religion

In 2005, a survey of religion in South Korea found that while 46.5% of the Korean population said they had no religious preference, the two biggest religious groups in South Korea were Buddhism (22.8%) and Christianity (18.3%).

Since we have often talked about the role of Buddhism in class, I wanted to focus on Christianity in South Korea and how it came to have a strong presence there. Although Roman Catholicism appeared at the end of the Chosun dynasty, many believers were persecuted because the religion was seen to be subversive to the government. However, after Korea began to open itself to the outside world, many Protestant missionaries came to the peninsula. The first Protestant missionary in Korea was Horace Newton Allen, who came in 1884 and stayed until 1890. Other missionaries came to Korea as well: Douglas Brav Avison, Henry Dodge Appenzeller, and Homer B. Hulbert. These missionaries had a great impact, because as the statistics show, Christianity now has a high prevalence in Korean society.

Horace Newton Allen

The gravestone of missionary, Homer B. Hulbert

I thought that it was interesting that Christianity, a now common religion in Korea, was once seen as a subversive act against the government. However, I quickly realized how this had happened before in Korean history. At the end of the Koryo dynasty, Buddhism was seen as a lower religion and was seen as a religion that brought the fall of the Koryo dynasty. Therefore, the Korean people were highly discouraged to practice Buddhism, and, instead, were encouraged follow neo-Confucian ways. In general, I think it is interesting to see how religion can either be means to propagate or threaten a government.