{"id":160625,"date":"2024-01-08T11:21:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T10:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=160625"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:02","slug":"strongly-christian-but-also-critical-student-association-ichthus-sometimes-causes-unease-in-the-bible-belt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/01\/08\/strongly-christian-but-also-critical-student-association-ichthus-sometimes-causes-unease-in-the-bible-belt\/","title":{"rendered":"Strongly Christian, but also critical. Student association Ichthus sometimes causes unease in the Bible Belt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Student association Ichthus is strongly Christian, but also critical. Not everyone in the Dutch Bible Belt is happy about this, because they worry it could lead to students becoming liberalised and leaving the church.<\/p>\n

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According to people around the association, that anxiety is not entirely justified: in recent years, members have become more faithful to the Bible and their support for the church\u2019s philosophy has strengthened. Moreover, in the past few years, having a critical attitude has become more common among young people from the Bible Belt. <\/p>\n

On the walls of the corridor next to the dorm room of Hannah Weststrate (22), the logo of the student association C.S.F.R. is displayed twice. Above the staircase, the names of every student who has lived in this Rotterdam student society house are written on the wall with a permanent marker. The Master\u2019s student in Health Care Management sits in her bedroom, wearing dark-blue slippers with the same logo. \u201cMerchandise\u201d, she laughs. \u201cThe proceeds go to charity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three years ago, Hannah became a member of Ichthus \u2013 as the Rotterdam branch of the C.S.F.R. is known \u2013 and came to live here, together with four other female members. Before that, she lived with her parents in the Bible Belt village of Elspeet in Gelderland and was a member of the Gereformeerde Gemeenten (Dutch Reformed Congregations), a conservative Christian church. \u201cI was mainly seeking to deepen my faith, but I also wanted to socialise\u201d, she explains. \u201cI found that combination at Ichthus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critical attitude<\/h2>

According to the society\u2019s president, Hans van Beek, the emphasis at Ichthus is mainly on the deepening of faith. \u201cWe think socialising is important \u2013 we have game nights, drinks, meals \u2013 but it is not our primary objective. We mainly provide a place where students can study the Bible, society and their own backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

That includes having a critical attitude. This has always been one of the top priorities, right back to when the C.S.F.R. was founded in 1951. \u201cWe are not concerned solely with our own backgrounds\u201d, says Van Beek. \u2018It\u2019s about broadening our ideas.\u201d The association therefore has members from several different movements \u2013 particularly the Reformed movement. Together, they talk about their different perspectives; in Bible study groups, for example, where religious subjects are discussed.<\/p>\n\t

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Reformed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Protestant branch of Christianity includes a staggering number of different movements. Some are more progressive, others more conservative. Ichthus has around seventy members, most of whom are Reformed \u2013 an umbrella term for very conservative Protestants, nearly all of whom come from the Bible Belt. It includes the Dutch Reformed Congregations, the movement to which Hannah belongs. The difference between the Reformed movements often lies in the way in which certain aspects of the Bible are construed, but to outsiders these differences are extremely minor. Reformed Christians are known for holding themselves apart from \u2018modern culture\u2019 and liberation movements: traditional gender relationships, for example, are the norm in these circles.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

The association also has study groups, where non-religious subjects may be discussed. Van Beek says: \u201cYou might have to read a book about astronomy if you want to be able to say something intelligent about where a star comes from.\u201d In addition, each year the association invites speakers \u2013 Christian and non-Christian \u2013 to give lectures on topics such as looking at artificial intelligence through the lens of moral values. \u201cThe aim is to help students become more confident and learn how to formulate good answers to questions about their faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflexivity <\/h2>

Since the start of this century, a critical attitude like that displayed by Ichthus has become more common among young people from the Bible Belt, according to Anneke Pons-de Wit, a cultural sociologist at KU Leuven (the Catholic University of Leuven). She is writing her doctoral thesis on how religious identity develops when young people come into contact with diverse perspectives. \u201cWith the older generation, you weren\u2019t allowed to ask questions. They said: \u2018This is how we do things\u2019. Young people are now coming into contact with different opinions, via social media for example. So they more often want arguments for why they do and believe certain things.\u201d For example, the belief in some conservative circles that women should not wear trousers.<\/p>\n

