Churches and Prostitutes, ideal combination

When going to Amsterdam, religion was not something that popped in my mind. After having explored the city a bit, I realized there was little evidence of churches, which we later learned was not the case after our walking tour. Here is where I learned about religion and where it fits in at Amsterdam. Our tour guide moved to Amsterdam from New Zealand, and seemed like he had been doing it for a while, he had all his jokes down and all the different stops to make. We started our walking tour at the national monument and headed straight to the red light district. We stopped at the old church in Amsterdam, which is right in the middle of the district. Our first stop we stood in front of this church which was surround by a cul-de-sac of shops where there were coffee shops and prostitutes dancing in the windows at 11:00 am during the afternoon. Just this part was confusing to me and they seemed to contradict each other. As the tour guide continued, he started to describe the reason for such close proximity of the church to the sins. Amsterdam back then as it seems to still be now, was a 24 hours stop for the sailors or men to let loose, drink, and party before a long journey out to sea. As it first started off the church was so close, so that the sailors could wake up in the mornings and have enough time to repent their sins before their long journey, which they might not return from. It was interesting to hear this because it seemed like the general concept of religion was forgotten, or not fully understood. The sailors would still commit sins and pay for hookers even though the church was in plain sight of the bars and prostitutes. The lazier the sailors got the easier it was for them to commit sins and be repented. The church created a system that allowed the sailors to go in before hand, tell the priest what they intend to do and got forgiven before anything even happened. The placement of the few churches that I saw in this area, started to make a lot more sense. The organization of Amsterdam city was strategically planned, as it used the cannels to its’ advantage, and made sure everything was easily accessible, which would lead to better business. Although one didn’t have to pay to use the church, the placement of it, eased people into traveling there bringing business to hotels, restaurants, and even the prostitutes. This part of the tour stood out to me because it seemed like religion was being used in a different way then its original purpose. All the organization that went into the businesses and buildings in the red light district had different meaning then just what it might come off as, they all seemed to be growing off of each other, and looking for business and a profit

Tour Company: http://www.newamsterdamtours.com/nat/
History of Church: http://www.oudekerk.nl/english.htm