Footnote 75, Chapter 8, Page 256:

More evidence of the decreasing influence of historical cleavages in the Netherlands is provided in the following passage. “Theo Toonen observes that “everyone seems to agree things have been changing within the institutional order of Dutch society- conveniently labeled ‘depillarisation’- since the end of the 1960s.” Thung et al. cite figures collected by Van den Berg and Molleman that indicate a massive decrease in the “political orthodoxy… index” among Catholics, a substantial drop within the Neo-Calvinist segment, and also a “slight” decline among the Dutch Reformed religious group. This decrease in “political orthodoxy” could not be completely explained by the decline in church-going by these groups and Van den Berg and Molleman concluded that “[i]t is no longer self-evident…for a member of one denomination to vote for the party traditionally associated with that denomination.” The loyalty between organizations representing the same confessional group also decreased during this period and the religious blocs had “lost cohesion while the ideological basis of the constituent organisations was gradually changing or even disappearing.” Warren Miller and Philip Stouthard conducted quantitative analysis for a 1975 publication which suggested a “drop of almost 40% in the confessional vote” since the end of World War 2 and a widespread “rejection of institutionalized religion.””