The United Christian Churches of Korea (UCCK), a major conservative Protestant group, has started all-out efforts to stop the passage of an anti-discrimination law that was recently proposed again. The anti-discrimination law has been proposed regularly since 2007, but has never passed due to powerful vocal opposition from conservative churches.
The UCCK, considered the largest coalition of Protestant churches here, consists of 30 denominations and includes 56,000 individual churches. According to the UCCK's website and media reports, the group held a prayer meeting Wednesday, and later discussed forming a committee and take action to stop the legislation of the act.
“An anti-discrimination bill was proposed by the Justice Party at the National Assembly and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea is recommending the legislation of so-called laws on equality… Facing the grim reality, the coalition and groups of Korean churches joined hands to hold a regular prayer meeting and form a committee on the matter so that they can handle the situation and oppose the anti-discrimination law, which creates another discrimination,” the UCCK said in a statement released during a prayer meeting held at Onnuri Church in Yongsan District in Seoul, Wednesday.
“During the nationwide prayer meeting, we will stand against the move toward legislation and those organizations that criticize our church community ― which took the lead to protect the weak and improve human rights and equality on the Korean Peninsula over the last 130 years ― as if it is against equality and seeks its interests only. We will continue to make efforts to withdraw and purify the anti-discrimination legislation which has some hidden intentions and is anti-societal and unethical.”
Specifically, they pledged to take several steps to protest the legislation. The first is to hold regular monthly morning prayer meetings at large member churches to pray for the withdrawal of the legislation. Next church members will place placards in every church calling for the withdrawal of the legislation and visit lawmakers to get their agreement or hold one-person protests against them in front of their district offices.
The moves came after Rep. Jang Hye-young of the Justice Party and nine other lawmakers proposed an anti-discrimination bill June 29 designed to prevent discrimination against groups or individuals based on sex, disability, age, race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion and individual political opinions among others. The bill stipulates that those who do not follow correction orders against discriminatory actions, could be ordered to pay up to 30 million won ($25,281) to spend on implementing corrections to the situation. It is not a fine or penalty.
Conservative churches have been opposing the passage of an anti-discrimination law for almost two decades, largely because they believe homosexuality violates their religious beliefs.
Meanwhile, the National Council of Churches in Korea, a liberal group of churches, is supporting the legislation of the law as it is to protect the socially vulnerable and to show Christian values of love and equality. The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest Buddhist order in the nation, and some NGOs have also joined hands to support the passage of the legislation.
“Even inside the church, there are divisions over the anti-discrimination act. The older generation, who hold the controlling power in the church, fiercely oppose the legislation. But the younger generation have different opinions about it; not all, but many of them are neutral or even support the law. Even some statistics showed that ordinary church members who agree with the legislation outnumber those who oppose it,” a church insider who asked for anonymity said.
The lawmakers, especially those who proposed the bill, and the religious conservative group are expected to clash over the legislation, as the coalition is the most vocal in society. According to a survey released in 2018 by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 19.7 percent of the Korean population are Protestants which accounts for 44.9 percent of people following a “mainstream religion.”
| Rep. Jang Hye-young of the Justice Party, center, poses after holding a press conference over the passage of an anti-discrimination law at the National Assembly in this June 14 file photo. Korea Times file |