More On Religion in South Korea

Still on religion in South Korea.

University of British Columbia academic Don Baker noted that religious diversity in a handful of countries such as Singapore is mainly a consequence of ethnic diversity, whereby particular ethnic groups tend to identify with one particular religion. For instance, Malays in Singapore tend to be Muslims, while Chinese tend to be Buddhists.

But South Korea is religiously diverse despite being ethnically homogenous. As Baker put it, "I know of no other country where Buddhists and Christians are so close in number." (Transformation of Religion in Modern Korea, in Insight into Korea, Herald Media 2007).

Arguing that Koreans had historically been spiritual, Baker noted that Koreans have been religious "for as long as there have been Koreans."

"For millennia, they have prayed to supernatural personalities for assistance, interacted with spiritual beings through rituals, and engaged in chanting (pictured, Korean shaman), meditation, and other techniques intended to help them overcome the limitations of normal human existence by connecting with some superior presence or force."

"Long before the last decade of the 20th century, well over half of the Korean population regularly engaged in religious behavior. Koreans have not become religious only in recent decades. However, the way Koreans are religious has changed."

These changes have mainly been due to the country's encounter with Christianity, such as the introduction of proselytizing by Protestants "on a scale, and with an intensity" that Korea had never seen before.