dutch politician who was assassinated last
year. He was openly gay yet politically hard right, and his anti-Muslim,
anti-immigrant stance was embraced by many in the Netherlands. Perhaps the
embodiment of a kind of social schizophrenia among the Dutch?

Jim Forrest is an American expatriate in the Netherlands, and he's written many
books on religion.

Hi, Mr. Forrest.

Mr. JIM FORREST (Author): Yes.

BRAND: We think of the Dutch as pretty freewheeling, but Calvinism, which is a
strict brand of Protestantism, really took hold in the Netherlands. Tell us
about that.

Mr. FORREST: Well, it was one of the countries most influenced by John Calvin,
and the Dutch have a joke about you can be a Catholic Calvinist, you can be an
atheist Calvinist, but by God you are a Calvinist, you know. So it's something
almost in the air one breathes, although probably a bit diluted since the end
of the Second World War. The country's become relatively secularized since
then.

BRAND: Now the Dutch, as you say, have mellowed a bit from their strict
religious past, but they've really gone the opposite direction, being at the
forefront of socially progressive issues such as drug use and prostitution and
euthanasia.

Mr. FORREST: I think, actually, that's a very deeply imbedded part of Dutch
culture. It goes way back right through to the Reformation. It's a strange
combination of strict thinking about how one lives and tolerance about how the
neighbor lives. If you want to go to hell, you're free to do so as long as you
help us maintain the dykes and you do your work and you don't cause trouble in
the community.

Marijuana, sex and things like that--they tend to look what will do the least
social damage, what will damage children least, which will protect society the
most, which will keep the rate of criminal activity to the lowest level
possible and so forth. And just very practical.

BRAND: And were do you see them having more conservative values, in which
areas?

Mr. FORREST: Well, I think it's probably a country in which it's easier for a
family to get by on one income than in most of the developed world, although
whether that will be true 10 or 20 years from now remains to be seen. There is
more of a quiet Sunday here than you would find in America. Some stores are
open, but I would say 95 percent of them are closed; maybe 97 percent. So
Sundays in Holland still are quiet days, whether you're a churchgoing person or
not.

You know, there's a lot of effort made in society to make family life
possible. I would say, from an American point of view, it would be a family
values-oriented culture in many ways, although it doesn't call itself that.

BRAND: I'm wondering, is there any going back? Once you've gone forward so far
on social issues, can you go back and say, 'Wait a minute. Let's not legalize
marijuana; let's not legalize prostitution. Let's go back'?

Mr. FORREST: Well, some things are very hot issues. A lot of Dutch people do
not agree with euthanasia, for example. And that's now, I think, something
pending before the European court. So there is an attempt, led in large
measure by doctors and nurses, to reverse the Dutch position in this area.
Whether that will change or not, I don't know. I think on the other areas,
people feel this is not an ideal solution but it's better than any other
solution we can come up with.

BRAND: Jim Forrest is an American writer living in the Netherlands.

CHADWICK: And that interview, by DAY TO DAY's Madeleine Brand.

This is DAY TO DAY from NPR News.