Short history of Korean religions
Ancient myths relate how prehistoric people worshipped heaven as the supernatural being that ruled over nature and everything in it. The legend of Dangun, Korea's founding myth, tells of divine beings, Hwan-in and Hwan-woong, who represent heaven, or god. Shamanistic traditions that mainly served to ward off evil and bring good fortune dominated Korea in the ancient times. But ever since Buddhism was introduced to the Three Kingdoms and Confucianism was adopted as the founding principle of the Joseon Dynasty, Korean people began to see religion as a way to seek truth. From the Three Kingdoms period through the end of the 14th century, Buddhism developed as a religion for the masses, while Confucianism was regarded more as a political ideology. As the Joseon Dynasty rose to power, however, Buddhism was suppressed, while Confucian ideas were encouraged and revered. Joseon was introduced to Christianity, a new western religion, near the end of its rule, but the nation also saw a rise in indigenous beliefs, such as the Cheondo-gyo and the Jeungsan-gyo. In modern times, Christianity and Buddhism have been established as mainstream religions, while minor traditional beliefs and shamanism have remained the underlying religions of the Korean people.
Religious population
- South Korea According to the 2005 national census, nearly 25 million people, or over 53% of the total population, professed to have a religion, while 46.5% of the respondents answered that they don't have one.
- North Korea Freedom of religion is not allowed in North Korea, so no religion in the true sense exists in the Communist country. The official count of the religious population in North Korea comes to only around twenty to thirty thousand. However, a large number of faithful followers are estimated to exist underground.
- Distribution of religious population in Korea
| Religion | Population | Percentage | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 1995 | 2005 | 1985 | 1995 | 2005 | |
| Total | 40,419,652 | 44,553,710 | 47,041,434 | |||
| Have a religion | 17,203,296 | 22,597,824 | 24,970,766 | 42.6% | 50.7% | 53.1% |
| Buddhism | 8,059,624 | 10,321,012 | 10,726,463 | 46.8% | 45.7% | 43.0% |
| Protestantism | 6,489,282 | 8,760,336 | 8,616,438 | 37.7% | 38.8% | 34.5% |
| Catholicism | 1,865,397 | 2,950,730 | 5,146,147 | 10.8% | 13.1% | 20.6% |
| Confucianism | 483,366 | 210,927 | 104,575 | 2.8% | 0.9% | 0.4% |
| Won Buddhism | 92,302 | 86,823 | 129,907 | 0.5% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| Cheondo-gyo | 26,818 | 28,184 | 45,835 | 0.2% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Jeungsan-gyo | 0 | 62,056 | 34,550 | 0.0% | 0.3% | 0.1% |
| Daejong-gyo | 11,030 | 7,603 | 3,766 | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Others | 175,477 | 170,153 | 163,085 | 1.0% | 0.8% | 0.7% |
| No religion | 23,216,356 | 21,953,315 | 21,865,160 | 57.4% | 49.3% | 46.5% |
| Major religion | 0 | 2,571 | 205,508 | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.4% |
No answer
- Buddhism Buddhism was introduced to Korea around the 4th century. Unlike Buddhism that originated in southern Asia and focused more on individual salvation, the Buddhist sect that came into Korea through China preached compassion and redemption for the masses. This originally foreign faith merged with traditional culture and folk beliefs, eventually forming the foundation for Korea's national culture. Buddhist ideals and principles had governed the kingdom of Silla and the succeeding unified Silla Dynasty, as well as throughout the Goryeo Dynasty. But when Joseon was founded in the late 14th century Confucianism replaced Buddhism as the national ideology. Nonetheless, Buddhism has continued to provide comfort and guidance to the ordinary people as Korea's traditional belief. Even today, Buddhists account for more than 40% of the nation's total religious population.
- Protestantism An American missionary first introduced Protestantism to Korea in 1884. In the late 19th and early 20th century American missionaries from various Protestant sects came to Korea to evangelize Korean people by providing medical, educational, volunteer, and social welfare services. During the Japanese occupation period from 1910 to 1945 Protestantism firmly planted itself in Korea as Korean Protestant churches played a crucial role in bringing people together to fight for the country's independence. Protestantism further thrived during the chaos and devastation of the Korean War. Protestantism now has the second largest population of believers in Korea, following Buddhism.
- Catholicism Catholicism was introduced to Korea in the 18th century, about 100 years earlier than Protestantism. At the time scholars who were excluded from governmental posts because of their political leanings or lowly family backgrounds voluntarily studied Catholicism, then known as the western studies, as a branch of science imported from the west. Catholic scholars in Korea studied religious doctrines on their own and asked the Chinese Catholic church to send them a priest, setting an unprecedented example of voluntary evangelization. However, the xenophobic government of Joseon considered Catholics threats to the regime and persecuted them. Ruthless persecutions against Catholics in the late Joseon era claimed the lives of many Korean believers, 103 of whom were later canonized to sainthood by Pope John Paul II. Now Catholics take up roughly 20% of the total religious population, ranking as the third largest religious group in Korea.
- Islam The first Koreans to be exposed to Islam were Korean laborers who were forcibly relocated to Manchuria during the Japanese colonial rule. A few of them came in contact with the Muslims in the area and adopted the religion. However, the real evangelization of the Islamic faith took place during the Korean War when Turkish troops were dispatched to Korea. In 1955 the Korean Islam Association was founded to elect the nation's first Korean imam. Then, in the 1970s, a mosque was built in Hannam-dong, Seoul, followed by a series of mosque constructions in Busan, Daegu, Jeonju and other local cities. As of late 2007, the Islamic population in Korea is estimated to be around 140,000.
- Indigenous religions and Shamanism Confucianism is more of an ethical and philosophical study in nature, rather than a religion. However, most Koreans' mindsets are influenced by Confucian ideas to a large degree. Cheondo-gyo and Daejong-gyo are folk beliefs that worship Dangun, the mythical founding father of Korea. Won Buddhism and Jeungsan-do are also indigenous beliefs that sprouted up spontaneously in Korea. Shamanism is a folk religion that runs deep in the Korean culture. Many people seek the advice of fortunetellers and shamans when they are about to make important decisions, take tests, start a business, or when they wish to ward off evil and pray for good fortune or health. These Shamanistic traditions can easily be detected all over Korea.
Source : kbs world
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