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A Shincheonji “graduation ceremony”

The Shincheonji religious sect has been the focus of news as a novel coronavirus “supercluster.” While it has been labeled as “heretical” by mainstream Protestant denominations, the term is not one that non-Christian media would readily apply -- even when it has incurred enough ire among the South Korean public that a national petition to have it disbanded quickly amassed over a million signatures. The early Christians martyred by the Roman emperors were heretics, as were church reforms such as Jan Hus -- burned at the stake by the Catholic Church -- and figures like Joan of Arc and Martin Luther, who was responsible for the emergence of Protestantism. The history of Christianity is a history of “heresy.” The question of whether a sect is “heretical” or a “cult” is therefore something that is not to be determined by the church establishment, but a matter to be based on its actions at a moral level.

Even if it weren’t for the Shincheonji members’ complaints of facing a “witch hunt,” the witch hunt is one of the easiest paths available to an angered public. Historically, witch hunts have arisen whenever scapegoats have been needed -- as lives have been lost to disaster, war, and infectious diseases like the plague, or as people have suffered from plunder by the ruling classes. Most of those branded as “witches” in the Middle Ages were vulnerable members of society, such as women, elderly people, and orphans. Witch hunts are something that democratic societies must be most wary of, as they can result in extreme punishments being inflicted in the name of the “popular will” in response to crimes that could suitably be punished with jail time. Now is not a time for witch hunts, but for focusing on getting people of the Shincheonji supercluster to take the lead in resolving things so that the current situation can be brought to an end.

Many have wondered why Shincheonji boasts so many younger members at a time when established churches and religions have had difficulty attracting young people. Is it simply a matter of the sect’s dogged strategy of “disguised evangelism?” As Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment” shows, crime is not simply a matter of those who commit it. It may also lie in a society and community that have robbed young people of hope and confronted them with a frightening and uncertain future, without doing anything to assuage their isolation and loneliness. We should consider the perspective shared by Shincheonji researchers, who have noted that the happiness of young people within Shincheonji has much to do with established churches being focused too much on material blessings and salvation to come in the afterlife, while religious figures have failed to meet young people’s expectations with their hidebound behaviors.

Lee Man-hee, Shincheonji head and founder, is as frail as his 89 years would suggest, as we saw in his press conference on Mar. 2. His likelihood of living forever is zero, as indeed he has taught his sect’s members. From a standpoint of individual lives, it is quite sad to see the number of “saved” being stated at 144,400, with people neglecting their family, work, and duties and devoting themselves in the church so they can be among that total. But why should it be that so many have given their lives over to it? Might some of that responsibility not lie with the established denominations and religions besides Shincheonji?

Whereas most Christian denominations preach salvation in the afterlife, Shincheonji preaches salvation in this world. Shincheonji asks the question, “What salvation in the afterlife can be found in the words of greedy megachurch pastors involved in individual improprieties and dynastic succession efforts?” Already, some within the church establishment have warned of “worshipping not Jesus Christ but Mammon”; when such warnings or ignored, does this not fuel the hunger for “something new”? Even with the entire South Korean public worried about preventing the virus from spreading, the Korean Association of Church Communication, which represents conservative churches, has stressed that “worship is the church’s reason for being” and argued that “subway, bus, and taxi operation should be stopped before church worship is.”

It’s time for them to stop making the sort of arguments that only support Shincheonji’s position that no salvation can be found there. Rather, it’s a moment that desperately calls for good deeds -- deeds like accepting financial losses and cooperating with the suspension of services, masses, and dharma meetings, traveling to Daegu to provide medical assistance, or sharing the burden of suffering by sending contributions and donations.

By Cho Hyun, religion correspondent

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