By Bradley MacDonald
I first arrived in Seoul from Montreal in November 2000 to teach English. As a religious studies major and being somewhat religious myself, I’ve since been able to observe differences between religions as expressed in North America and South Korea.
In my opinion, the most obvious difference is that for the most part, religion is regarded as a private matter in North America.
Westerners tend to be weary of discussing religion with people, often even with people they know well. Koreans tend to want to find out what they have in common with others and will often ask people they’ve just met what their religion is.
By no means do I think people should apologize for their faith but I was once upset when I was asked my religion at a job interview here in Seoul. I think such a question during a job interview would be illegal back home.
Not everyone would agree with me on this but in my experience most North Americans are sort of wishy-washy when it comes to religion. Seventy-five percent of people consider themselves religious but only 25 percent attend worship service at least once per month.
Going to one’s place of worship regularly doesn’t automatically make him or her a great follower but I find it odd how people who claim to be religious and believe in God don’t grant Him one hour per week (even if technically it might not be an obligation in their denomination).
I state this in regard to followers of Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and not necessarily Buddhists or Hindus.
A much higher concentration of Koreans will admit to not being religious and/or to having no religious affiliation. Bona fide atheists seem to be relatively rare in North America.
Among the few atheists I’ve noted in my home province of Quebec, a high proportion is anti-theist. Quebec has gone from being the most religious province in Canada to the least religious and I often felt defensive about my church’s stances on certain controversial issues. In my five years or so in Korea, I haven’t noted any hostility to religion among Koreans.
Back home, members of certain churches would show up at our home about two or three times per year to make religious appeals.
This hasn’t ever happened to me in Korea and has only happened once when I was at someone else’s home. What I have witnessed here that I’m not aware of in North America is public display of evangelical zeal by members of particular churches.
On the street and on subways people will ostentatiously preach to strangers in loud voices carrying signs across their bodies. Once on a subway two middle-aged women stopped in the middle of a subway car near where I was sitting. One preached loudly for about 10 minutes while the other knelt in front of her.
I’ve also seen evangelists walking through subways stop and place their hands on people as they believed the spirit was moving them. The spirit is now moving me to conclude this article. Amen!
Bradley MacDonald is a SEPT Rater, who has been a resident of Korea for five years.