Christians Overtaking S Korea, Buddhists Worry

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008 Posted: 3:41:27PM HKT

Members of the Yoido Full Gospel Church praying in the 15,000-seater auditorium in the church building in Seoul.

Worried South Korean Buddhists are protesting against what they perceive as Christianity's increasing dominance over the nation's politics, especially in the light of the current man in office.

"Peace between religions is threatened by those who dream of turning the country into a medieval Christian kingdom by a church elder-president," said Park Jeong Kyu, president of Jogye Order, the country’s largest and most influential Buddhist movement, referring to incumbent President Lee Myung Bak, a Presbyterian elder, according to Religious Intelligence.

The paper noted that although former leaders of the country have been Christians it is under President Lee that the gap in relations with Buddhism has become a political issue.

The country’s Buddhists have been especially wary of the current leader, from the time he took power in February, finding fault with the fact that his support base is made up of conservative Protestant churches that are perceived by Buddhists and generally Koreans as being “aggressive” in their proselytising and “disrespectful” toward other faiths, and with a vow he took while he was Mayor of Seoul in which he consecrated the city to the glory of God.

Buddhists have been offended by the remarks and actions of some zealous Protestant pastors and Christians.

For example, Christian fundamentalists have vandalised statues of Dangun, the nation’s mythical founder, increasing numbers of Protestants have refused to take part in Confucian ancestor worship, holiday rituals that used to be performed in all families regardless of their religious affiliation, and preachers have called for the “collapse of Buddhist temples” and the conversion of Buddhist monks to Christianity, while conservative groups organised outdoor rallies, denouncing both North Korea’s leaders and the leftist government in Seoul as “Satanic” during Lee’s two liberal predecessors, according to International Herald Tribune.

Tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and lay people who formed a march in central Seoul in August accusing Lee and his government of discriminating against Buddhists and favouring Protestants and using the government as a proselytising tool appealed to various episodes, according to the International Herald Tribune.

For instance, Buddhists were critical of the religious make-up of Lee’s cabinet, of whose 16 members, 13 are Christians, with only one Buddhist, and the rest being freethinkers.

They also pointed out that a map of greater Seoul posted by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs on its website had omitted Buddhist temples, even famous ones, while marking the locations of even minor Christian churches.

The protestors also brought out an event in which police officers trying to arrest anti-U.S. beef protestors who had taken refuge in the Jogye Temple stopped and searched the car of Jigwan, the head of the Jogye Order, and a statement by the public relations secretary, also a Protestant pastor, whereby he called the protestors “Satans”.

Moreover, they criticised Lee for inviting a prominent Protestant minister to say the prayer at a lunch the president hosted for the U.S. president, George W Bush, at the presidential Blue House.

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Edmond Chua
edmond@christianpost.com