By Rev. Bhojraj Bhatta
If the purpose of the government through the revised Passport Act is to improve Korea's image in the world as a nation with high moral responsibilities; this move has to be commended.
Living in a free country where human rights are respected does not mean that one should be exempted from taking responsibility for abuse.
However, if this law is being brought into motion only to limit the Christian missionary activities in communist and Islamic nations due to pressure from these governments, then it is to be opposed because this would mean that the Korean government is too weak and cowardly to listen to its own conscience and is rather being influenced by external pressures.
Korea should make its own laws with its own conscience and present an image of a strong nation that has the ability to think its own thoughts.
However, this move by the government should not be opposed without evaluating the role of Christian missionaries in developing nations.
In general, the Church in Korea is proud to claim that the country is the second largest missionary sending nation in the world, next to the U.S. Some are sent to developed nations, and their missionary work is limited to the Korean diaspora; the impact of their work is virtually unnoticeable.
A few of those missionaries sent to developing nations are doing remarkable works of service in many disadvantageous communities; they epitomize the selfless sacrifice and service to fellow human beings.
But these remarkable examples are clouded by many others who have not only failed as ``Christian" missionaries, but have also failed to present a good image of Korea to the local people. They have muddied the Korean image in the eyes of the local people and governments in those nations.
We could come up with many factors as to why some of these missionaries have failed to present a good image of Korea to the common people in these nations, but I would like to focus on one; the misapplication of the concept of ``missionary." During the colonial era, the word carried with it an aura of a superman who came from a superior civilization to teach and save the savages in the colonies.
All missionaries in those days were white and everything Western was considered superior and thus, the Bible was replaced by Western culture and the God of the Bible was replaced by the missionary. Even today, Western missionaries are finding it hard to accept the concept of equality with the native Christians, but somehow have understood the need to stand back and leave the way for the natives’ leaders.
But the problem with the Korean missionaries is that they have taken this superman mentality of colonial missionary and have gone into the post-colonial world with an attitude of being sent by a colonial power.
They want to fight for their spiritual, financial and educational superiority to prove the colonial concept of a missionary. The inevitable outcome of such an approach is bitter conflicts with the native people who have already challenged the superiority of the white Western missionary. Thus, some Korean missionaries are indeed creating a negative image of Korea in the minds of many people in the developing nations.
So, the government and the missionaries both should evaluate their actions with honesty in order to create a better image of Korea in the world.
The writer is a Ph.D. candidate at Asia Life University in Daejeon. He can be reached at brbhatta@gmail.com.