[107], Only few contemporary South Koreans identify as adherents of Confucianism ( Yugyo). Most Protestant Christians fled to South Korea from North Korea and in the decades since Protestant Christianity had grown rapidly. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI. The oldest indigenous religion of Korea is the Korean folk religion (a version of Shamanism ), which has been passed down from prehistory to the present. Buddhism was introduced into Korea in 372 CE during the Koguryo Kingdom period by a monk named Sundo who came from Qian Qin Dynasty China. Religion in South Korea is diverse. [10] During Japanese colonisation in the first half of the 20th century, the identification of Christianity with Korean nationalism was further strengthened,[11] as the Japanese tried to combine native Sindo with their State Shinto. Man was also believed to have a soul that never dies. [4] According to 2015 national census, 56.1% are irreligious, Protestantism represents (19.7%) of the total population, Korean Buddhism (15.5%), and Catholicism (7.9%). a) indirect conversational style w/frequent pauses. Religion is a part of South Korean life, but you can't ask one's religious affiliation during your first meeting. Religious affiliation by year (19502015), Protestant attacks on traditional religions, Growth: Number of temples by denomination, Buddhism's syncretic influence on Korea culture, South Korea National Statistical Office's 19th Population and Housing Census (2015): ", According to figures compiled by the South Korean, Baker, Donald. Population distribution South Korea 2022, by religion. Alexi Kim, at the start of the Korean War in 1950, and after the St. Nicholas Church building was destroyed by the 1951 bombing of Seoul, the small flock of Orthodox faithful was at risk of annihilation. Four years later, "A Million Souls for Christ" campaign was kicked off to encourage massive new conversions to the Protestant faith. Buddhism, which arrived in Korea in 372 AD, has tens of thousands of temples built across the country. Under royal patronage, many temples and monasteries were constructed and believers grew steadily. They lead a family oriented life where the father is the head of the family. The organizations carried out socio-political programs actively, encouraging the inauguration of similar groupings of young Koreans. With more than eight and a half million believers, Protestantism as an organized religion ranks second numerically, not far behind Buddhism, but in terms of power and influence, it is unrivalled. The growth of Catholics has occurred across all age groups, among men and women and across all education levels. Korean Islam's inaugural service was held in September 1955, followed by the election of the first Korean Imam (chaplain). The result of the survey tells us that a commonly held belief that the majority of Koreans are Christians, and the . [34] Christian communities had already existed in Joseon since the 17th century; however, it was only by the 1880s that the government allowed a large number of Western missionaries to enter the country. In 372 AD King Sosurim (?-384) of the Kingdom of Kogury (37 BC-668 AD) created what may have been the first Confucian university in Korea. By the sixth century monks and artisans were migrating to Japan with scriptures and religious artifacts to form the basis of early Buddhist culture there. [56] Similarly, in officially atheist North Korea, while Buddhists officially account for 4.5% of the population, a much larger number (over 70%) of the population are influenced by Buddhist philosophies and customs. Korean intellectuals historically developed a distinct Korean Confucianism. South Korea. What is the fastest growing religion in South Korea? More than eight-in-ten South Koreans (86%) said they have a favorable opinion of the pope, higher than the share of Americans (66%) who had a favorable view of him in February. The influence of Confucian ethical thought remains strong in other religious practices, and in Korean culture in general. [7], Before the introduction of Buddhism, all Koreans believed in their indigenous religion socially guided by mu (shamans). Also, during Japan's colonial rule of Korea, these reformists joined many independence movements to fight against imperial Japan. A slight majority of South Koreans have no religion. Christianity is especially dominant in the west of the country including Seoul, Incheon, and the regions of Gyeonggi and Honam. [61] According to 2015 census, Protestants and Catholics numbered 9.6 million and 3.8 million respective. The rulers of the succeeding Koryo Dynasty were even more enthusiastic in their support of the religion. The largest mosque is the Seoul Central Mosque in the Itaewon district of Seoul; smaller mosques can be found in most of the country's major cities. They include Daejongism ( Daejonggyo),[102] which has as its central creed the worship of Dangun, legendary founder of Gojoseon, thought of as the first proto-Korean kingdom; and a splinter sect of Cheondoism: Suwunism. Dog meat is mainly consumed during the summer and by men, who claim that it does wonders for stamina. Sindo) remain popular and could represent a large part of the unaffiliated. Throughout most of the 1800s, Catholics were persecuted and killed by the Korean government as the Joseon Dynasty did not accept the religion and saw it as being in direct conflict with Korean Confucian society. In fact, religious restrictions in South Korea are lower than in the U.S., and significantly lower than the median level of religious restrictions in the Asia-Pacific region. Shamanism represents Korea's first religion, the religion of Dangun, the mythical founder of Korea in 2333 B.C.E.. Top 10 Alcohol Consuming Countries In The World, The Biggest Heists and Bank Robberies in American History. A substantial number of South Koreans have no religion. . After the North's army abducted Korea's only Orthodox priest at the time, Fr. Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism) and Buddhism are the dominant confessions among those who affiliate with a formal religion. One in five South Koreans professes the faith. [73][74][75][76][77][56] Consequently, many Korean Christians, especially Protestants, have abandoned these native Korean traditions. Seon is represented by Jogye Order and Taego Order. www.korea.net. The North Korean constitution nominally grants freedom of religious belief, but it also prohibits the use of religion for "drawing in foreign forces or for harming the State." Official language is Korean. 9. Paekche set up such institutions even earlier. Learn about the political and social changes under Iran's Safavid Dynasty by examining the Book of Kings. They'll learn about the country's history, culture, typical lifestyles, and more. The first teachings of . By the year 1865, a dozen priests presided over a community of some 23,000 believers. In 1784 Yi Sung-hun (1756-1801) established the first prayer-house in Korea in the city of Pyongyang. The study performed by the research journal, (Yeolon Sog-ui Yeolon), discovered the change in the South Korea religious demographics stemmed from the youth. In 1955, the Orthodox faithful of Korea wrote a letter to the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate asking to come under the Ecumenical Patriarchate's spiritual care and jurisdiction. The Korean public education structure is divided into three parts: six years of primary school, followed by three years of middle school and then three years of high school. King Gojong (1852-1919), the second to last emperor of the Joseon Kingdom, even adopted the religion and helped to added Buddhist influences to it to give the religion a formal organizational hierarchy. The numbers of atheists and people unaffiliated with religion in South Korea is a tricky figure to calculate, as there is considerable overlap between the non-Christian religions in the country, and those who follow Confucianism may not be considered as following a religion, as it is often instead considered to be a philosophy. The principle of Chondogyo is Innaechon, which means that man is identical with "Hanulnim," the God of Chondogyo, but man is not the same as God. South Korea Demographics. Lee Chi-ran. However, it was only in the subsequent Joseon kingdom (13921910) that Korean Confucianism was established as the state ideology and religion, and Korean Buddhism underwent 500 years of suppression. 2In 1900, only 1% of the countrys population was Christian, but largely through the efforts of missionaries and churches, Christianity has grown rapidly in South Korea over the past century. What Is The Dominant Religion? [citation needed], Islam ( Iseullamgyo) in South Korea is represented by a community of roughly 40,000 Muslims, mainly composed by people who converted during the Korean War and their descendants and not including migrant workers from South and Southeast Asia. [106], Bah Faith was first introduced to Korea by an American woman named Agnes Alexander. The views expressed by Asia Society staff, fellows, experts, report authors, program speakers, board members, and other affiliates are solely their own. The Seoul Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was founded in 1903 along with other such Christian organizations. Essentially, the studies findings show that 50% of South Korean are now non-religious, 32% follow some section of Christianity, 16% are Buddhist, and 2% believe in some other form of religion. [49], After[when?] In 1884, Horace N. Allen, an American medical doctor and Presbyterian missionary, arrived in Korea. Its population includes a plurality of people with no religious affiliation (46%) and significant shares of Christians (29%) and Buddhists (23%). However, the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and the Russian Revolution in 1917 interrupted the activities of the mission. Previous to this sudden change, A Cohort Analysis of Religious Population Change in Korea[48] launched by the Korean Citation Index analyzed Korean religious demographics from 1999 to 2015. [51] The overwhelming majority of Buddhist temples in contemporary South Korea belong to the dominant Jogye Order, traditionally related to the Seon school. Traditional Korean Shamanism has been around in Korea since times immemorial, dating back in prehistoric times to at least 40,000 BC. Shamanism relies heavily on the human connection with spirits. Religions in North Korea - Islam. However, after Ham's death, interest in Quakerism declined. [88] However, other myths link the heritage of the traditional faith to Dangun, male son of the Heavenly King and initiator of the Korean nation. (true of false) In Korea generational ties, or family loyalties, are more important than those of marriage. Buddhism is one of the older religions in South Korea. The first Koreans to be introduced to Islam were those who moved to northeastern China in the early 20th century under Japan's colonial policy. South Koreas current president, Park Geun-hye, is an atheist with connections to Buddhism and Catholicism, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. South Korea has made great strides as a nation. Chondogyo was initiated as a social and technological movement against rampant competition and foreign encroachment in the 1860s. A small percentage of South Koreans (0.8% in total) are members of other religions, including Won Buddhism, Confucianism, Cheondoism, Daesun Jinrihoe, Islam, Daejongism, Jeungsanism and Orthodox Christianity. Buddhism is a highly disciplined philosophical religion which emphasizes personal salvation through rebirth in an endless cycle of reincarnation. According to 2015 estimates, more than half of the population (56.9%) is unaffiliated with any religion, 19.7% identify as Protestant Christians, 15.5% identify