SECULAR OR POST SECULAR?
Korea as a Multi-Religious Society
Keywords:
Institutional Religions, Korean Religion, Multi-religious Society, Religious Population, Religious Tradition, Secular vs Post-secularAbstract
Despite predictions that modernization would threaten the existence of religion, Korean religions have thrived throughout the process of modernization. Unlike many Western countries, where Christianity is the principal religion, multiple religions and beliefs have co-existed in Korea since antiquity. Thus, even if social change brings the downfall of one religion, another religion takes its place. Although Korea has never historically seen the decline of religion, a decrease in the religious population has been observed since 2010. We believe this is attributable to the secularization of institutional religions and could be interpreted as another choice or change in itself, rather than as evidence of the decline or deterioration of religiosity. We argue that Korean religions are going through the post-secularization process, wherein people seek out their own individual spirituality. Based on Western theories of secularization and post-secularization, we examine the changes in Korean religious diversity, and discuss the challenges they face. This will, finally, lead to helping reveal what Korean religious institutions have to do for Koreans to find their way into religion again.
References
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Young-Bin Lim, “The Religious Landscape and Religious Measurements in Korea,” Korean Journal of Social Theory 53 (2018): 125-51, 147.
Korea National Statistical Office, “2015 Population and Housing Census Report,” <http://kostat.go.kr/portal/korea/kor_nw/1/1/ index.board?bmode=read&bSeq=&aSeq=358170&pageNo=1&rowNum=10&navCount=10&currPg=&searchInfo=srch&sTarget=title&sTxt=2015+%EC%9D%B8%EA%B5%AC> (15 February 2019).
Clayton Fordahl, “The Post-secular: Paradigm Shift or Provocation?” European Journal of Social Theory 20, no. 4 (2017): 550-68, 550.
Bryan Wilson, Religion in Secular Society, London: Watts, 1966, 14.
Willfried Spohn, “Multiple Modernity, Nationalism and Religion: A Global Perspective,” Current Sociology 51, no. 3/4 (2003): 265-86, 267.
Jose Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, 19-39.
Silvio Ferrari, “Law and Religion in a Secular World: A European Perspective,” Ecclesiastical Law Journal 14 (2012): 355-70, 356.
Frank J. Lechner, “The Case against Secularisation: A Rebuttal,” Social Forces 69, no. 4 (1991): 1103-1119, 1104.
Ksenia Northmore-Ball and Geoffrey Evans, “Secularisation versus Religious Revival in Eastern Europe,” Social Science Research 57 (2016): 31-48, 31.
Rodney Stark, “Secularisation, R.I.P.,” Sociology of Religion 60, no. 3 (1999): 249-73, 254; Mark Chaves, “Secularisation as Declining Religious Authority,” Social Forces 72, no. 3 (1994): 749-79, 750.
NORC, “The General Social Survey: Chronicling Changes in American Society,” The Associated Press and NORC (2015): 1-9; Steve Bruce, Secularisation: In Defense of an Unfavorable Theory, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Thomas Schmidt-Lux, and Uta Karstein, “Secularisation as Conflict,” Social Compass 55, no. 2 (2008): 127-39, 128.
Klas Grinell and Urban Strandberg, “Expressions, Mediations, and Exclusions in Post-secular Societies: Introduction,” European Review 20, no. 1 (2012): 68-76, 7.
Tong Chee Kiong and Lily Kong, “Religion and Modernity: Ritual Transformations and the Reconstruction of Space and Time,” Social & Cultural Geography 1, no. 1 (2000): 29-44, 41.
John Nelson, “Shinto Ritual: Managing Chaos in Contemporary Japan,” Ethnos 57 (1992): 77-104, 77.
Karel Dobbelaere, “Towards an Integrated Perspective of the Processes Related to the Descriptive Concept of Secularisation,” Sociology of Religion 60, no. 3 (1999): 229-47.
Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, “Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies: Religious Mobilisation in American Cities, 1906,” American Sociological Review 53 (1988): 41-49.
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, “Secularization and the Wider Gap in Values and Personal Religiosity between the Religious and Nonreligious,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55, no. 4 (2016): 717-736, 718.
William Swatos, “The Relevance of Religion: Iceland and Secularisation Theory,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 23 (1984): 32-439.
Timothy L. O’Briena and Shiri Noy, “Traditional, Modern, and Post-Secular Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States,” American Sociological Review 80, no. 1 (2015): 92-115, 94.
