SGP
The SGP (Politically Reformed Party, Dutch: Staatskundig Gereformeerde Partij) is a Dutch Protestant party (the Reformed in their name refers to the Reformation). They tend to be rather fundamentalist on religious issues, but slightly more reasonable on other issues. Unfortunately, every time they happen to have some power, they tend to focus on the religious stuff.
The SGP has been around since 1918, making it the oldest party in the Netherlands. It is a fairly small party (and always has been), usually holding 2 or 3 seats (out of 150) in the lower house, and 0 to 2 seats (out of 75) in the senate. It's also active in some municipal elections, where they often run together with another Christian party (ChristenUnie).
For the last 15 years or so, Dutch politics has become increasingly fragmented, and getting enough votes to pass bills has become more difficult, this has allowed the SGP to gain in influence regardless of their small size, since their 2 or 3 votes were required to get a majority vote. In quid pro quo fashion, this has allowed the SGP to push some of their (religious) views in other bills.
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[edit] Women
The SGP do not like women; or rather, prefers that women just take care of the children and stuff; the rationale behind this is that "both man and woman have been given their own purpose and place by God".
Until 2006 women were not allowed to become members of the party, the only reason this was changed was due to a lawsuit and threat to stop all government funding.
Since 2013, woman have also been allowed to vote in internal elections, and able to run as candidates. This change again required a lawsuit, and a threat to stop government funding. Somewhat surprisingly, in 2014 the first SGP woman actually got elected in municipal elections. Unsurprisingly, the SGP also opposed universal suffrage for a long time, but finally accepted women's right to vote in elections in 1989.
They also oppose day care for children, since children should be raised by their parents. What they really mean is that women should stay at home and take care of the children.
[edit] Other views
- Like any self-respecting religious party, they oppose abortion, euthanasia, gay marriage, stem cell research, prostitution, pornography, GMO, violent video games, and gambling.
- They oppose the "radical secularism that currently prevails in the Netherlands"; since the government should "act in accordance with the Bible and laws of God". Sounds like they want a theocracy.
- They want more freedom in education; what they really mean here is the freedom to teach more religion in schools, and less evolution, sex ed, and other things they disagree with.
- They want blasphemy to be made illegal (again); until February 2014 blasphemy was illegal[1]. They were instrumental in preventing the repeal of these laws in 2009 [2], but they got passed a few years later anyway (when their votes were no longer required to pass other bills), and now it's legal to blaspheme in the Netherlands. Fuck you Odin!
- They take the day of the Lord very seriously; working on a Sunday should be prevented as much as possible, unless absolutely required, shops should be closed on Sundays. Their website, sgp.nl, is also "closed" on Sunday.
- They want to record their definition of the family and perceived value of it in the constitution.
- They support the death penalty, since this is in the Bible.
- Whenever an oath is being pledged, they believe it should be a Christian oath, "recognizing God's name".
- They oppose net neutrality; this is chiefly to allow a Christian ISP (kliksafe) to filter content (including all movies, YouTube, sex education, etc.) without the ability to turn it off. But they also want to make filtering pornography mandatory for ISPs.
- They support flat tax.
- They strongly support Israel, opposes two-state solution of the conflict.
To be fair, most of their non-religious views are more or less reasonable (or, at least, no less unreasonable than those of other right-wing parties), but whenever they have the chance, they focus on the religious issues. For example, their positions on the Sabbath and blasphemy are repeated ad nauseam, boring much of the Dutch electorate.
[edit] See also
- Geert Wilders; Another Dutch politician, considerably more insane that the SGP, and doesn't even have religion as an excuse.
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ The last conviction for this was in 1966 (and was highly controversial even then) when writer Gerard Reve wrote about having sex with God reincarnated as a donkey (I kid you not).
- ↑ http://www.nu.nl/politiek/2520853/vvd-ziet-af-van-voorstel-godslastering.html