For God and country
("The Economist," October 13, 2011)
Seoul, South Korea - Korea has long been a hotbed of religiosity. Before a
certain Kim Il Sung began having other ideas, Pyongyang (now the capital of
North Korea) used to be known as “The Jerusalem of the East”. And in today
’s Seoul, practitioners of traditional shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity
and even cults such as the Unification Church (better known in the West as
the Moonies), all have plenty of followers.
Many of them also have lots of money (not least because religious
institutions are tax-exempt). The Protestant church, in particular, seems to
have
produced a tribe of flashy, mansion-dwelling pastors. This is partly a
result of the character of Korean Protestantism: a common theme, for instance,
at the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul is that a poor Christian is not a
good Christian. However, it is also a result of the incentives created by the
sheer size of some churches. Yoido itself ranks as the largest Christian
congregation in the world, with over 1m members. Another, Somang Church, has
hundreds of thousands of faithful, including South Korea’s president, Lee
Myung-bak.
With all these people throwing their spare won into the collection plate,
mega-churches have become big businesses. Yoido Full Gospel Church’s founder
Cho Yong-gi, who has run the congregation since 1958, has family interests
ranging from private universities to newspapers. Members of his church
were once asked to pray for higher sales for one of his titles.
A pastor at a Seoul-based church of a mere 60,000 members notes that the
likes of Yoido have become “so big, and with assets so huge, that human greed
comes into play”. And in late September, following complaints by 29 church
elders, prosecutors began investigating Mr Cho over the alleged
embezzlement of 23 billion won ($20m) from Yoido’s funds. A documentary aired
by MBC,
a television station, claims that this money was used to buy property in
America. The show also charged that Mr Cho’s wife sold a building
constructed with collection money for her own gain. Its buyer was Hansei
University—
an institution where she also happens to be president. Mr and Mrs Cho deny
the allegations.
Yoido Church’s founder is rarely out of the news in South Korea. In March
he sparked a storm of criticism by claiming the earthquake and tsunami in
Japan was “God’s warning” to a country that follows “idol worship, atheism,
and materialism”.
He is also too political for some. When President Lee’s government drew up
plans to legislate for Islamic sukuk bonds in South Korea, Mr Cho argued
that this would aid “terrorists”, and that the president was forgetting the
vital role the Protestant lobby had in electing him. Following concerted
efforts by Mr Cho and other South Korean church leaders, the government
blinked first, and the plan was dropped.
There are plenty of rank-and-file Christians in South Korea who do not
indulge in the cathedralism of the mega-pastors. Many of the underground
networks helping North Koreans on the run in China are organised by South
Korean
Christians. Refugees who reach South Korea are often cared for by church
groups, and South Korean church aid-agencies are usually among the first to
respond to natural disasters around the world, including the Japanese
tsunami in March.
But in a country that thrives on group activities and collective bonding,
as well as religion, Seoul is a natural home for mega-churches. The likes of
Mr Cho, for all their flaws, provide something that millions of Koreans
find irresistible.
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