Geography: Nether Regions

[godfry n. glad]

So, for those of you who infest the Nether regions, I have an inquiry.

I was reading a discussion of outbreaks of measles being traced to megachurch congregations in the US where the pastor has been preaching against vaccination.

Then, in the midst of this, this quote pops up:

The Netherlands has been struggling with a measles outbreak since May. So far, more than 1,200 people have been sickened, and 82 of them have ended up in the hospital. It’s the first time in the past 13 years that the country has experienced a rash of measles cases. And as the Irish Times reports, the “outbreak is concentrated in the country’s extensive Bible Belt, where the majority of fundamentalist Protestants do not believe in having their children vaccinated."

Of course, my immediate question was...."Wait....the Nether regions have a 'Bible Belt'?" This is news to me.

Tell me more.

[Qingdai]

Don't you remember the Netherlandisher that was building an ark?

Amsterdam Ark - YouTube

[Stormlight]

The Dutch are weird ...

[Watser?]

There's a hardcore fundamentalist calvinist streak in this country. They live mostly in smaller towns and villages in the Veluwe, a hilly part of the province of Gelderland, in Zeeland and in enclaves like Staphorst and the former island of Urk.

There's a couple of political parties that represent those people. There's the Christen Unie, which is more or less left-wing in economic and environmental issues, but opposes abortion and euthanasia and there is the SGP (Reformed Political Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), which is a whole other kettle of fish. They are the real deal, they were forced by a judge to allow women to join the party.

[Vivisectus]

In images: measles outbreak in the netherlands:



people who vote for theSGP that Watser mentioned:



"reformed" strictly protestant religious schools



So yeah, we have a bible-belt. However, it runs diagonally across the country, rather than straight across.

[Vivisectus]

Fun Fact: in a typically Dutch odd compromise fashion, a solution has been found for those people who think having your kids end up in hospital from the measles is bad, but who do not want to face the approbation of their church elders.

These people can now make an appointment for a nurse (dressed in regular clothing, of course) to visit them at home to administer the vaccination in secret.

[JoeP]

Originally Posted by Vivisectus

So yeah, we have a bible-belt. However, it runs diagonally across the country, rather than straight across.

A bible sash, let's say.

[Vivisectus]

Yeah. So the Netherlands is either a 19th century dandy, or a pirate. Or both.

[Dingfod]

I think this all due to a failure to wear their wooden shoes on their penises.

[Janet]

Originally Posted by Vivisectus

Yeah. So the Netherlands is either a 19th century dandy, or a pirate. Or both.

Or a Klingon.

[Adam]

Obviously, it's a Bible Bandolier, and the Netherlands is a wookie.

[JoeP]

Or a pageant winner.

[JoeP]

Do we have a :thanksgun: or :scatterthanks: smilie? For that situation where you need to thanks every recent post in a thread.

:thanksALLthethings:

[Watser?]

Originally Posted by Watser?

There's a hardcore fundamentalist calvinist streak in this country. They live mostly in smaller towns and villages in the Veluwe, a hilly part of the province of Gelderland, in Zeeland and in enclaves like Staphorst and the former island of Urk.

There's a couple of political parties that represent those people. There's the Christen Unie, which is more or less left-wing in economic and environmental issues, but opposes abortion and euthanasia and there is the SGP (Reformed Political Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), which is a whole other kettle of fish. They are the real deal, they were forced by a judge to allow women to join the party.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this:

During the Second World War, Kersten cooperated with the Nazi occupiers to allow his paper, the Banier, to be printed and had condemned the resistance. After the war, he was not allowed to return to the House of Representatives.

So they are considered dangerously right wing by most Dutchies. A lot of the Dutch resistance fighters and people helping out Jews and other people who had to hide from the Germans were calvinist, so it is not even like they represent the mainstream. Just the strictest ones. And they almost always have 2 or 3 seats in parliament (out of 150 total). Very stable base of total nutbags who always vote.

[But]

Originally Posted by Watser?

They live mostly in smaller towns and villages in the Veluwe, a hilly part of the province of Gelderland, in Zeeland and in enclaves like Staphorst and the former island of Urk.

I have to ask, before I'm tempted to look it up: What happened to the island of Urk? Why is it called the former island of Urk? And, most of all:

Urk??

show spoiler

Holland is made up of 3 provinces: Gelderland, Zeeland and Urk. Gelderland is the beach where the bong toilet lives. Zeeland is the part below the sea. Whenever a part of Holland is annexed by Zeeland, it was an accident. In 1765, the gracious king of Urk used a big pump to empty the land. He sold the salt to Bavaria (curing iodine deficiency syndrome) and the water to Africa. The national anthem of Holland mentions this event:

Edel en hooggeboren, (Noble and high on drugs)
van keizerlijke stam, (born by Caesarean section)
een vorst des rijks verkoren, (in the forest of rice fermented)
als een vroom christenman, (as a fundamentalist Christian)
voor Godes woord geprezen, (God bless my pretzel)
heb ik, vrij onversaagd, (I have freed the flooded country)
als een held zonder vreze (as a hero without special tools)
mijn edel bloed gewaagd (my noble, daring stupidity)

[Watser?]

It's a former island because it is now a hill in a polder. They built a dike and pumped the water out.