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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 6:52 am Post subject: Korean Church Association offended by Buddhist statues |
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Just noticed an article on this, and it's pretty relevant considering all the discussion on religion. Here it is.
(that's why it's in off-topic)
This is my quick translation of a few parts:
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The animals including the snake, dragon, mouse and so on have the face of an animal and the body of a human. According to the article some have described them as 'eerie'.
The association's bureau chief sent a message to the airport on May 26th saying that it was "thoughtless to propagate this under the guise of 'traditional culture' in a public space with public funds," and that they requested they be removed.
Response from the airport was that they installed the statues on the 18th to introduce Korean traditional culture to people visiting the country, and that they were undergoing a cultural airport project in order to make the airport into a hub of transportation. In the boarding area are places to experience Korean culture and exhibits of relics. The statues were made through the cooperation of the National Museum of Korea, and cost a total of $70,000 to make. |
My opinion is that they're completely unfounded in requesting that they be removed. I am curious however about whether the atheists here are just as outraged by public funds being used for Buddhist statues as they likely are by the Church Association requesting they be removed.
Also, anybody seen these in person? They just went up last week.
One thing Koreans really don't understand about foreign visitors though, is that often they *want* eerie, and are very often disappointed by the lack of it. Eerie stone statues = cool,
= gay. (if you're offended by the word gay, pretend I wrote 'lame' instead) |
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Pyongshin Sangja
Joined: 20 Apr 2003
Location: I love baby!
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:22 am Post subject: |
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| Maybe they'll add to the long history of Korean Christians firebombing Korean Buddhist churches. |
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Join Me
Joined: 14 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| I have come to accept the fact that anything that Korea does which involves the word "hub" is destined to failure from the moment it is conceived. They have some sort of "hub" curse I believe. |
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Stevie_B
Joined: 14 May 2008
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 7:37 am Post subject: |
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| Join Me wrote: |
| I have come to accept the fact that anything that Korea does which involves the word "hub" is destined to failure from the moment it is conceived. They have some sort of "hub" curse I believe. |
Yep, you can't spell 'hubris' without 'hub'. |
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SirFink
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 10:34 am Post subject: |
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| In related news... visiting Jews offended by the all swastikas on Buddhist temples. |
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Temporary
Joined: 13 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 11:14 am Post subject: |
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Idiots..
Thank god I stoped being religious when I hit age of reason..
I must have been 5 years old or so when that happened. |
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Vancouver
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 12:43 pm Post subject: |
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| SirFink wrote: |
| In related news... visiting Jews offended by the all swastikas on Buddhist temples. |
the swastika was stolen from hitler. It's basically the reversed version of the buddhist/indian symbol of i think peace |
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Bibbitybop
Joined: 22 Feb 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Vancouver wrote: |
| SirFink wrote: |
| In related news... visiting Jews offended by the all swastikas on Buddhist temples. |
the swastika was stolen from hitler. It's basically the reversed version of the buddhist/indian symbol of i think peace |
I think you mean "by Hitler."
The original symbol also was used by churches. Maps used the symbol to indicate a church in the same manner the symbol still indicates a temple in Korea. |
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ED209
Joined: 17 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:30 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Church Association offended by Buddhist statues |
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| mithridates wrote: |
I am curious however about whether the atheists here are just as outraged by public funds being used for Buddhist statues as they likely are by the Church Association requesting they be removed.
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Haven't seen them. Doubt I'd be outraged. Animal heads on human bodies sounds kinda cool. Kinda reminds me of thundercats. I suppose you can argue this is just tourism and that if you flew in to Cairo you'd expect to see some kind of jackal headed god their to great you or Zeus to show you through customs at Athens. Though admittedly those are largely dead religions. There's also a matter of heritage.
I'm not too sure I'd want St.Paul's or Westminster Cathedrals to fall to ruin for lack of public money either. Maybe the airport could stick some bright red neon crosses in the corner or something. Or set up one of those nativity scenes where Joseph and Mary are wearing Hanbok.
As a westerner it's hard to see these statues as anything more than quaint artefacts promoting tourism not religion. It's difficult for me to see any doctrine being promoted here. Maybe an atheist from a Buddhist background would be more concerned. Perhaps if they were to be placed in all schools and courts it would be imposing a belief system.
But yeah eerie over gay/lame any day. |
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Underwaterbob
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Location: In Cognito
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 4:46 pm Post subject: |
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How are these statues Buddhist exactly? Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about Buddhism but I don't recall anything about anthropomorphic animals.
I'm guessing they're a part of Korea's traditional Shamanism, something similar to Shinto in Japan. In which case they're from a religion nearly as dead as that of ancient Greece. I don't think anyone's promoting a religious agenda. |
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Fishead soup
Joined: 24 Jun 2007
Location: Korea
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| Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Bibbitybop wrote: |
| Vancouver wrote: |
| SirFink wrote: |
| In related news... visiting Jews offended by the all swastikas on Buddhist temples. |
the swastika was stolen from hitler. It's basically the reversed version of the buddhist/indian symbol of i think peace |
I think you mean "by Hitler."
The original symbol also was used by churches. Maps used the symbol to indicate a church in the same manner the symbol still indicates a temple in Korea. |
Canadian all girls floor hockey teams in 1918 wore t-shirts with swastika's. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 2:55 am Post subject: Re: Korean Church Association offended by Buddhist statues |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| I am curious however about whether the atheists here are just as outraged by public funds being used for Buddhist statues as they likely are by the Church Association requesting they be removed. |
What an amazingly silly question. As a non citizen and one who doesn't pay Korean taxes, I'll reserve my ire for something else. But as a blanket rule, no government should spend money on the promotion of any religion. But should a government put pacific coast indian totem poles in museums. Isn't that religion?
Sorry, mith, just because you can't tell the difference between promotion of religion and preservation of history and art, doesn't mean atheists can't.
What religion do you actually subscribe to? |
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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 3:32 am Post subject: Re: Korean Church Association offended by Buddhist statues |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| But as a blanket rule, no government should spend money on the promotion of any religion. But should a government put pacific coast indian totem poles in museums. Isn't that religion? |
I don't know, do you consider that religion? Hence the question. Pretend you're Korean and it's your tax money.
Also, as a Canadian what would you consider to be promotion of religion and what counts as just culture? |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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Most of us posting here don't have to pretend it's our tax money- if we're working here it is our money. But I digress.
I think where the statues are will affect their status as cultural and historic versus promoting religion. If they're in an airport, it's pretty clear that that qualifies as cultural. Permanent structures in a school without any figures from other religions might qualify as religious. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: Korean Church Association offended by Buddhist statues |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| mindmetoo wrote: |
| But as a blanket rule, no government should spend money on the promotion of any religion. But should a government put pacific coast indian totem poles in museums. Isn't that religion? |
I don't know, do you consider that religion? Hence the question. Pretend you're Korean and it's your tax money.
Also, as a Canadian what would you consider to be promotion of religion and what counts as just culture? |
Ummm totem poles aren't part of a native american religion?
Just find it very very weird a clear example of religious intolerance by christians you some how want to frame as a demonstration of inconsistency by atheists. You're really really really really really out to lunch on this. |
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