as Buddhists and 7.9% identify as Catholic. [85], Central is interaction with Haneullim or Hwanin, meaning "source of all being",[86] and of all gods of nature,[83] the utmost god or the supreme mind. The capital is Seoul (Sul). There are small communities of Buddhists and Christians. With an area of 99,678 km the country is about the size of Iceland, or slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Roman Catholic Christians first made contact with Koreans in 1593 when a Portuguese Jesuit priest named Father Gregorious de Cespedes (1551-1611) arrived in Korea to proselytize among the small Japanese community living there. After the division of Korea, most shaman priests migrated to South Korea and little is known how many practice the religion in the North today. [93], In the 1890s, the last decades of the Joseon kingdom, Protestant missionaries gained significant influence, and led a demonisation of native religion through the press, and even carried out campaigns of physical suppression of local cults. So a corpse was laid with its head toward the east in the direction of the sunrise. An overview of Korea's mainstream religions, from Shamanism to Christianity. A mosque dispute in a conservative city has forced some South Koreans to confront what it means to live in an increasingly diverse society. [37] The lack of a national religious system compared to those of China and that of Japan (Korean Sindo never developed to a high status of institutional and civic religion) gave a free hand to Christian churches. For Kory Dynasty in the 10th century, Buddhism was the state religion, and Confucianism formed the philosophical and structural backbone of the state. Korean Confucianism) and suppressed and marginalised Korean Buddhism[31][32] and Korean shamanism. Here are six facts about Christianity in South Korea: 1 South Korea has no majority religious group. Its population includes a plurality of people with no religious affiliation (46%) and significant shares of Christians (29%) and Buddhists (23%). Same as Confucianism, Buddhism teachings have a great impact on Korean lifestyle, culture, and art. Families following Confucius and his teachings firmly believe that the father must take care of the health, shelter, food and marriage of his family members. (Note: Percentages are rounded.) Many of the new religious movements are syncretic in character. Cheontae orders requires their monastics to be celibate. Other new folk and shamanistic beliefs include Taejonggyo, a religion whose central creed is worshiping Dangun the mythical founder of Korea and Chungsanggyo, which is a religion that focuses on magical practices and the creation of a paradise on Earth. According to a 1995 social statistics survey, 50.7 percent of Koreans follow a specific religious faith. Since the 1980s, however, the share of South Koreas population belonging to Protestant denominations and churches has remained relatively unchanged at slightly less than 1-in-5. True. Learn more. Hierarchical structure is evident in a conventional Korean family. [69], Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church ( Tongilgyo)[70] is a new religious movement founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, which has financed many organizations and businesses in news media, education, politics and social activism. [100] The movement grew and in 1894 the members gave rise to the Donghak Peasant Revolution against the royal government. In 2005, David Hawke, the respected human rights investigator, interviewed 40 North Korean escapees about religion in North Korea. Muism has exerted an influence on some Korean new religions, such as Cheondoism and Jeungsanism. In recent years there have been problems with more zealous member condemning and attacking non-Christians and other Christian sects. Buddhism reached Silla only in the 5th century, but it was made the state religion only in that kingdom in the year 552. The order's headquarters are at Jogyesa in central Seoul, and it operates most of the country's old and famous temples, such as Bulguksa and Beomeosa. The religion has played a key role since Korean civilization developed back during the early, mythical part of the founding of Korea's first kingdom of Gojoseon by Dangun Wanggeom in 2333 BC. By August 1948, the pro-U.S. Republic of Korea (or South Korea) was . We recommend Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge. It was the first time that a canonization ceremony was held outside the Vatican. Bow-wow. There are also small Eastern Orthodox communities. There are 23% Buddhists, 29% Christians, and 2% believe in other cultures. [15] According to scholars, South Korean censuses do not count believers in indigenous Sindo and underestimate the number of adherents of Sindo sects. In the Kingdom of Silla (57 BC-935 AD) Confucianism was at first rejected and persecuted but it eventually became a force that led to the Silla Kingdom unifying Korea from 668 to 935. During Koryo, Buddhist arts and architecture continued to flourish with unreserved support from the aristocracy. Royal preference for Buddhism in this period produced a magnificent flowering for Buddhist arts and temple architecture including Pulguk-sa temple and other relics in Kyngju, the capital of Silla. In this nation of some fifty million people, half of its population profess to hold religious affiliations. 