Mats Nilsson and Mekonnen Tesfahuney, “Performing the ‘Post-secular’ in Santiago de Compostela,” Annals of Tourism Research 57 (2016), 18-30, 21.
Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, 354.
Harvey Cox, The Future of Faith, New York: Harper One, 2009.
Young-Koung Kang, “The Image of Ideal Man in Korean Ancient Mountain Gods,” Religion and Culture 7 (2001): 155-214, 155.
Young-Seop Ko, “The Naturalisation and Centripetalisation of Ancient Buddhism of Korea,” Journal of the Korean Association for Buddhist Studies 26 (2015): 145-83, 148.
Young-Shim Kim, “A Study on the Establishment of Religious Taoism in Baekje,” Journal of Paekche Research Institute 55 (2011): 159-190,162.
Su-Jin Kim, “The Background of the Acceptance of Taoism in the 7th Century of Goguryeo,” Journal of Korean Ancient History 59 (2010): 163-202, 174.
Gap-dong Kim, “The Change of Shamanism in Goryo Period,” History and Discourse 78 (2016): 35-70, 36.
Hyeon-Chul Do, “Neo-Confucians’ Perception of Buddhism in the Early Days of the Joseon,” The Study of Korean History of Thought 50 (2015): 33-65, 55.
Sun-Cheol Gwon, “The Conflicts of Confucian Law and Religion in the Joseon Dynasty,” Journal of New Religions 3 (2000): 119-135, 123.
Nam-Chul Pu, “The Diversity of Joseon Confucian Policies towards Buddhism and Catholicism,” Youngsan Journal of East Asian Cultural Studies 1 (2007): 29-53, 41.
Kil-myung Ro, “New Religions and Social Change in Modern Korea History,” The Review of Korean Studies 5 (2002): 31-62, 34.
Sukhyung Kim, The Composition of Farmers’ Class during the Feudalistic Joseon Dynasty, Seoul: Shinsowon, 1993.
Andrew Eungi Kim, “Political Insecurity, Social Chaos, Religious Void and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth-century Korea,” Social History 26, no. 3 (2001): 267-81, 268.
Maeng-Soo Park, “Donghak Affiliated Religious Movements’ Historical Development and Chronological Change of Thoughts,” Korea Religion 37 (2014): 53-87, 62.
Gyung-Won Lee and Kyung-Un Baik, “A Study of Historical Change of Jeungsan-affiliated New Religious Thoughts and Movements,” Korea Religion 37 (2014): 157-202.
Jae-hun Lee, “The Present and Future of New Religions in Korea,” Korean Journal of Religious Studies 68 (2012): 115-39, 118.
Donku Kang, “The Religious Policy of American Military Affairs in Korea,” Journal of Religious Studies 12 (1993): 15-42.
Dong-Woo Kwon, “Changes in Korean Religious Denominations after Liberation and the Response to New Religions,” Journal of New Religions 28 (1993): 109-39.
Ro, “New Religions and Social Change in Modern Korea History,” 55;
Lee, “The Status and Outlook of Korean New Religions after the 1970s,” 11.
In-Cheol Kang, “Social Changes and Religion after the Korean War,” Korea Religion 22 (1997): 243-67, 252.
Chong-Suh Kim, “The Identity of Korean Religion after 1945,” Religion and Culture 25 (2013): 1-25, 12.
Young-Bin Lim, “The Religious Landscape and Religious Measurements in Korea,” Korean Journal of Social Theory (May 2018): 125-151, 128.
Seung-Yong Yoon, “An Analysis of Gallup Korea Surveys on Religious Issues and Problems during the Past 30-Year Period,” The Critical Review of Religion and Culture 27 (2015): 189-227, 202.
Siyoon Lee and Seil Oh, “Religious Ecology in Korea: Sociological Analyses and Theoretical Tasks,” Korean Journal of Social Theory 48 (2015): 101-136, 109.
Donku Kang, “Anti-religious Movements in Contemporary Korea,” Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences 29 (2017): 241-78, 263.
Kyung-Ro Yoon, “Seventy Years after National Division: Cases and Nature of Korean Christianity’s Adhesion to Power,” Christianity and History in Korea 44 (2016): 27-65, 36.
