It seeks for government to uphold Christian morality, but supports freedom of religion under the doctrine of sphere sovereignty.

The RPF explicitly stated in its manifesto of principles that it sought to unite all reformed parties in the Netherlands.

The RPF, GPV and SGP were testimonial parties, which chose to voice their concerns about government policy, while acknowledging that they were not big enough to force their opinion upon others.

In the 1989 general election they formed an electoral alliance in order to enhance their chances of obtaining seats.

He had been good at keeping the peace internally in a party still somewhat divided between the old GPV and RPF memberships, but had not appealed well enough to the population at large.

4 on the list) was elected with preference votes and this time former RPF leader Leen van Dijke (no.

In 2004 the two organisations RPF and GPV officially ceased to exist, making final the fusion into the CU.

In 2007 Yvette Lont, a CU municipal council member for Amsterdam, expressed the view that homosexuals should not be admitted to representative functions within the party.

Also in 2007, municipal council member Monique Heger decided to resign from office, because she had recently discovered that she was a lesbian, and she and her (female) partner moved in together.

After the collapse of the Balkenende cabinet, the Christian Union no longer had representatives in government; Rouvoet returned to parliament as leader of the CU parliamentary group until he left politics in April/May 2011.

In October 2013, the second Rutte cabinet (VVD and PvdA), lacking a majority in the Senate, reached a budgetary agreement with the CU, the Reformed Political Party (SGP) and the Democrats 66 (D66).

The term "purple with the Bible" had already been used in February that year, when the same parties reached an agreement on modernising the housing market.

After the 2017 general election, the Christian Union became part of the third Rutte cabinet, as a minor coalition partner to the VVD, CDA and D66.

The party has three representatives in the current cabinet: minister Carola Schouten for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, Arie Slob, Minister for Primary Education, Secondary Education and Media and Paul Blokhuis, State Secretary for Health, Welfare and Sports.

Other Christian principles, like neighbourly love and stewardship for the Earth, however have given the CU's political program a centre-left orientation.

Described as centrist and Orthodox Protestant, it has an emphasis on the community, social solidarity, support for a welfare state, and support for some regulation of market forces but is more conservative on some social issues opposition to euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, same-sex marriage, abortion, and some elements of the EU.

[13][20] The party supports Dutch membership of the European Union to ensure peace and prosperity, and to counter the influence of Russia and China, while simultaneously being critical of several EU policies which it claims are undemocratic and "mainly benefits large companies and the upper middle classes."

The electorate is concentrated in the smaller rural districts in the so-called "Bible Belt" an area of more conservative Christian municipalities that reaches from Overijssel, through the Veluwe and the Biesbos to Zeeland.

The party is also drawing support from a growing number of conservative Roman Catholics, dissatisfied with the less Christian policies of the CDA.

During the provincial elections of 2007 the party fielded two Roman Catholic candidates on their shortlist of the province of Limburg.

The party's scientific institute is the Mr. Groen van Prinsterer Foundation, which publishes the DenkWijzer (ThoughtWiser).

Together with conservative Protestant schools, papers like the Nederlands Dagblad and the Reformatorisch Dagblad, the Protestant broadcaster Evangelische Omroep, several Reformed churches they constitute the conservative or orthodox Reformed pillar (Dutch zuil).