4Only about 11% of South Koreans are Catholic, but a survey we conducted in March found that the population has a positive view of Pope Francis. South Korea is following the trend of many other developed nations in that the number of people are say that they are atheist or unaffiliated with a religious is rising, particularly among young people. They established schools, universities, hospitals, and orphanages and played a significant role in the modernisation of the country. It is also one of the world's oldest and longest surviving religions, having had parts of it blended into Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity. [1] [49], Buddhism (/ Bulgyo) entered Korea from China during the period of the three kingdoms (372, or the 4th century). Buddhists account for some 46 percent followed by Protestants at 39 percent and Catholics at 13 percent of the religious population. This include the arson of temples, the beheading of statues of Buddha and bodhisattvas, and red Christian crosses painted on either statues or other Buddhist and other religions' properties. These reformists accepted the new Western civilization and endeavored to establish a Modern Independence government. The General Sherman incident was one of the major events that led to the 1871 United States expedition to Korea and eventually led to the 1882 Treaty of Amity and Trade between Korea and America, which included a clause that missionaries would be protected. Today, Confucian ancestral worship is still prevalent and filial piety highly revered as a virtue in Korean society. Since Korea was liberated from Japanese occupation and split into two countries in 1945 there have been occasion attempts by South Korean leaders to eradicate the religion but these have failed. [82][note 1] Although used synonymously, the two terms are not identical:[82] Jung Young Lee describes Muism as a form of Sindo - the shamanic tradition within the religion. Shamanism represents Korea's first religion, the religion of Dangun, the mythical founder of Korea in 2333 B.C.E.. It has been argued that the 2015 census penalised the rural population, which is more Buddhist and Catholic and less familiar with the internet, while advantaging the Protestant population, which is more urban and has easier access to the internet. Following the Japanese occupation the religion struggled to recover in the face of western influences and the erasing of Korean culture. All of them have also had a large cultural influence in Korea and impacted Korean society as a whole, beyond religious beliefs. Muslim students walked by as local Korean residents. When Japan forcibly took over Choson as a colonial ruler in 1910, it made attempts to assimilate Korean Buddhist sects with those of Japan.These attempts however failed and even resulted in a revival of interest in native Buddhism among Koreans. The Korean Catholic Church grew quickly and its hierarchy was established in 1962. After Japan's defeat in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union divided the peninsula into two zones of influence. Confucian rituals are still practised at various times of the year. [78][61] Protestants in Korea have a history of attacking Buddhism and other traditional religions of Korea with arson and vandalism of temple and statues, some of these hostile acts have been promoted by the church. Korean shamanism includes the worship of thousands of spirits and demons that are believed to dwell in every object in the natural world,including rocks, trees, mountains and streams as well as celestial bodies. All maps, graphics, flags, photos and original descriptions 2023 worldatlas.com. This is however little stigma or persecution attached to not being religious in South Korea since non-religious people do not fell the need to make themselves known. The Yoido Full Gospel Church is the largest Pentecostal church in the country. (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries. Most Roman Catholic Christians fled to South Korea from North Korea and in the decades since the religion has grown. Confucianism was introduced along with the earliest specimens of Chinese written materials around the beginning of the Christian era. The Value and Meaning of the Korean Family, Population Change and Development in Korea, Asia Society Museum: The Asia Arts & Museum Network. Starting in the 1700s Confucianism in Korea started to feel under attack from western influences and Christianity, which eventually culminated in the persecution of Christians during much of the 1800s. Thus, when counting secular believers or those influenced by the faith while not following other religions, the number of Buddhists in South Korea is considered to be much larger. Asia Society takes no institutional position on policy issues and has no affiliation with any government. In the years following this event the third patriarch of the Donghak movement, Son Byong-hi (1861-1922), decided to change the name of Donghak to Cheondogyo, often referred to as Cheondoism, with the goal of trying to modernize the religion and bring it into a new era. For example, the specific religion and the age at which the religion was introduced to the individual can have effects on the probability of an individual to stay religious throughout their lives. (Among U.S. Catholics, 85% said they have a favorable view of the pontiff.). It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. The tide of Christian mission activity reached Korea in the 17th century, when copies of Catholic missionary Matteo Ricci's works in Chinese were brought from Beijing by the annual tributary mission to the Chinese Emperor. Overall, there seems to be a large deviation between those who were introduced to religion before elementary and those who were introduced after their 50s. What Type Of Government Does South Korea Have? The oldest religious ideas in Korea are shamanism and animism. During the Japanese occupation of Korea (1910-1945) the Japanese uplifted the position that Buddhism had in Korea. Other religions followed in the country include Shamanism, Confucianism and Buddhism. [citation needed], Jeungsanism ( Jeungsangyo) defines a family of religions founded in the early 20th century[103] that emphasise magical practices and millenarian teachings of Kang Jeungsan (Gang Il-Sun). Here are sixfacts about Christianity in South Korea: 1South Korea has no majority religious group.
what is the main religion in south korea