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Watching all these events, one cannot help but wonder what in the world has happened to the South Korean Christian community, transforming as it has from an avid advocate for democracy and human rights to the core group of the conservative right in Korea today. No more Christians? According to the 2005 Population and Housing Census Report by the National Statistical Office, the number of Christians in Korea stood at 8.6 million. Compared to 10 years before, the Buddhist population increased by 3.9 percent, whereas the Christian population decreased by 1.6 percent. In a large shift, Catholics in Korea increased by a whopping 74.4 percent. The results illustrate that among Korea’s three major religions, only the number of Christians decreased. When these data were released, the members of the Korean Christian community responded with different interpretations. Park Kyeong-jo, President of The National Council of Churches in Korea, said: "It is a time for reflection and self-examination." The dean of the Hapdong Theological Seminary, Oh Deok-kyo, said he found the results puzzling and remarked that "the current government is not on good terms with the Christian churches. Perhaps this led to the decrease in the number of people who are Christians in Korea today." In yet another interpretation of the issue, some pointed out that the drop of 144,000 Christians compared to 10 years before is the same number written in the Book of Revelation in the Bible, and they proposed the number is an omen of "The Last Day," symbolizing the imminent end of human civilization. If we sort out the different opinions based on their orientations of faith, the fundamentalist Christian camp sees the decline as a result of Christianity being overly involved in social causes, while criticizing the liberal theology’s neglect of preaching the gospel and redemption. The moderate and progressive camps see it from the completely opposite angle, namely as a result of the church’s neglect of its social responsibility and its losing trust from society. Ryu Sang-tae, the former Chaplain of Dae-guang High School, asked, "Why is the number of Christians decreasing when the Christian churches have more ardent believers than other religions?" He has an explanation to offer: "The conservative Protestant church leaders still hold tight to old religious dogmas, including their old conviction: ’Jesus to heaven, all else to hell!’ " There is a growing awareness that the Korean Christian church is in crisis, not just in terms of the number of believers, but also in terms of its decreasing social influence amid a growing anti-Christian social milieu. The Christian Alliance for Church Reform points out the questionable morality of certain pastors as among the main reasons for it. In fact, some of the recent controversies surrounding the church, including church pastors’ handing down church leadership to their sons at some ’mega-churches,’ personal use of church finances, and endless sexual scandals surrounding church leaders, all provide enough to shoot down the sanctity of religious authority in Korean society. Unfortunately, despite these problems within, the conservative Korean Christian community is still full of pride due to its mistaken belief in its social influence. A typical example was its attempt to launch a Christian political party during the 2004 general elections. It modeled its efforts after American pastor Pat Robertson’s ’Christian Coalition’ and some other similar fundamentalist Christian groups. These groups tried to realize so-called "policies reflecting Christian values" by forming an alliance with the Republican Party on the issues, including opposition to abortion, banning same-sex marriage, and supporting a hard-line stance against Islam. The conservative Korean Christian groups tried to create a similar group even though there were some concerns and even opposition within its organization. Two prominent Christian leaders, reverends Kim Joon-gon and Park Yeong-ryul, pushed ahead with the drive to create a Christian party by declaring, "Nothing is impossible if the 13 million Christians in Korea unite!" The result was a miserable failure. The Christian party, which had been initially confident about its outlook in the general elections - expecting that it would at least garner more votes than the minority Democratic Labor Party - later ended up harvesting a mere 1.1 percent of voter support. After failing to set up a political party, the conservative Christians were still undaunted. Worse, they then chose to find the reason for the failure from outside, rather than from inside. They criticized a social atmosphere they characterized as "pro-North Korea, anti-America, and anti-Christian." They then made an all-out effort to consolidate the pro-American and anti-North Korean groups. Some scholars studying the relationship between religion and society proposed that the feeling of crisis caused by the diminishing number of Christians is the driving force behind the Korean Christian groups’ leaning more toward conservatism. In other words, the pro-liberalist social