Klaas Hendrikse (September 1, 1947,

Groot-Ammers Groot-Ammers is a town in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Molenlanden, and is located about 13 km southeast of Gouda on the southside of the Lek River. In 2001, the town of Groot-Ammers had 2822 in ...

–

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

, June 26, 2018) was a

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

minister of the

Protestant Church in the Netherlands The Protestant Church in the Netherlands ( nl, de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. It was founded on 1 May 2004 as the merger of the ...

who declared that he "believes in a God who does not exist." He was known in the Netherlands as ''de atheïstische dominee'' (the

atheist 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 ...

pastor).

Life and career

Hendrikse grew up in a

non-religious Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...

family in the

Alblasserwaard The Alblasserwaard () is a polder in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is mainly known for the windmills of Kinderdijk, located near the village of Kinderdijk in the polder's northwestern part. History The first human inhabita ...

; his father was a veterinary surgeon. He went to school in

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( or ), also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The municipality of Gorinchem al ...

and studied in Nyenrode (1968-1971) and

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...

(1971-1972). Between 1972 and 1983 he worked for

Xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from St ...

. After becoming interested in religion, he studied theology at the

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

between 1977 and 1983, before becoming a preacher. He achieved national fame as "the atheist pastor" after he stated in a number of newspapers, including '' Trouw'' and ''

Volkskrant ''de Volkskrant'' (; ''The People's Paper'') is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium-sized ...

'', that he did not believe in God's literal existence but as something that "happens." Klaas Hendrikse has described God as "a word for experience, or human experience" and said that Jesus may have never existed. His comments caused outrage both within the

(PKN) and outside. Hendrikse later said that he did not consider himself to be an atheist, but tried to stay close to atheism in his choice of words and away from the "jargon of the church." The PKN considered at first taking disciplinary action against Hendrikse, but dropped the case in 2009. The authorities stated that such a case would merely result in "a protracted discussion about the meanings of words that in the end will produce little clarity." Hendrikse has said that he would "rather remain as a louse in the fur of the PKN" than leave and form his own religious community. Hendrikse's religious views were not considered extreme in a large part of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In the PKN, 42% of its members described themselves in 2007 as non-theists. Furthermore, in the PKN and several other smaller denominations of the Netherlands, one in six clergy are either

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficien ...

or atheist. Hendrikse died in 2018.

Trivia

Hendrikse features in the novel ''

Artush and Zaur ''Artush and Zaur'' () is a novel by Azerbaijani writer and journalist Ali Akbar (writer), Ali Akbar (alias of Alakbar Aliyev) published in 2009. It narrates the love story of two fictional men: Artush Saroyan, an Armenian people, Armenian, and Z ...

'', by Ali Akbar, in which he performs a wedding ceremony for the homosexual protagonists.

Books

*''Believing in a God that does not exist: the manifesto of an atheist pastor.'' (2007) *''God does not exist and Jesus is his son.'' (2011)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendrikse, Klaas 1947 births 2018 deaths Christ myth theory proponents Dutch atheists Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Religious naturalists People from Liesveld

Life and career

Trivia

Books

See also

References