Samenvatting

This article presents a summary of a report of the (mainline) Protestant Church in the Netherlands on democracy and the rule of law (see: www.protestantsekerk.nl/Lists/PKN-Bibliotheek/The-church-and-the-democratic-constitutional-state.pdf), including an evaluation. It starts from the presumption that modern plural society rightly expects religious communities to present their views in this regard explicitly and clearly. The report presents an interpretation of what ‘the separation of church and state’ entails, as well as an analysis of recent developments in the public domain. The church expresses its critical solidarity with the modern state. It points to the risk of democracy turning into a market rather than a forum.