Religious Use of Politics Or Political Use of Religion?
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KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 49 No. 3 Religious Use of Politics or Political Use of Religion?: A Case Study of the Relationship between Politics and Christian New Religious Movements in Korea since the Korean War TARK Ji-il, Ph.D. Professor, History of Christianity Busan Presbyterian University, South Korea I. Introduction II. The Korea-centered Beliefs and Practices of Christian New Religious Movements III. The Korean War and the Rise of Christian New Religious Movements IV. Military Dictatorship and Anti-Communist Campaign V. Social Changes and New Strategies of the Newly Emerged Religious Groups VI. Conclusion: Coexistence Causing Codestruction Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology Vol. 49 No. 3 (2017. 9), 199-214 DOI: 10.15757/kpjt.2017.49.3.008 200 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 49 No. 3 Abstract A political scandal involving the current president of Korea and her private advisor is in the spotlight because the advisor is the daughter of an obscure religious group leader who had also closely influenced the president. It is now confused between if it is a religious use of politics or a political use of a religion. The modern history of Korea is a series of conflicts: The Korean War(1950-53), the military dictatorships(1961-93), and various social tensions thereafter. This ambiguous world was the socio-religious context of numerous newly emerged religious groups and provided good soils for their rise and growth. Even though the religious use of politics and the political use of religion do not seem to be successful in Korea, they have kept trying to coexist with each other because one had what the other did not have. Namely, the newly emerged religious groups wanted to have the political power to protect the absence of its religious orthodoxy while politics needed faithful followers to secure the absence of its legitimacy. Keywords Christian New Religious Movements, Politics and Religion, Heresy, Korean War, Unification Church, Choi Tae Min Religious Use of Politics or Political Use of Religion? DOI: 10.15757/kpjt.2017.49.3.008 201 I. INTRODUCTION A political scandal involving the former president, Geun Hye Park, who was impeached on March 10, 2017, and her private advisor, Soon Sil Choi, is in the spotlight because the advisor is the daughter of an obscure religious sect leader, Tae Min Choi, who became an ordained pastor from a shaman in a year and with whom Park had been connected for a long time. Regarding the relationship between politics and Christian new religious movements in Korea, it is now curious if it is a religious use of politics or a political use of religion. Even though the religious use of politics and the political use of religion do not seem to be successful in Korea, they have kept trying to coexist with each other because one had what the other did not. Newly emerged religious groups wanted to have political power to protect against the absence of religious orthodoxy while politics needed faithful followers to secure against the absence of legitimacy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the inappropriate relation- ship between politics and newly emerged Christian groups since the Korea War. For this purpose, this paper focuses on the cases of the recent political scandal causing the impeachment of the president and the Unification Church to analyze its socio-religious influences. II. THE KOREA-CENTERED BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OF CHRISTIAN NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS The modern history of Korea is a series of conflicts: The Korean War(1950-53), the military dictatorships(1961-93), and various social tensions thereafter.1 This ambiguous world was the socio-religious context of Christian new religious movements in Korea, and it provided fertile soil for their rise and growth. Based on arbitrary and innovative misinterpretations of the Bible, they promised people what mainstream 1 Refer to Ji-il Tark, “The Korean War and the Rise of Christian New Religious Movements in Korea,” Korea Journal of Christian Studies 45 (2006). 202 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 49 No. 3 churches were unable to give; namely, the imminent second coming of Christ to Korea and the establishment of the kingdom of God in Korea. For example, Christian new religious movements in China, Japan, and Korea interpret the phrase “the east”(Isaiah 41:2) in their own unique ways among which Koreans’ interpretation is relatively creative. According to Tae Sun Park, the founder of Jeondokwan, China is not “the east” because it is located to the west Korea and Japan is not “the east” either because the Bible(Isaiah 41:1) says, “Be silent before me, you islands!” Thus, Korea is “the east.”2 Christian new religious movements have their own eyes through which they see the Bible and the world so differently. An interesting research project was processed by the Center for the Study of Religion at the University of California, Santa Barbara. One of the projects was on the California experience of 19th century