Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthews_world]

Aren't we getting a little off-topic here gang? How have the last few posts been tied to hagwons?

[On the other hand]

Matthew's World:

I believe that the relative merits of Buddhism and Christianity are played out most visibly in the social organizations which both systems give rise to, with sociological, spiritual, and ethical implications in the realms of politics, literature, family systems, economic structures, interpersonal relations, and hagwons.

[desultude]

I actually find Korea to be much more open regarding religion than the United States. I have talked with my students, at a Christian university, about religion in their families. I find an amazing mix of faiths in most of their families. Some students identify themselves as atheists, with Budhist parents and a brother or sister who is Catholic, and maybe a Shamanist grandmother. Some say that their families have no religion. I have had some students say that they were looking at different faiths because they knew that as they got older, they would need "comfort."

Think about the United States- how many public officials would dare identify themselves as atheists? We have had one Catholic president, and the rest have been Christian, mostly Babtists of late. Christianity is everywhere in the States- prayer leads off most official meetings, it is stamped on our money even (at least God is).

In the United States there is freedom of religion, as long as you have one. The hierarchy of preference is Protestant Christianity first, Catholicism second, and Judaism a distant third. After that, with religions such as Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, you are certainly a bit suspect. Outside of bohemian and academic circles, being an atheist is not really acceptable. You can be excused from a variety of situations in the U.S. based on religious conviction- things such as hair length, head dress, religious holidays, etc., are excusable if you can site a religious basis for your exemption. But atheism is not an excuse for anything.

The only proselytizing I have encountered in Daegu has been with Jehovah's Witnesses, at the local E-Mart (almost everytime I go there!). My black colleague and I just tell them that we are Jewish- it has the same effect as if we had said we had SARS- very effective.

[steroidmaximus]

Thanks to Gang Ah Jee for the link. Interesting stuff, although some of it is total blow hard. . .wait. . .just like here! oops

Wow, I agree with Corporal too. Always remember folks, it ain't religion, it's people, and people do all kinds of crazy things. They may claim it's in the name of religion, but when it gets down to it, it is people and only people. If you've got a cruddy boss who claims to be Christian but who nickles and dimes you to death (not like I'm speaking from personal experience or anything ), don't blame religion. And no, I'm not proselytizing for any group in case you're wondering. Except maybe the church of the subgenius. Those folks are whacked out enough to warrant a few choice words on their behalf. You too can become a priest (-ess) / minister / shaman for only a mere 20 bucks sent to my address. . ..

As for how Christianity made it to Korea, well the Jesuits have been here for some 250 years at least. There were several massacres back in the late 1700's and 1800's, huge groups of foreign missionaries (mostly Catholic) and Koreans getting beheaded and 'stuff'. Due to these efforts, Christianity was never that huge until after the Korean war, when another wave of missionaries came over, but that time they were mostly Protestant which accounts for the huge number of Protestant sects floating around. This was thanks to American efforts to 'rebuild' and 'strengthen' Korea, and since America is mostly a Protestant nation, well there you have it: mostly Protestant missionaries. But if you go driving around the countryside, you'd be very surprised at the amount of old European style Catholic churches you'd run into in the strangest places. Some of these churches are 100-150 years old. You'd think you were in some small village in the French or Portugese countryside or something. . .

PS did you know that the moonies were originally a Korean Protestant sect? Hilarious!

[William Beckerson]

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Desault Dude wrote:

[On the other hand]

Another thing I've noticed in Korea is that many non-Catholics seem to regard the Church of Rome as separate from Christianity. Even the immigration form I signed listed "Christian" and "Catholic" separately. And, if you ask non-Catholics about the C of R, many will tell you that Catholics worship "Maria", and not even mention Christ. I wonder if this has anything to do with the hegemony of a possibly pope-bashing Presbyterianism over here(mind you, anyone looking at a typical Catholic church could be forgiven for thinking they do, in fact, worship Mary as the chief deity).

[desultude]

Hey Great Wall- I love what you have done to my name, I feel like I should be driving a big old Desoto, the one with the heart piercing fins, with a cigar hanging out of my mouth, and Ann Margaret in the passenger seat trailing a pink silk scarf over her blonde bouffant.

Yeah, I know that hypocracy percolates everywhere, and some Christians have a very limited view of love thy neighbor. The question is, what is the common denominator in their bigotry- race, nationality, religion, or idiocy?

I meant that the general culture seems to have a very open attitude towards religion, I am sure that there are a lot of specific incidences of regligious zealotry and bigotry. In your case, it doesn't even sound like religion is a factor.

[Alias]

[Medic]

What's with the moonies? The reverend Moon .... , the founder of the church of the brainwashed is Korean, and I seem to remember a mass wedding of their devotees in Seoul stadium awhile back. The German guy who speaks very good Korean, Lee Charm I think is his Korean name, is one of the head honchos of the Moonies too.

People here are a bit blind to what he really does, because he makes huge donations to certain groups. He ultimatly wants to get one of his devotees into the Korrean legislature, and rumour has it that he wants that to be a foreigner. Guess who?

[steroidmaximus]

Here are some links to the moonies, and religion in general in Korea:

http://www.unification.org/

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~asiactr/haq/200104/0104a002.htm

http://www.wilson.edu/Faculty/tem/bip/lectures/religion.htm

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/unification2.html

This last one is not a bad analysis of the moonies. The first is the official home page teehee.

you'd think I had a degree in Religious Studies or something looking at my favorites list. . .

[On the other hand]

Medic wrote: People here are a bit blind to what he really does, because he makes huge donations to certain groups".
This is only my personal experience, but most of the Koreans I've talked to about the Reverend Moon do not seem to have a favourable impression of the guy. Anyway, he is almost certainly more popular in American right-wing circles(ownership of THE WASHINGTON TIMES, funding of various anti-communist and "family value" groups) than he is with the average Korean.
All that said, I've known one or two of his followers, and they're actually pretty nice people.