The primary reason for our visit to the Dutch Parliament was to have lunch with Don Ceder, a member of parliament for the ChristenUnie, one of three explicitly Christian political parties which currently holds three seats in the Tweede Kamer. Ceder is a lawyer who has served in parliament since 2021. He studied law at the Free University (VU) in Amsterdam. He has paternal roots in Suriname, a former Dutch territory in South America that became independent in 1975, and maternal roots in Ghana. He had requested this meeting because he had read and appreciated my first book, Political Visions and Illusions. The three of us ate in the parliamentary dining room at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67, the temporary home of the Tweede Kamer during the Binnenhof's extensive renovations. We had a great conversation together, and I very much enjoyed getting to know Ceder, who struck me as being a thoughtful person and conscientious legislator.
After our meeting, Ceder posted on his Linkedin page about the time we spent together. Here is the automatic English translation:
This afternoon I had the pleasure of having lunch with David Koyzis in Parliament.
His book 'Political Visions and Illusions: A Survey and Christian Critique of Contemporary Ideologies' has played an important role in the formation of my political thinking.
Koyzis shows in a penetrating way how behind the major political schools of thought lies a deeper view of man. And challenges everyone to always critically test those schools of thought against the promise that the human and worldview that lies behind them carries with it.
As a supporter of a Christian-social view of man, this helped me to look more closely at my own arguments and pitfalls. In addition, it gave me tools to more easily start the conversation about other political beliefs.
It was therefore special to be able to exchange ideas with David personally. A good conversation about politics, society, faith and the responsibility we bear for the choices we make.
Thank you for the nice lunch and the inspiring conversation, David. I hope this wasn't the last time.
I deeply appreciate Ceder's kind words for my book. They mean a lot to me. I do indeed hope that we will be able to meet again at some point. Already I am missing the marvellous people I met during my visit to the Netherlands.
A few more photographs of our visit to Parliament:
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| With Abraham Kuyper |
In the lobby of Bezuidenhoutseweg 67 there is a small model of the temporary facilities of the Dutch Tweede Kamer, showing the chamber where the members meet, as well as other parts of the building:
In the lobby I also met with two more people who had come to meet and talk with me. One of them was Evert van Vlastuin, a journalist who has interviewed several Nobel Peace Prize winners. Until recently he was editor in chief of CNE.news and is now head of the parliamentary editorial team for the Christian daily, Reformatorisch Dagblad (RD). The second person was his younger colleague Joas Ijzerman, political editor for RD. I believe that they will be writing an article about our conversation for RD at some point. When it appears, I will alert readers.
Following our time in Den Haag, Hildebrand and I drove about 100 kilometres east to the city of Amersfoort, where I would be speaking to the Scientific Institute of the ChristenUnie at their headquarters in the city's main railway station.
Next: Nederland 2026, 8: ChristenUnie
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