milieu, created after the June 1987 Democracy Movement and the increasing participation of civic groups in social issues, caused the conservative Christian groups to feel that their support base was being undermined, consequently pushing them to turn towards more aggressive and non-conciliatory religious practices. Then, what happened to the Korean churches that used to spearhead South Korea’s democracy movement and human rights promotion? Well, the great Christian leaders, such as Reverend Moon Ik-hwan, Ham Seok-heon, and Kim Jae-jun, all passed away one by one. And when the military dictatorship ended, the coalition of different Christian movements that used to stay united, regardless of their different creeds and diverse sectarian teachings, started to dismantle rapidly. Some returned to the church, saying, "Since the nation’s democratic foundation is now established, the church should mind its original business of saving souls." Others went into politics, saying, "Democracy is still an unfinished business. I want to complete the democratic process and also realize the reunification of the Korean peninsula by serving as a lawmaker." Similarly, a considerable number of Christians who were previously affiliated with organizations such as the Christian Farmers’ Union and the Christian National Trade Union Confederation, cut their ties with these religious organizations and instead joined labor and farm organizations without religious affiliation, saying that if they want to reform society, they need to create a coalition that can transcend religious boundaries. Some also joined civic groups, such as the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice. These people said that, to counter the ever-aggressive student labor movement, we need to create a moderate and neutral civic group, unaffiliated with any one religion. Some young Christian leaders, such as reverends Kim Hae-seong and Park Cheon-eung, turned their focus on improving the livelihoods of the underprivileged, including foreign workers in Korea, the homeless, and the physically challenged. While all this disintegration of formerly united Christian democracy and human rights groups was unfolding, the fundamentalist Christian churches were strengthening their structure by remaining silent during the military rule. And they now started to speak out against the pro-reformist social milieu. Some renowned pastors who used to be part of the democracy and human rights movements, such as Reverend Kim Jin-hong and Reverend Seo Kyeong-seok, joined them and helped them to gain more social influence. Meanwhile, the Gospel-centered churches were increasingly feeling the limits of their church’s growth, and although they fully recognized the need for church reform, at the same time they felt threatened by the growing leftist voices in society that they believed were increasingly undermining the church’s place in society. And they are now showing an incoherent stance, often sympathizing with the fundamentalist Christian movement. Rediscovering true Christian values Billy Graham’s Seoul rally in 1974 had emphasized the spread of Christian teachings to the Korean population and also the importance of redemption. It resulted in a very aggressive evangelist movement in Korea. It also successfully combined itself with then the nation’s rapid industrialization process, eventually bringing about the miraculous growth of Korean churches. In some sense, the Korean Churches now suffer from the side effects of such rapid growth. And it is interesting to note that some 30 years later, a leading American Christian leader once again came to Korea recently and delivered a message to Koreans, but this time emphasizing the importance of sharing and growth in quality, rather than quantity. Reverend Rick Warren, the author of the bestseller "The Purpose-driven Life," recently visited South Korea. His visit created a huge ripple across Korean Christian society. Some 100,000 Korean Christians gathered for his crusade rally, held at a packed stadium in Seoul that had been used for the World Cup games. It was one of the rare successful Christian rallies organized by the Korean church community. Pastor Warren told Korean Christians: "Behind God’s blessing of the Korean churches lies His desire to have Korean churches serve the broader global community. Today’s churches should join global efforts, such as the eradication of the AIDS epidemic." The majority of ordinary Christians in Korea was hungry for visions and turned to the American preacher, hoping to hear truths that could fill the spiritual vacuum felt in today’s Korean Christian church. Essentially, the future of Korean Christianity depends on whether it will fill these needs with teachings of justice, peace, sharing, and service to people, or will ignore these needs with hardened self-defense and self-righteousness that excludes other legitimate voices. The late Ham Seok-heon, a renowned leader in Christian teachings, correctly warned: "Only people with reflective minds will survive." My dear Christian brothers and sisters in Korea, let us please think about his words. This column was translated by Lee Seong Hyon