Unsuk Song and Kyungtae Kim, “A Study of the Mutual Influence Strategy between Politics and Religion in South Korea,” Korean Public Administration History Review 35 (2014): 337-361.
Soon-Yang Kim, “Consolidating the Authoritarian Development State in the 1970s Korea: Chosen Strategies,” International Review of Public Administration 12, no. 1 (2007): 119-32, 119.
Korea National Statistical Office, “Economic Growth Rates of Korea” <http://kosis.kr/search/search.do> (15 February 2019).
As of 2015, Korea has the lowest birth rate among the 36 OECD members and also ranks 2nd in suicide mortalities (25.8 per 100,000 persons) after Latvia. OECD, “Suicide Rates,” <https://data.oecd.org/ healthstat/suicide-rates.htm> (15 February 2019).
Wilkins-Laflamme, “Secularisation and the Wider Gap in Values and Personal Religiosity between the Religious and Nonreligious,” 719.
Seung-Gil Park, “New Religious Movements in the Religious Market and their Topographical Mutation,” Korea Religion 40 (2016): 3-42, 14.
Jung-Yeon Yi, “Review of ‘Modernity and Religion’ Study,” Society and Theory 33 (2018): 225-280, 269.
Young-Jun Lee and Jin-Young Kim, “A Suggestion for the Development of ‘Tree Pilgrimage Way’ Using the Protected Trees in Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi Province,” Global Cultural Contents 40 (2019): 41-63, 42.
Lisbeth Mikaelsson, “Pilgrimage as Post-secular Therapy,” Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 24 (2012): 259-273, 266.
Jurgen Habermas, “Notes on the Post-secular Society,” New Perspectives Quarterly 25, no. 4 (2008): 17-29, 19.
Chil-Sung Kim, “Study on the Origin of Religious Exclusivism and Aggressive Evangelism in the Korean Church,” Theological Theology 86 (2016): 63-96.
Pyong-Gap Min, “Development of Protestantism in South Korea: Positive and Negative Elements,” Asian American Theological Forum (2014) <https://aatfweb.org/2014/10/31/development-ofprotestantis m-in-south-korea-positive-and-negative-elements/> (20 March 2018).
Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations,” American Sociological Review 67, no. 2 (2002): 165-90.
Jae-hun Lee, “The Status and Outlook of Korean New Religions after the 1970s,” Journal of New Religions 3 (2000): 9-28, 9.
Andrew Eungi Kim, “Characteristics of Religious Life in South Korea: A Sociological Survey,” Review of Religious Research 43 (2002): 291-310; Alexa Blonner, “Heaven’s Way in Korea’s New Religions: A New Interpretation of Salvation,” Journal of Koreanology 62 (2017): 119-49.
Young-Bin Lim, “The Religious Landscape and Religious Measurements in Korea,” Korean Journal of Social Theory 53 (2018): 125-51, 147.
Korea National Statistical Office, “2015 Population and Housing Census Report,” <http://kostat.go.kr/portal/korea/kor_nw/1/1/ index.board?bmode=read&bSeq=&aSeq=358170&pageNo=1&rowNum=10&navCount=10&currPg=&searchInfo=srch&sTarget=title&sTxt=2015+%EC%9D%B8%EA%B5%AC> (15 February 2019).
Clayton Fordahl, “The Post-secular: Paradigm Shift or Provocation?” European Journal of Social Theory 20, no. 4 (2017): 550-68, 550.
Bryan Wilson, Religion in Secular Society, London: Watts, 1966, 14.
Willfried Spohn, “Multiple Modernity, Nationalism and Religion: A Global Perspective,” Current Sociology 51, no. 3/4 (2003): 265-86, 267.
Jose Casanova, Public Religions in the Modern World, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, 19-39.
Silvio Ferrari, “Law and Religion in a Secular World: A European Perspective,” Ecclesiastical Law Journal 14 (2012): 355-70, 356.
Frank J. Lechner, “The Case against Secularisation: A Rebuttal,” Social Forces 69, no. 4 (1991): 1103-1119, 1104.
Ksenia Northmore-Ball and Geoffrey Evans, “Secularisation versus Religious Revival in Eastern Europe,” Social Science Research 57 (2016): 31-48, 31.
Rodney Stark, “Secularisation, R.I.P.,” Sociology of Religion 60, no. 3 (1999): 249-73, 254; Mark Chaves, “Secularisation as Declining Religious Authority,” Social Forces 72, no. 3 (1994): 749-79, 750.
