The Place of Evangelical Protestantism in the Korean Public Sphere
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With more public debates taking place between religious liberals and conservatives, a growing number of individuals have been questioning the role of the Korean church in today’s society. The central question of this paper is whether evangelical Protestantism (“evangelical right”), especially in its Pentecostal form, is able to address some of the most serious social problems such as class disparity and social inequality in the present Korean society. My answer to this question is both a qualified “no” and a qualified “yes,” acknowledging that some expressions of Pentecostalism may actually hinder social transformation, while some can introduce new ways of thinking to the population. Korean evangelical Protestantism, influenced by a distinctive American Protestantism, is inherently ‘right wing’ and shows both ‘economic conservatism’ and ‘moral conservatism.’ Then how should we evaluate the place of the evangelical majority of Protestant churches in the Korean public sphere? It depends on what we make of the confusing relationship between religion and societal health. Currently, the main interest of Korean evangelical Protestantism lies not in the issue of social justice, such as inequality, but in the religio-moral issues, such as homosexuality. It is worrying to note that many church leaders, who are chiefly bent on gratifying their followers, treat faith as a kind of therapy, and compromise on many fronts to adjust their beliefs to better fit the secular values of today, while neglecting their duty to call forth believers to contribute to the society.
Abstract
With more public debates taking place between religious liberals and conservatives, a growing number of individuals have been questioning the role of the Korean church in today’s society. The central question of this paper is whether evangelical Protestantism (“evangelical right”), especially in its Pentecostal form, is able to address some of the most serious social problems such as class disparity and social inequality in the present Korean society. My answer to this question is both a qualified “no” and a qualified “yes,” acknowledging that some expressions of Pentecostalism may actually hinder social transformation, while some can introduce new ways of thinking to the population. Korean evangelical Protestantism, influenced by a distinctive American Protestantism, is inherently ‘right wing’ and shows both ‘economic conservatism’ and ‘moral conservatism.’ Then how should we evaluate the place of the evangelical majority of Protestant churches in the Korean public sphere? It depends on what we make of the confusing relationship between religion and societal health. Currently, the main interest of Korean evangelical Protestantism lies not in the issue of social justice, such as inequality, but in the religio-moral issues, such as homosexuality. It is worrying to note that many church leaders, who are chiefly bent on gratifying their followers, treat faith as a kind of therapy, and compromise on many fronts to adjust their beliefs to better fit the secular values of today, while neglecting their duty to call forth believers to contribute to the society.
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