The RPF was founded on 15 March 1975 by three groups of orthodox Christians. The first group were members of the Protestant
Anti-Revolutionary Party, secondly the National Evangelical Union, a small party which had earlier left the ARP, and several independent electoral committees. The founders opposed the formation of the
Christian Democratic Appeal, because the Protestant ARP and
Christian Historical Union would join the
Catholic People's Party. During the period of
pillarisation, the Catholics and Protestants had lived in a form of cold war. The RPF sought to unite all other orthodox Protestant Christian parties, namely the
Reformed Political League (GPV) and the
Reformed Political Party (SGP). In the subsequent
1977 general election, the RPF was unable to win any seats. In 1981, it won two seats in
House of Representatives (
Meindert Leerling and
Aad Wagenaar). In the period between 1981 and 2002, it had one to three members. It also won seats in the
Senate. The party remained in opposition throughout its existence. In 1985, one of its two members of parliament seceded from the party to form the Anti-Revolutionaries 1985, the party never got any seat. In 1996, RPF party leader
Leen van Dijke came under public criticism when the magazine
Nieuwe Revu had suggested that in an interview he had declared: "Why would stealing, for example committing social welfare fraud, be less of a sin than going against the seventh commandment? Yes, why should someone in a homosexual relationship be better than a thief?" When turmoil broke out, Van Dijke explained that he had meant to convey a universally accepted vision within Christianity that trespassing one of God's commandments makes a man guilty before God, and that all breaches herein are equal. But the general public, and especially the Dutch gay movement, criticised the statement as printed in
Nieuwe Revu heavily, considering it
discrimination. As such, the magazine
Gay Krant reported it to the Attorney General. In 1999 the Dutch high court ruled that Van Dijke's views were not discriminatory according to Dutch law. In 2001 he was cleared by the
Supreme Court of the Netherlands. From 1998, the RPF and GPV began to work closely together in parliament. In 2000, the
Christian Union, in which both would unite was officially founded. In 2002, it first contested in elections and won five seats. ==Linked organisations==