NORC, “The General Social Survey: Chronicling Changes in American Society,” The Associated Press and NORC (2015): 1-9; Steve Bruce, Secularisation: In Defense of an Unfavorable Theory, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Thomas Schmidt-Lux, and Uta Karstein, “Secularisation as Conflict,” Social Compass 55, no. 2 (2008): 127-39, 128.
Klas Grinell and Urban Strandberg, “Expressions, Mediations, and Exclusions in Post-secular Societies: Introduction,” European Review 20, no. 1 (2012): 68-76, 7.
Tong Chee Kiong and Lily Kong, “Religion and Modernity: Ritual Transformations and the Reconstruction of Space and Time,” Social & Cultural Geography 1, no. 1 (2000): 29-44, 41.
John Nelson, “Shinto Ritual: Managing Chaos in Contemporary Japan,” Ethnos 57 (1992): 77-104, 77.
Karel Dobbelaere, “Towards an Integrated Perspective of the Processes Related to the Descriptive Concept of Secularisation,” Sociology of Religion 60, no. 3 (1999): 229-47.
Roger Finke and Rodney Stark, “Religious Economies and Sacred Canopies: Religious Mobilisation in American Cities, 1906,” American Sociological Review 53 (1988): 41-49.
Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme, “Secularization and the Wider Gap in Values and Personal Religiosity between the Religious and Nonreligious,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 55, no. 4 (2016): 717-736, 718.
William Swatos, “The Relevance of Religion: Iceland and Secularisation Theory,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 23 (1984): 32-439.
Timothy L. O’Briena and Shiri Noy, “Traditional, Modern, and Post-Secular Perspectives on Science and Religion in the United States,” American Sociological Review 80, no. 1 (2015): 92-115, 94.
Mats Nilsson and Mekonnen Tesfahuney, “Performing the ‘Post-secular’ in Santiago de Compostela,” Annals of Tourism Research 57 (2016), 18-30, 21.
Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2007, 354.
Harvey Cox, The Future of Faith, New York: Harper One, 2009.
Young-Koung Kang, “The Image of Ideal Man in Korean Ancient Mountain Gods,” Religion and Culture 7 (2001): 155-214, 155.
Young-Seop Ko, “The Naturalisation and Centripetalisation of Ancient Buddhism of Korea,” Journal of the Korean Association for Buddhist Studies 26 (2015): 145-83, 148.
Young-Shim Kim, “A Study on the Establishment of Religious Taoism in Baekje,” Journal of Paekche Research Institute 55 (2011): 159-190,162.
Su-Jin Kim, “The Background of the Acceptance of Taoism in the 7th Century of Goguryeo,” Journal of Korean Ancient History 59 (2010): 163-202, 174.
Gap-dong Kim, “The Change of Shamanism in Goryo Period,” History and Discourse 78 (2016): 35-70, 36.
Hyeon-Chul Do, “Neo-Confucians’ Perception of Buddhism in the Early Days of the Joseon,” The Study of Korean History of Thought 50 (2015): 33-65, 55.
Sun-Cheol Gwon, “The Conflicts of Confucian Law and Religion in the Joseon Dynasty,” Journal of New Religions 3 (2000): 119-135, 123.
Nam-Chul Pu, “The Diversity of Joseon Confucian Policies towards Buddhism and Catholicism,” Youngsan Journal of East Asian Cultural Studies 1 (2007): 29-53, 41.
Kil-myung Ro, “New Religions and Social Change in Modern Korea History,” The Review of Korean Studies 5 (2002): 31-62, 34.
Sukhyung Kim, The Composition of Farmers’ Class during the Feudalistic Joseon Dynasty, Seoul: Shinsowon, 1993.
Andrew Eungi Kim, “Political Insecurity, Social Chaos, Religious Void and the Rise of Protestantism in Late Nineteenth-century Korea,” Social History 26, no. 3 (2001): 267-81, 268.
Maeng-Soo Park, “Donghak Affiliated Religious Movements’ Historical Development and Chronological Change of Thoughts,” Korea Religion 37 (2014): 53-87, 62.
Gyung-Won Lee and Kyung-Un Baik, “A Study of Historical Change of Jeungsan-affiliated New Religious Thoughts and Movements,” Korea Religion 37 (2014): 157-202.
