The atheist political columnist and molecular biologist Ronald Plasterk (who later served as the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations) published a piece in 1997 in the magazine "Intermediar" in which he used the word. The term became widely known in the Netherlands after Plasterk used it in a feature for the television programme "Buitenhof". In October 2005, the word "ietsisme" was included in the 14th edition of the Dutch Language Dictionary "Dikke Van Dale".