1975-2001: Dutch History Photo Commissions > Church in transformation
Exhibition: 1983-1984
Decreasing church attendance and religious leaders whose authority is in decline. A development that has being taking place since the sixties. On the other hand, churches became more and more aware of social issues. For instance, church organisations opposed the Cold War nuclear arms race at the beginning of the eighties.
Another form of change was the 'separation of minds.' On the one hand there were the faithful who wanted to maintain their traditional belief, without too many doubts and soul searching. On the other hand there were people who sought to give religion a more social interpretation. The two parties quarrelled about issues such as homosexuality, the stationing of cruise missiles, mission funding of the resistance in El Salvador, women priests and relief centres for drug addicts.
These subjects were captured by the photographers Hans Aarsman, Harry Meijer and Oscar van Alphen, who showed the progressive as well as the regressive tendencies in the church. Van Alphen’s point of view was that the church was not changing at all. He grouped his photographs under keywords such as virtue, loyalty, guilt and penance.