Jae-hun Lee, “The Present and Future of New Religions in Korea,” Korean Journal of Religious Studies 68 (2012): 115-39, 118.
Donku Kang, “The Religious Policy of American Military Affairs in Korea,” Journal of Religious Studies 12 (1993): 15-42.
Dong-Woo Kwon, “Changes in Korean Religious Denominations after Liberation and the Response to New Religions,” Journal of New Religions 28 (1993): 109-39.
Ro, “New Religions and Social Change in Modern Korea History,” 55;
Lee, “The Status and Outlook of Korean New Religions after the 1970s,” 11.
In-Cheol Kang, “Social Changes and Religion after the Korean War,” Korea Religion 22 (1997): 243-67, 252.
Chong-Suh Kim, “The Identity of Korean Religion after 1945,” Religion and Culture 25 (2013): 1-25, 12.
Young-Bin Lim, “The Religious Landscape and Religious Measurements in Korea,” Korean Journal of Social Theory (May 2018): 125-151, 128.
Seung-Yong Yoon, “An Analysis of Gallup Korea Surveys on Religious Issues and Problems during the Past 30-Year Period,” The Critical Review of Religion and Culture 27 (2015): 189-227, 202.
Siyoon Lee and Seil Oh, “Religious Ecology in Korea: Sociological Analyses and Theoretical Tasks,” Korean Journal of Social Theory 48 (2015): 101-136, 109.
Donku Kang, “Anti-religious Movements in Contemporary Korea,” Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences 29 (2017): 241-78, 263.
Kyung-Ro Yoon, “Seventy Years after National Division: Cases and Nature of Korean Christianity’s Adhesion to Power,” Christianity and History in Korea 44 (2016): 27-65, 36.
Unsuk Song and Kyungtae Kim, “A Study of the Mutual Influence Strategy between Politics and Religion in South Korea,” Korean Public Administration History Review 35 (2014): 337-361.
Soon-Yang Kim, “Consolidating the Authoritarian Development State in the 1970s Korea: Chosen Strategies,” International Review of Public Administration 12, no. 1 (2007): 119-32, 119.
Korea National Statistical Office, “Economic Growth Rates of Korea” <http://kosis.kr/search/search.do> (15 February 2019).
As of 2015, Korea has the lowest birth rate among the 36 OECD members and also ranks 2nd in suicide mortalities (25.8 per 100,000 persons) after Latvia. OECD, “Suicide Rates,” <https://data.oecd.org/ healthstat/suicide-rates.htm> (15 February 2019).
Wilkins-Laflamme, “Secularisation and the Wider Gap in Values and Personal Religiosity between the Religious and Nonreligious,” 719.
Seung-Gil Park, “New Religious Movements in the Religious Market and their Topographical Mutation,” Korea Religion 40 (2016): 3-42, 14.
Jung-Yeon Yi, “Review of ‘Modernity and Religion’ Study,” Society and Theory 33 (2018): 225-280, 269.
Young-Jun Lee and Jin-Young Kim, “A Suggestion for the Development of ‘Tree Pilgrimage Way’ Using the Protected Trees in Yeoju-si, Gyeonggi Province,” Global Cultural Contents 40 (2019): 41-63, 42.
Lisbeth Mikaelsson, “Pilgrimage as Post-secular Therapy,” Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis 24 (2012): 259-273, 266.
Jurgen Habermas, “Notes on the Post-secular Society,” New Perspectives Quarterly 25, no. 4 (2008): 17-29, 19.
Chil-Sung Kim, “Study on the Origin of Religious Exclusivism and Aggressive Evangelism in the Korean Church,” Theological Theology 86 (2016): 63-96.
Pyong-Gap Min, “Development of Protestantism in South Korea: Positive and Negative Elements,” Asian American Theological Forum (2014) <https://aatfweb.org/2014/10/31/development-ofprotestantis m-in-south-korea-positive-and-negative-elements/> (20 March 2018).
Michael Hout and Claude S. Fischer, “Why More Americans Have No Religious Preference: Politics and Generations,” American Sociological Review 67, no. 2 (2002): 165-90.
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Published
2019-09-30
How to Cite
Lee, Y.-J., & Lee, J.-O. (2019). SECULAR OR POST SECULAR? Korea as a Multi-Religious Society. Journal of Dharma, 44(3), 301–320. Retrieved from https://dvkjournals.in/index.php/jd/article/view/216
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