'De comeback van de christen'?

Over de mediareceptie van God in Nederland en een pleidooi voor opportunisme

Samenvatting

This article analyzes the media reception of the 2025 report God in the Netherlands and examines how Dutch newspapers and broadcasters have framed its findings. While the report highlights nuanced shifts in Generation Z’s attitudes toward religion—showing slightly greater openness to belief and church membership than previous cohorts—most media coverage reduced these complexities to sensational claims of a ‘religious comeback’. An analysis of newspaper headlines reveals that nearly 80% framed the study as evidence of renewed religiosity, especially among youth, while overlooking continued secularization, declining church authority, and alternative forms of social cohesion. This selective framing not only simplifies but also politicizes the data, often conflating ‘religion’, ‘Christianity’, and ‘faith’. Yet, rather than dismissing such frames as distortions, the article argues for a strategic engagement with them. Media moments like these can be used to advance more nuanced, interdisciplinary discussions on religion, identity, and belonging in contemporary Dutch society.