한국종교지도자협의회의 ‘대표성’에 대한 비판적 고찰

Abstract

Korean society is a multi-religious society in which world religions such as Buddhism, Christianity, and Confucianism, native religions such as Cheondogyo, Daejonggyo, Jeungsangyo, and Won Buddhism, and Shamanism handed down from the Paleolithic Era are mixed together. This multi-religious situation in Korean society has created a unique characteristic in world religions where Chinese-style religions, Indian-style religions, and Jerusalem-style religions coexist peacefully. In the end, this acted as a driving force for many religions to form an association in the Korean religious landscape. This paper focuses on The Korean Council of Religious Leaders(KCRL) among the many associations that have developed in the pluralistic situation of religion in Korea. KCRL is a religious association composed of not only world religions but also major sects of Korea’s native religions and the gatherings of religious leaders of The Association of Korean Native Religions. KCRL is a representative example of the multi-religious social situation in Korea, and it can be said that it contributes greatly to the peaceful coexistence of religions in that all the leaders of religions representing Korean society are participating. However, the characteristic of Korea’s religious pluralism is not only the above-mentioned major religions but also the existence of invisible surrounding religions. Therefore, this paper intends to critically explore the possibility of whether only KCRL is suitable as the character of a leader’s group representing Korean religion based on this awareness of the problem.