AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Three Dutch Protestant churches formally agreed Friday to put aside their ideological differences and merge, the culmination of a process that began more than 40 years ago.
The Dutch Reformed Church, the Calvinist Reformist Church, and the small Lutheran Church will unite to form the Protestant Church of the Netherlands. They represent about 2.2 million churchgoers.
In much of the country, the churches already have been merged in practice for some time.
The synods of the three churches approved the merger by large majorities at three separate meetings in Utrecht, 30 miles southeast of Amsterdam, Dutch national television reported.
Approval required a two-thirds vote of the Dutch Reformed and Calvinist Reformist synods, and three-fourths of the Lutherans. Some swing voters were persuaded by a last-minute amendment to the new church's charter allowing the merger to be dissolved after four years if members were unhappy.
Although the new church won't officially exist until May 1, 2004, a service is planned for Friday evening in Utrecht and will be broadcast on television Sunday morning.
The service is being held on neutral territory — a Roman Catholic Church on Utrecht's main square — and will be attended by leaders of the three churches and by Cardinal Adrianus Simonis.
Queen Beatrix also will attend, signifying approval of the royal house, which is by tradition Dutch Reformed.
Conservative members of the Dutch Reformed Church viewed the merger with "great apprehension," but decided that unifying the church was more important, chairman Arie van der Plas was quoted saying by the Dutch broadcaster NOS.
The Reformed Church represents 15 percent of the Netherlands' 16 million people, followed by the Calvinist Reformist Church at 7 percent and the Lutherans at less than 1 percent.
The daily newspaper Trouw, which has a large religious readership, reported that small ultraconservative minorities of the two larger denominations are likely to break with the new church and file lawsuits over church funds and real estate.
"Compromises made on ideology mean that the new Protestant Church will be permissive, allowing gay marriages and women priests — things many local congregations have little use for," Trouw wrote.
Although religious competition played an important role in Dutch history, many people abandoned their churches in the last half century, and now nearly 40 percent of the country identifies itself as agnostic or atheist.
Roman Catholicism remains the country's largest religion, representing around 30 percent of the population. Islam has about 5 percent. Small but significant numbers of Dutch are practicing Jews, Hindus and Buddhists.