Reformed Political Party - Ideology and Issues

Ideology and Issues

As a radical Protestant conservative party, the SGP draws much from its ideology from the reformed tradition, specifically the Three Principles of Unity and the old text of the Belgic Confession (Nederlandse Geloofsbelijdenis). The latter text is explicitly mentioned in the first principle of the party, where it is stated that the SGP strives towards a government totally based on the Bible. This first principle also states that the uncut version of the Belgic Confession is meant, which adds the task of opposing anti-Christian powers to the description of the government's roles and tasks. The party is a strict defender of the separation between church and state, rejecting "both the state church and church state". Both church and state are believed to have distinct roles in society, while working towards the same goal, but despite this, the SGP advocates theocracy. The SGP opposes freedom of religion, but advocates freedom of conscience instead, noting that "obedience to the law of God cannot be forced".

The SGP opposes feminism, and concludes, on Biblical grounds, that men and women are of equal value (gelijkwaardig) but not equal (gelijk). Men and women, so the party claims, have different places in society. This belief led to restricting party membership to men until 2006, when this restriction became subject to controversy and was eventually removed.

The party does not seek to be in government, but instead uses parliament to express its principles. Therefore the party is called a testimonial party.

In controversial discussions in the Dutch House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer), the SGP can often be heard voicing an opinion stressing the importance of the rule of law, parliamentary procedure and rules of order, regardless of ideological agreement. The SGP forbade women to be member of the party until 2006. The party favours the re-introduction of the death penalty in the Netherlands. They base this on the Bible, specifically on Genesis 9:6, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man," and Exodus 21:12, "He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death."

Internationally the party is comparable to the Swiss Federal Democratic Union, a conservative Protestant party. It is also similar to the American Christian right.

In Scandinavia, the Faroese Centre Party is an example of a bible-fundamentalist party. In comparison, the Norwegian Christian People's Party, the Swedish Christian Democrats and Danish Christian Democrats are less orthodox and in line with mainstream European Christian democracy.