From violent incidents from yesterday in which journalists in Urk and Krimpen aan den IJssel were attacked, have stirred up a lot, certainly also among Christian Dutch. Churchgoers in Bible Belt congregations disapprove of the violence against journalists and at the same time regret the “painful reactions” they receive.
In Krimpen aan den IJssel a reporter from RTV Rijnmond was attacked and in Urk a churchgoer ran into a PowNed journalist. Also, the reporter got some hitting kicks. Tineke van Urk, Christian Reformed and born and raised in Urk, says that the incidents with the PowNed reporter are the talk of the town in Urk. “What that driver did is really impossible. I really hope he regrets it.”
Paul Eikelboom, Elder Reformed Congregations, says that he wants to be “very clear”: “Aggression towards the press is simply not possible. This is the behavior of a few hotheads and it reflects on the entire church community.”
Van Urk sees this too, but has difficulty with some of the reactions. “We are now being called ‘religious people’ on social media, which I think is terrible,” she says. “People react online as if we Urkers are in a kind of cocoon and have no television, as if we live in a separate world.” According to her, that is absolutely not true. “We have our own habits, yes. But the whole of Urk is now being shaved together. It is pretended that we are crazy.”
Teunis Bunt, spokesperson for Gereformeerde Gemeenten Opheusden, calls the violence against journalists “sad”. “Attacking people should never happen”, says Bunt. He also thinks that the negativity is now reflected on the entire religious congregation. “You get a lot of responses that don’t lie. If that is done with certain groups, it would be called discrimination.”
‘Aggression Shameful’
The Christian parties in the House of Representatives also condemn the violence. For example, Kees van der Staaij of the SGP writes on Facebook that he understands the frustrations of churchgoers, but adds that “annoyance about the disruption of Sunday rest and an intrusive treatment can never be a reason for rash behavior, let alone violence” .
Gert-Jan Segers, leader of the ChristenUnie, calls the aggression of some churchgoers in Krimpen and Urk “shameful”. He adds, “I have little intellectual respect for those who see in the misconduct of God’s ground personnel evidence of the correctness of their own unbelief.”
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