베트남 전쟁에 대한 한국 개신교의 태도

Abstract

Modern history of Christianity witnessed increasing uneasiness with the traditional just war doctrine. Nonetheless, until quite recent years the Korean Protestant churches appeared to know nothing other than the just war theory. Korean churches were, from the time of the Korea War to the present days, among the first and foremost advocates and supporters of war. The Vietnam War was unpopular among conscientious people around the world. Many doubted the legitimacy of American intervention in Vietnam and the reasonableness of the way Americans waged the war. However, Korean Protestant churches not only supported the American intervention but also justified the Korean military involvement in the conflict. There were two ideological assumptions behind the Korean Protestant churches' attitude toward war, that is, anti-communism, and pro-Americanism. The churches' approach to the Vietnam War demonstrated how the two ideological concepts made them support the Korean involvement in it. For them the Vietnam War was fundamentally a part of global struggle against the encroachment of “evil” Communism and hence South Korea must help the United States and its allies in defending “free” South Vietnam. In supporting the Korean involvement, churches even canonized it as a “holy” war or a crusade against evil. Pro-American and anti-Communist world-view blinded the Korean churches to the complex post-colonial dimensions of the Vietnam War. However, some churches, from the 1970s, began to overcome the cold war mentality and to reevaluate America's role in Korean history. The divided opinions on the War in Iraq showed that many Christians do not embrace traditional views of Communism and the United States any longer.