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| Two churchgoers at the gate of Sarang Jeil Church in Sungbuk District, Seoul, hold placards urging people to sign a guest book and wear masks. The church pushed for Sunday gatherings despite fears of the spread of coronavirus spread, and accused the government of persecuting its head pastor Jun Gwang-hoon who is being detained while under investigation. / Yonhap |
3 megachurches willing to house patients in centers
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Culture Minister Park Yang-woo met the leaders of United Christian Churches of Korea (UCCK), an association of Protestant church denominations, Tuesday, amid fears of the continuing spread of the new coronavirus here.
Park asked the church leaders to voluntarily join a campaign to halt mass public gatherings in a bid to help contain the virus.
"We are at a crossroads, when it comes to the spread of the virus," he said. "It could spread further and become harder to contain (if things go badly). I'm here today to ask for help from church leaders to be cautious about public gathering at this critical time and to fully cooperate with the government in its fight against the virus."
Reminding UCCK leaders that other religious groups have been fully cooperative, Park renewed his call to join the move and urged church leaders to reconsider holding Sunday worship for the foreseeable future.
UCCK Co-President Kim Tae-young vowed to give full support to the government. "I wanted to say though that it was not an easy decision for churches to move to online services for Sundays," he said. "But we will cooperate with the government because we know many people are worried about Sunday services at churches because of the virus. We'll take their concerns seriously and replace physical services with online sermons."
The culture minister's plea for help came as some Protestant churches are persisting in holding Sunday worship services.
Members of Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul gathered at the church Sunday for worship. Rev. Jun Gwang-hoon, who is currently detained under investigation after a warrant for his arrest was issued, is head pastor of the church.
In the crowded church, they prayed for the release of the pastor, accusing the government of persecuting their religious leader.
According to a local media report, 100 churches out of 150 in Daejon Metropolitan City went ahead with their Sunday services, despite serious public health concerns.
The defiant churches drew the ire of the citizens with many saying that they were putting people's lives at risk.
Such resentment comes as the Catholic Church and Buddhist groups have fully cooperated with calls to hold off on any kind of mass gatherings.
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| A bird's eye view shows the Sarang Church's Prayer Center in Jechon, North Chungcheong Province. The megachurch in southern Seoul offered two prayer centers, one in Jechon and the other in Ansung, Gyeonggi Province, as facilities to house coronavirus patients exhibiting mild symptoms amid an increasing shortage of hospital beds. / Yonhap |
Facing criticism, some megachurches suspended their Sunday services, replacing them with online sermons.
On Wednesday, three of these ― Yoido Full Gospel, Sarang and Gwangrim ― offered to house patients with COVID-19, but only mild symptoms, following news of a shortage of hospital beds in the southeastern city of Daegu which has been hardest hit by the coronavirus. The churches are now consulting with the health authorities.
Lee Jin-gu, the director of the Korea Institute for Religion and Culture in Seoul, said Sunday services mean a lot to Protestant churches. "Protestant leaders deem Sunday church services as something they cannot compromise," he said. "It is often said that Sunday services were held even during the Korean War. This shows Sunday worship has been a critical part of church life for Protestants in Korea."
He also said Protestant churches appear to be more fundamentalist than Catholic leaders as seen in other issues such as their interpretation of idolatry. Protestant churches use strict criteria on idolatry, and veneration of any object is banned.
For example, Protestants do not conduct "jesa" _ a traditional Korean memorial service for ancestors on the anniversary of their death or at the start of the Lunar New Year. Compared to Protestantism, Catholicism is more tolerant of the ritual as they don't consider it an act of idolatry.
"Regarding jesa, Catholics are given a choice. They can hold the ritual if they want because the Catholic Church doesn't see it as worshiping or venerating ancestors," said Lee.
Priests and Catholic missionaries were persecuted in Korea in the 1880s mainly because the religion clashed with several key elements of Confucian values and the memorial ritual was one of the touchy issues that led to clashes with the then Joseon Kingdom.
The Catholic Church switched its position on the ritual in the 1930s when it began to allow Japanese shrine worship after years of disputes.
