[Editorial] President Lee should heed religious leaders' counsel

Posted on : 2009-06-16 12:48 KST Modified on : 2009-06-16 12:48 KST

Thousands of religious leaders have joined in the movement of issuing declarations. These are people who cherish the values of their faith more than their own lives. Perhaps they may have had concerns regarding maintaining the boundary between church and state, but in a situation where professors, lawyers, university students and high school students are stepping forward to voice their concerns about current affairs, they had no choice but to step forward. Now, if the administration has any eyes and ears at all, it must look up and listen.

Of course, although the religious leaders are making assertions similar to everyone else, it is regrettable to see them joining in the political struggle. Especially when those who pursue a religious calling regard it as their duty to pursue peace and sanctity of all life beyond differences of religion, of good and evil, of right and wrong. The reality, however, is that some 1,400 Buddhist monks have joined in the declaration movement, in spite of it being the time of the annual summer retreat, together with some 1,100 Catholic priests that amounts to one third the number of priests nationwide. It is also reported that Protestant pastors will be following suit by issuing a thousand-person statement in a few days. Viewed in terms of sheer numbers, the number of religious leaders now taking part in the struggle double the figure of those who participated in the June 1987 uprising. It is a figure that clearly shows how critical the situation is facing South Korea today.

What called these people forward is none other than President Lee Myung-bak. For the five million mourners of former President Roh Moo-hyun and the countless citizens who attended memorial sites nationwide or wished him eternal peace in their hearts, their demands have been simple. They want a stop to the regression of democracy, respect for life over money, and service to the middle and working classes rather than to the rich. The Lee administration, however, has closed its eyes and ears completely. Instead, it engages in sarcastic word play, joking about how the professors joining in the declarations account for only one in ten professors or how there were more people overall who did not mourn. With these kinds of remarks, how could a religious worker maintain the boundary between the church and state simply because of his or her professional obligations?

Now President Lee Myung-bak has gone one step further in his radio address. There he claimed that public sentiments are split by ideology and region, and that the culture of political strife has not left South Korea. He is attempting to attribute the current situation created by his own and his government’s mistakes to ideological differences, regionalism or political strife.

One hopes this counsel from religious leaders will represent the last of the declarations. For this to happen, the Lee administration must demonstrate a change of heart and become converted. The demands of the religious leaders are somewhat fundamental. If they are not accepted, their actions may assume a more drastic form. If the administration’s goal is to avert crisis by reviving red baiting and regional emotionalism with rhetoric about ideological differences, regionalism and political strife, it must bear in mind that this will leave the country in a drastic situation.

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