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A church in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo District, the site of a COVID-19 infection cluster, remains closed on Aug 31. (Yonhap News)

Even as Protestant churches come under fire for being the epicenters of the latest outbreak of COVID-19, pastors and leaders at some churches are still insisting on in-person services. These churches claim that their worship services are “as precious as life itself,” but critics explain this behavior as representing “the self-interested desire to hold their churches together and bring in the offerings they need to pay rent.”

The attitude held by some pastors was evident in a meeting at the Blue House on Aug. 27 between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Protestant leaders. “Freedom of religion is a value that we would not trade for our very lives. We can’t just close the doors of churches and cancel services,” said Kim Tae-young, head of the United Christian Churches of Korea. The next day, an association of Christian churches in Gyeonggi Province ran an advertisement in a daily newspaper arguing that the government should not “rashly restrict religious services.”

These churches have aroused the anger of the South Korean public. “It’s one thing to risk your own life, and quite another to risk other people’s lives by holding services,” said a housewife surnamed Oh. “We’re trying to block the virus, not God,” wrote one angry commenter.

One view is that these churches are risking so much for in-person services because of the offerings they collect. “They’re so determined to hold physical services because they’re filled with the ‘spirit of debt,’” one internet user wrote. In other words, churches saddled with expensive rent or hefty interest payments for building loans may want to fill the pews to ensure they bring in enough offerings to cover those expenses.

Kim Tae-young’s remark that religious organizations shouldn’t be treated like places of business drew an indignant riposte from Hwang Yeong-ik, former member of the Church 2.0 Ministers Movement Action Committee. “That’s pretty rich, coming from someone who’s crazier for cash than any businessman, someone who has a shrewd instinct for turning a profit and is obsessed with marketing for his church,” Hwang said.

Churches that won’t give up physical services talk about the “teachings of the Bible,” but many critics have pointed out that the Bible doesn’t actually back up that argument. Son Bong-ho, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, addressed the issue on the Christian Ethics Movement of Korea website. “There are no Biblical grounds for the argument that services must be held in person. Some are cynically suggesting that churches are insisting on in-person services because of their offerings. I really hope that isn’t true, because it would be the greatest possible insult that could be made against the Korean church,” Son said.

There are generally two categories of pastors who demand that their flocks gather in person. As already mentioned, the first group are motivated by practical and financial concerns; namely, that halting in-person services for too long could shrink congregation size and reduce offerings. The second group are those, like controversial pastor Jun Kwang-hoon, who are outspoken in their opposition of the Moon Jae-in administration and are fixated on tripping it up, no matter the cost. Motivated by such sentiments, some conservative pastors have expressed their discontent with current disease control measures.

But even the pastors of major churches stress that this isn’t the time to cling to in-person services, a point made by Kim Dong-ho, pastor of the Higher Will United Missionary Society, in a social media post called “Nonsense in the Korean Church.”

“People are saying that the government is persecuting the church, but as far as I can tell, it’s the church that appears to be blackmailing the government and the world. How can they not see that their behavior is actually undermining the church?” Kim said.

A similar perspective was voiced by Kim Kyeong-jin, senior pastor at Somang Presbyterian Church, in Seoul’s Gangnam District. “Fortunately, we have the option of online services. If gathering together for a service is going to cause our death, and the death of other people, it could violate the prohibition against murder in the Ten Commandments,” Kim said.

The Emergency Task Force for the Recovery of the Protestant Church, which represents 10 progressive and reformist organizations, issued an apologetic statement on Aug. 31. “The Korean church has committed an unpardonable sin against our society and the public amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This crisis is largely the fault of Jun Kwang-hoon and far-right Christian groups, but the Korean church is undeniably responsible for condoning and abetting their behavior,” the task force acknowledged.

While the general public is critical of churches that are still holding in-person services, some churches are expected to keep doing so in the future. Even after the government elevated social distancing rules to Level 2.5 on Aug. 30, churches around the country pushed ahead with physical services, sparking clashes with disease control authorities.

Compared to the Greater Seoul area, a higher percentage of churches held in-person services in the eight metropolitan cities and provinces that have only recommended that churches stop holding services instead of banning them outright. The number of churches holding in-person services was 2,526 of 4,126 in North Jeolla Province, 2,592 of 4,016 in South Jeolla Province, 1,442 of 2,638 in South Gyeongsang Province, and 846 of 1,327 in Gangwon Province.

North Gyeongsang Province only surveyed 2,580 of 3,126 of its total churches, but 2,016 of them held in-person services. Services also went ahead at 198 of 318 churches in Ulsan, 163 of 290 in Sejong City, and 575 of 1,625 in Daegu. Since none of these cities and provinces had banned services outright, the authorities have only issued warnings when they catch churches violating the disease control regulations in their services.

The percentage of in-person services was much lower in the seven metropolitan cities and provinces that have completely banned in-person services and other gatherings. When Seoul surveyed 2,839 locations, it found that 40 churches had gone ahead with in-person services. Seoul reissued its ban on gatherings at those buildings and plans to file a criminal complaint against Dongmoon Church and Yeongcheon Holiness Church, which held physical services on Aug. 23 and Aug. 30 in violation of the ban.

Authorities also found that 118 of 7,707 churches in Gyeonggi Province, 23 of 2,336 in Incheon, and 42 of 1,765 in Busan had held services. They’re planning to ask law enforcement to investigate these churches on the charge of violating the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.

By Cho Hyun, religion correspondent, and Kim Yeong-dong, staff reporter

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