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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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 Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:34 pm Post subject: South Korea churches' beacons an eyesore to some |
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The glare of neon lights atop restaurants, motels and retail stores has become such a blight that legislators this year passed a law to limit what they called "excessive illumination from artificial light."
Park Young-ah, a lawmaker with the ruling Grand National Party, worried about the long-term health effects of such glare. "Systematic control of light pollution and standards for the appropriate level of light do not exist," she wrote in her bill proposal.
Churches were originally included in the legislation, but massive protests and lobbying efforts staged by numerous church councils made politicians back down.
"We really didn't expect the religious groups to interpret the bill to be anti-Christian and react like this," said Park's spokesman, Noh Chang-hoon.
Kim Un-tae insists that any effort to dim the night crosses is a "foolish" attack on religious freedom. Because the mission of the church goes beyond the pursuit of capital gain, their leaders should not be subjected to a blanket government law, he reasoned.
"We don't like to use the word exception, but yes, we do believe that one should be made," said Kim, who years ago left his church to become director of the Christian Council of Korea, which represents 50,000 churches nationwide.
Still, critics say the churches are ignoring neighbors who struggle to sleep with the red neon lights shining through their bedroom windows. "Honestly, I don't believe the brighter the cross, the closer we get to God," one Seoul official told the local JoongAng Daily newspaper, requesting anonymity. |
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-south-korea-crosses-20110821,0,6906628.story
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One blogger who calls himself Cha documented his own battle with church officials who refuse to dim their cross. "It's so much like daytime at night that I'm chronically sleep-deprived," he wrote.
But complaints by residents of his apartment building have failed. City officials say all they can do is make suggestions to the church. The cross is now extinguished at 11:30 p.m., half an hour earlier, but it is switched on again at 4 a.m. |
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Reggie
Joined: 21 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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| I would hate to see the neon lighting go. Whether it's love motels or churches, it's something that makes the neighborhoods look cool. |
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ZIFA
Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Location: Dici che il fiume..Trova la via al mare
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| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:52 pm Post subject: |
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Why does this article specifically attack churches I wonder.
There are numerous buildings with neon signs, not just churches.
If anything churches have relatively small red crosses. Its the dazzling white shopfronts that cause the most "light pollution".
In any case I always enjoyed the blaze of neon in Korea. |
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lalartu
Joined: 29 Apr 2008
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| Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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well...Koreans love to complain about all sorts of random crap
just recently, someone tried to sue a neighbour for having a golden retriever...their reasoning was: "I had a heart attack and your dog may cause me to have another one!"
they obviously lost |
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ulanalee
Joined: 30 May 2011
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| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:30 am Post subject: |
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| ZIFA wrote: |
| Why does this article specifically attack churches I wonder. |
Churches have been exempt from the light pollution laws that have recently been passed. This article is saying that neighbors want the churches to also have to adhere to the law. |
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ZIFA
Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Location: Dici che il fiume..Trova la via al mare
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| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:40 am Post subject: |
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| lalartu wrote: |
| just recently, someone tried to sue a neighbour for having a golden retriever...their reasoning was: "I had a heart attack and your dog may cause me to have another one!" |
Got a link for that?
It just sounds so ridiculous.
Someone obviously has an abnormal, extreme psychopathic fear of dogs. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 1:20 am Post subject: |
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| ZIFA wrote: |
| lalartu wrote: |
| just recently, someone tried to sue a neighbour for having a golden retriever...their reasoning was: "I had a heart attack and your dog may cause me to have another one!" |
Got a link for that?
It just sounds so ridiculous.
Someone obviously has an abnormal, extreme psychopathic fear of dogs. |
That would be about 40% of Koreans. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Maybe this sounds silly, but isn't that what blinds are for? Pull em down and block out all the light. Get a good dark night's sleep. Problem solved. |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:58 pm Post subject: |
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| I think it's quite ugly and tasteless the way they dominate the sky line of any Korean town or city at night. To my eyes they are certainly a lot more prominent than typical neon business signs above shops |
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Illysook
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
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| Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:03 pm Post subject: |
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| This whole country is ablaze in multicolored lights almost everywhere you from the churches to the coffee shops, to the nightclubs, to those establishments with the brightly lit double barberpoles and the total effect is sorta pretty or at least interesting. Why the hate? |
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Squire
Joined: 26 Sep 2010
Location: Jeollanam-do
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| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:10 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Illysook"]This whole country is ablaze in multicolored lights almost everywhere you from the churches to the coffee shops, to the nightclubs, to those establishments with the brightly lit double barberpoles and the total effect is sorta pretty or at least interesting. Why the hate?[
/quote]
The others lights you mention are typically fixed to the sides of buildings. The crosses are always held above them so are more prominent |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:19 am Post subject: |
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| The red neon crosses have a freaky Jesus meets Vegas vibe to them. Either that or the Klan ran out of wood crosses and went for neon instead. Just plain eerie looking - more like a satanic cult look to them than a pious look. On the other hand, they do go well with the spinning barber poles when they are on the same building - making for a one stop slop shop with confession/prayer/forgiveness afterwards. All's well that ends well. |
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pegasus64128
Joined: 20 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 8:41 am Post subject: |
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| Squire wrote: |
| I think it's quite ugly and tasteless the way they dominate the sky line of any Korean town or city at night. To my eyes they are certainly a lot more prominent than typical neon business signs above shops |
But that might be association with what we're used to. At first, I found most structures in Korea to be an eye-sore - apartment buildings, factory-like sheds etc. Where I come from at least, there are no shed type buildings or apartments not on the scale of Korea at least), so you just get used to the Korean structures. Churches are very different to the churches I know. They actually don't dominate as much here. They're just treated like ordinary buildings, only they have neon. |
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cwflaneur
Joined: 04 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Mix1 wrote: |
| The red neon crosses have a freaky Jesus meets Vegas vibe to them. Either that or the Klan ran out of wood crosses and went for neon instead. Just plain eerie looking - more like a satanic cult look to them than a pious look. On the other hand, they do go well with the spinning barber poles when they are on the same building - making for a one stop slop shop with confession/prayer/forgiveness afterwards. All's well that ends well. |
Great post. That sums it up.
Korea wouldn't be Korea without those things. |
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