So let us find out a little more about the ChristenUnie, the orthodox Christian party that now seems likely to end up in government alongside the Christian Democrats and the PvdA (Labour).

The party’s website is clear: ‘We, members of the ChristianUnion… have the common goal to influence government and society based upon our Christian convictions…. A government that puts God’s commands into practice serves society in the best way.
‘God created everything perfectly. Unfortunately the world has been defiled by man’s disobedience. That’s why society needs an authority that holds back, and fights against, evil’.
Serious stuff. The ChristenUnie is anti-abortion (unless the mother’s life is in danger), anti-euthanasia, anti-gay marriage, anti-Sunday shopping and anti-stem cell research. It is pro banning brothels and pro blasphemy laws.
Not that any of this is likely to become part of a new coalition agreement. ChristenUnie leader André Rouvoet is too clever and too realistic for that. And Labour leader Wouter Bos would never agree either.
But it is ironic – given all the thundering about Islam and its conflict with Dutch liberal values – that the new Dutch government seems set include an orthodox religious party after all.