American sectarianism. The researchers employed five research areas: prophet, promise, plan, possibility, and place, to examine new religious movements that arose in California. Like many groups in the United States and specifically California, newly emerged Korean religious groups also have similar characteristics.3 Most newly emerged groups in Korea claim that the prophet(the second coming of Christ) is a Korean, the promise(new revelations fulfilling the Bible) is written in Korean, the plan(accomplishing the 144,000 to be saved) is carried by Korean believers, the possibility(using politics, culture, or business for their success) is tried in various ways, and the place(the region of God’s kingdom on earth) is Korea. These Korea-centered beliefs are easily found in the practices of Korean groups. Notably, in the fourth area, “possibility,” some newly emerged groups are interested in having a connection with politics because political power is able to provide them security to protect themselves against severe criticism from surrounding mainstream churches. For 2 Quoted in Myeong Hwan Tahk, Gidokgyoidanyeongu [The Research on Christian Cults], (Seoul: The International Religions Research Institute, 1986), 178-79. 3 John K. Simmons and Brian Wilson, Competing Visions of Paradise: The California Experience of 19th Century American Sectarianism (Santa Barbara, CA: Fithian Press, 1993). Religious Use of Politics or Political Use of Religion? 203 this reason, some groups have done whatever they can do to maximize the possibility for their survival and growth. On the other hand, interestingly, politics also needed the blind support of the groups for stability. The newly emerged religious groups use politics and vice versa. Even though attempts to coexist together have mostly ended up in codestruction, the coexistence between some newly emerged groups and politics has been repeatedly and actively tried by many religious leaders and politicians under different socio-political situations. III. THE KOREAN WAR AND THE RISE OF CHRISTIAN NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS The Korean War(1950-53) provided fertile soil for the birth and growth of Christian new religious movements in Korea. In this ambiguous and unpredictable world, various newly emerged Christian groups claimed that they were alternatives to mainstream churches once reformed but deforming. The churches failed to give pastoral responses to the fear and despair of Korean people at war and were denominationally divided in the name of doctrinal differences. The history of new Christian movements in Korea begins under this chaotic socio-religious atmosphere.4 The Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, the most notable movement, took its root during and after the Korean War. Moon began his church in Busan, a safe shelter for Korean War refugees, and claimed he was the second coming of Christ, Messiah, and Savior. He understood the Korean War as the confrontation between “democracy and communism” and “God and Satan.” This is why Korea is cut in two by the 38th parallel separating her into two nations – one of Cain-type and the other of Abel-type. Naturally, this 38th parallel is the very front line for both democracy and communism, 4 Refer to Ji-il Tark, “The Korean War and the Rise of Christian New Religious Movements in Korea,” (2006). 204 KOREA PRESBYTERIAN JOURNAL OF THEOLOGY Vol. 49 No. 3 and, at the same time, the front line for both God and Satan. Therefore, the war which broke out on June 25, 1950 across the 38th parallel of Korea, was not merely a conflict between fellow countrymen caused by the severance of the land, but the confrontation between the two worlds of democracy and communism, and further, the confrontation between God and Satan.5 The crisis caused by the Korean War was a crucial chance for the settlement of the Unification Church. In 1954, Moon officially established his church in Seoul and sent the first missionary, Young Oon Kim(1914-1989), to the United States in 1959. Young Oon Kim was a professor of Ewha Women’s University. When the university recognized some students were involved in the Unification Church, Kim was sent for investigation. However, after meeting with Moon, she joined the Unification Church. In the States, Unification Church members faced another political conflict: the anti-Vietnam War movement. Kim founded the Freedom Leadership Foundation(FLF) in 1969 and American Youth for a Just Peace(AYJP) in 1970 to link up with anti-communist activities in Korea and Japan. On May 12, 1971, FLF and AYJP called a press conference and around seventy people attended including major press representatives of the bay area, the Daily Californian, Berkeley Gazette, and San Francisco Chronicle.6 In recognition of the activities of FLF, President Richard Nixon sent the following wire to FLF: I have noticed your three-day fast for freedom in Vietnam and I am grateful for your understanding and support of our patient efforts to achieve peace in Vietnam with freedom and justice, without which any peace could not be durable or endurable.7 5 Sun Myung Moon, Divine Principle (New York: The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1973), 524.