Religious movements in Korea

The proliferation of new religions in South Korea in the last hundred years mirrors the turbulent recent history of the country, according to Macquarie University research.

The proliferation of new religions in South Korea in the last hundred years mirrors the turbulent recent history of the country.

Macquarie University anthropologist Dr Kirsten Bell, who is studying the emergence of these movements and their role in people's lives, says they typically grow out of a dissatisfaction with the existing religious and social values, and at times of radical cultural stress.

"They attract people because they say they have the answers and can save society," says Bell. "They are generally characterised by a messianic figure with a message of salvation from the evident woes of the world."

Bell says the threat of domination by western powers at the end of the 1800s, culminating in colonisation by the Japanese in 1910, together with internal unrest resulting from the oppression of the peasant classes, was fertile ground for the growth of new religious movements in Korea. Over 200 movements emerged during the twentieth century, all promising to transform society so that things would become better for their oppressed followers. Some, like the Unification Church (the "Moonies") have achieved international notoriety, others are tiny, with only a handful of followers.

Bell says all the Korean movements are a mixture of many different religious forms. Cheondogyo ('religion of the heavenly way'), for example, is a mix of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, with a smattering of elements of Christianity.

Its leader, Choe Je-u, was the illegitimate son of a high-caste man and a twice-married woman and was thus refused access to positions of importance in society. In 1860 he had a spiritual revelation in which God spoke to him, telling him that all other religions were wrong and that all humans had God within them. This meant that all people were equal, including women.

Outraged at this radical philosophy, the government beheaded Choe Je-u and persecuted his followers in an attempt to suppress the movement. But successors were waiting in the wings and the movement survived and prospered, eventually spearheading an uprising against the government in 1894.

When the Korean government sought help from China, Japan also sent in troops. Cheondogyo became a highly influential anti-Japanese quasi-political movement, sparking the Sino-Japanese War through which the Japanese gained control of Korea and held it until the end of the Second World War.

Membership of the movement peaked in 1919 but has since declined steadily. Today there are only an estimated 26,000 followers. However, these people believe they will have an important role to play in a reunified Korea when membership will again explode.

Dr Bell's work in Korea is on-going, with further comparative studies planned.
Contact: kbell@scmp.mq.edu.au

August 2003

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