The Evangelical People's Party ( nl, Evangelische Volkspartij, EVP) was a minor progressive Protestant political party in the Netherlands. It is one of the predecessor parties of the modern-day

GreenLeft GroenLinks (, ) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of th ...

History

The EVP was founded in March 1981 by members of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA), which were united in the group "Not by Bread Alone" (''Niet bij Brood Alleen'') and members of the Evangelical Progressive Party, which had previously left the Protestant

Anti-Revolutionary Party The Anti-Revolutionary Party ( nl, Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, ARP) was a Protestant conservative and Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1879 by Abraham Kuyper, a neo-Calvinist theologian and mi ...

. Both groups were opposed to the formation of the CDA and its

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

course. After winning one seat in the 1982 general election - it was unable to do so in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

- the party joined the opposition. The party became divided between a left wing and a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the ...

wing. The left wing wanted to co-operate with the

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals ( nl, Politieke Partij Radikalen, PPR) was a progressive Christian and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to ...

(which had split from the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

in 1968) and its left-wing allies, the

Pacifist Socialist Party The Pacifist Socialist Party ( nl, Pacifistisch Socialistische Partij, PSP) was a democratic socialist Dutch socialist political party. The PSP played a small role in Dutch politics. It is one of the predecessors of the GreenLeft. Party histor ...

and the destalinised

Communist Party of the Netherlands The Communist Party of the Netherlands ( nl, Communistische Partij Nederland, , CPN) was a Dutch communist party. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social-Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Part ...

. The EVP was more reserved towards the CPN. The centrist wing wanted to co-operate with the Labour Party and the CDA. Although some members were willing to co-operate, the party congress rejected the co-operation with the CPN, the PSP and the PPR in the 1984 European Parliament elections. After the party lost its sole seat in the 1986 elections, co-operation with other parties become more important. For the 1989 elections the

(PPR),

(PSP) and the

initiated a common list

. The EVP hesitated to join, and only after the talks were concluded did it opt to enter. It got one candidate on an ineligible eleventh place. In 1991 the party officially dissolved itself into GreenLeft in the

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

and

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

Church in Amsterdam. Prominent EVP-members became involved in the Left (wing) Cheek, a platform for the New Testament and Politics. This platform still exists, but it is only of limited importance within the party.

Ideology and issues

The party combined left-wing ideas with a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

program, inspired by the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

. The

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It ...

was an important inspiration for the party. The Sermon was seen as an evangelical imperative to create a society where

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and

solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti ...

would rule. Important issues for the party were: *A

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campai ...

foreign policy, especially opposition to the placement of nuclear weapons. *It sought to formulate an alternative to both

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

and

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

. It proposed the economy of enough, in which incomes would be redistributed, people would get more rest (for instance by a government-financed

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work. The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Biblical practice of '' shmita'' (sabbatical year), which is related to agriculture. According ...

for all) and damage to the

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

would be limited. * The party was progressive on social and ethical issues, such as

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , ...

and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

Representation

This table the EVP's results in elections to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, as well as the party's political leadership: the ''fractievoorzitter'' is the chair of the parliamentary party and the ''lijsttrekker'' is the party's top candidate in the general election; these posts are normally taken by the party leader.

Electorate

The EVP's small electorate consisted out of left-wing Protestants, mostly former adherents of the

, for whom

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

to the placement of

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

was an important issue. The party was open to non-religious persons.

Organisation

Linked organisations

The EVP published a periodical called "EVP info", which was continued after 1990 as "The Leftwing Cheek" within GreenLeft. Its scientific institute was Foundation for Formation and Education, which published "Schering en Inslag"

Relationships to other parties

The party had good relations with the

(PPR), which also had its roots in

Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...

and emphasised

ideals. It also had good relations with the social-democratic Labour Party and the

(PSP). In 1989 it chose for the PPR and the PSP and merged into the

, together with the

, a party towards which the EVP was more reserved, because of its

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

, alignment with communist dictatorships and centralised organisation.

International comparison

Internationally the party is comparable to other small parties which combine

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in ...

with religious inspiration, for instance the Swiss Christian Social Party.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in the Netherlands GroenLinks Confessional parties in the Netherlands Protestant political parties Political parties established in 1981 Political parties disestablished in 1991 Defunct Christian political parties