Korean Job Discussion Forums

lucas_p · Joined: 17 Sep 2007

(Aware that this may have been a topic brought up in years past)

Now, I am looking into some REAL insight as to why it seems Koreans just fall for religions like no other peoples I have observed.

Christians, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, even Buddhists are making a comeback. I have never been confronted with so many people trying to sell me their religion, nor have I seen the sheer amount of fanaticism (save for a small small pocket here and there in America, or Israel (but this has been established in that area for centuries of tradition)) associated with these religions.

Why do you think Korea, of all places, is such a hotbed for conversion -- why is everyone so willing to suck up everything like a sponge? These followers are NOT casual -- they are INTO it.....

It really does baffle me, and maybe there is some history or culture thing I am missing as to why this is the case.

agoodmouse · Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Location: Anyang

You see how Koreans, if they go for a casual hike or walk about town, go full out and don North Face gear, bring oxygen tanks, and two sherpas to carry three week supplies of kimchi as if they're making a final assault on K2. Why do you think they'd do anything less concerning man's ultimate destination, eternity?

VanIslander · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:04 pm Post subject:

a long history of building alliances and affiliations from the local outward, with insider/outsider distinctions between families, villages, provinces, kingdoms, countries (in that order of affiliation)

and the longstanding role of the mudang as a medium to the spirit world supports a catholic view in the rural regions and the Confucius effort to remove the middleman (er, woman) and make relationships with ancestors a direct one bodes well for protestant churches in more urban locales

korean habits of behaviour and belief map on well to many adopted religions

they make personal relationships with others and stick together that way, believe in ghosts and the eternal life of the soul in that regard, and are ambitious to preserve what they have and struggle for the future

laogaiguk · Joined: 06 Dec 2005 Location: somewhere in Korea

Rock-Bottom Loser Entertaining Offers From Several Religions

Smile

lucas_p · Joined: 17 Sep 2007

cruisemonkey · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject:

agoodmouse · Joined: 20 Dec 2007 Location: Anyang

I tore out this letter to the editor in the IHT paper I was reading last night on the subway. It's a reply to an earlier article, Poll finds a fluid religious life in U.S..

luvnpeas · Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 10:24 pm Post subject:

I haven't noticed more fanaticism here than in the US. It does seem to me that there is more religious tolerance here.

GoldMember · Joined: 24 Oct 2006

Actually, it's a credit to the country, that there is in fact so much religous tolerance.
Yikes! GoldMember is actually saying something positive about Korea.
Personally I like to worship at the altar of women's breasts, I never get hassled by Koreans about my religious belief.

Now if we could just get rid of all of those damm, clitoris cutting, g string banning, young boy buggering Muslims, we'd be much better off!!

RACETRAITOR · Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea

I've noticed a huge amount of religious intolerance, mainly from Christians.

Omkara · Joined: 18 Feb 2006 Location: USA

Yes, there is a tendency for the Koreans to go full-on into religion.

I think it has to do with a way of thinking, certain epistmological faults which are also responsible for the fan-death phenomenon.

There is not yet a deep tradition established here of scientific inquiry, though top-notch scientists are here. Neither does there exist a tradition of questioning authority and widely held opinions. If it comes from an elder, from the media, it is quickly embraced.

But there is something more, too. The fanatical quality is an emotional factor which I cannot put my finger on.

Ukon · Joined: 29 Jan 2008

Well China obviously doesn't welcome missionaries.
Japan has had a long history of kicking out and banning christians....plus I imagine it's much more expensive to set up missionaries there.

Thailand is pretty set on buddhism
Good luck trying to convert Muslims in Muslim countries provided they don't kick you out first.

Christian nations in the region obviously don't need missionaries.

Korea sounds like it fills a niche...Spiritual open for buisness, but nothing against missionaries.

nomad-ish · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:52 pm Post subject:

VanIslander · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 4:59 pm Post subject:

lucas_p · Joined: 17 Sep 2007

Huh, maybe those stats haven't been updated, because I live outside of Seoul, and it seems like I always am meeting Christians, and almost all the people I know are Christians ... and I certainly don't actively meet them. And going into a house and noticing a crucifix right over the doorway, and the hoards of people rushing to the 15 churches in one block....