The researcher says that when young people come into contact with different views, a reflexivity process kicks in. \u201cThey go looking for justification for why they\u2019re right.\u201d There are two ways this can turn out. \u201cThey find arguments in the Bible, for example, and become more deeply anchored in their beliefs, or they don\u2019t find any arguments and become more liberal, which means they sometimes begin to question their beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her time at Ichthus, Hannah has become more confident about what she believes. She stands by her convictions and has not changed her denomination. \u201cIn the association, we discuss each other\u2019s perspectives, so I have been thinking more about why I stand by my beliefs and why I will continue to do so\u201d, she explains. \u201cI\u2019ve learned how to rationalise why I believe certain things. I\u2019m now better at standing up for my views.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Scary <\/h2>

Pons-de Wit says that people in the older generation often find reflexivity and critical associations such as the C.S.F.R. \u2018scary\u2019. They are afraid that young people will leave the church. The fact that the C.S.F.R. is sometimes a sensitive issue in the Bible Belt is something she has seen via her daughter, who is a member of the Leiden branch. \u201cAre you going to quit the church, then?\u201d, friends from church ask her.<\/p>\n

In 2012 in particular, the C.S.F.R. caused a stir in the Reformed Congregations, one of the most conservative churches, and one to which many Ichthus members belong. In De<\/em> Saambinder<\/em>, the weekly Reformed Congregations newspaper, Reverend IJp van Aalst, a retired pastor and the editor-in-chief at the time, advised students against joining the association. He spoke of a \u2018secularised atmosphere\u2019 and claimed, based on a small-scale study, that membership could increase the risk of leaving the church.<\/p>\n

Van Aalst, who had previously been a member of the Amsterdam branch of the association because there had been no alternative at the time, has not changed his opinion. \u201cThe association took, and still takes, a broad view of learning and life; that is, it encompasses broad ideas and lifestyles\u201d, he says. He believes this \u2018breadth\u2019 is evident in the fact that the association also invites non-Christian speakers and admits non-Reformed students.<\/p>\n

Theological shift to the right <\/h2>

Reverend Gert Jan Baan of Bethel Church in Rotterdam, which has close ties to Ichthus, adds nuance to Van Aalst\u2019s criticism. \u201cWhen I went to university \u2013 more than thirty years ago \u2013 the C.S.F.R. sometimes questioned the authority of the Bible\u201d, explains Baan, who joined a Reformed association in Utrecht in his student days. \u201cBut I absolutely never hear about that sort of thing happening these days. If I were a student now, I would undoubtedly become a member.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the reverend, in the past few years there has been a \u2018theological shift to the right\u2019 within the association. In other words, members rely more on the Bible and agree more with what is taught in church. \u201cIn the past, the association had members from more diverse church backgrounds, but then more people from Reformed churches started going to university.\u201d In recent years, all Ichthus presidents have attended his church, which is part of the Reformed Congregations.<\/p>\n

Ichthus President Van Beek emphasises that the C.S.F.R. has certainly not abandoned Reformed beliefs. \u201cIf you come and study in Rotterdam, you\u2019re building a life for yourself. Maybe you\u2019ll turn away from certain precepts or traditions; for example, someone may want to sing more modern songs in his or her church. But it is not the case that our members are turning their backs on everything, because then they wouldn\u2019t feel at home in our association. In fact, with the arrival of Bible study groups, for example, these days the faith aspect is more important than the study aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rotterdam churches<\/h2>

It is therefore no surprise that the association has good relationships with various churches in Rotterdam. Some students join the congregation of one of these churches; around fifteen students join Bethel Church each year. But all members of the association can turn to the church for help, says Reverend Baan, whether they have personal questions about relationship issues or are looking for student accommodation. \u201cAnd sometimes I open up my home and host drinks or a barbecue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hannah sometimes goes with the association to attend services in Rotterdam churches. But she has never left the church she grew up in. Nearly every weekend, she pulls out her suitcase from under her bed, climbs down the steep stairs in the society house and travels back to her village to go to church with her family and boyfriend. She also visits other Reformed churches. \u201cI always find it interesting to hear different perspectives on faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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