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SEOUL: South Korea’s latest COVID-19 outbreak has sparked a public backlash against conservative Christian churches for defying government orders aimed at preventing the spread of the disease.
At least a third of the 4,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Seoul metropolitan area over the past three weeks have been attributed to church members and others who attended an anti-government rally on August 15, the largest group. of the country in months.
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Authorities said quelling the outbreak was hampered by around 650 church members and 7,700 protesters who avoided or refused the tests as of Tuesday (September 8), and more than 300 congregations violated the ban on gatherings in person.
Leading Christian figures and conservative opposition lawmakers have criticized the Sarang Jeil Church at the center of the latest COVID-19 outbreak and other churches for spreading false news, aggravating the COVID-19 outbreak, and depleting public resources.
When the second wave of infections emerged in mid-August, conservative political parties kept churches at arm’s length, fearful that aligning with them would drive off independent and center-right voters, who are key to broadening their support and helping them win the vote. next. presidential elections in 2022.
“Those radical groups are different from us,” Joo Ho-young, who heads the main opposition People’s Power Party, said last week.
“His extreme arguments made us seem as if our party shared those thoughts, and that clearly makes it difficult for politically neutral people to support us.”
The People’s Power Party’s approval ratings surpassed those of Liberal President Moon Jae-in’s ruling party for the first time since 2017 before the Aug. 15 rally, but fell afterward.
Church members said they never intended to disrupt the government’s efforts to contain the outbreak.
READ: Thousands of South Korean church members quarantined as authorities warn of COVID-19 ‘crisis’
South Korean Christians have a long history of political activism, with many megachurches founded by evangelicals who fled the North Korean communist government before and during the 1950-53 Korean War.
But the current grassroots church movement, consisting largely of mid-size Protestant congregations, has become a radical conservative faction opposed to Moon.
Some of these church leaders say Moon is “communizing” the country by practicing a pro-North Korean and anti-American ideology.
PUBLIC AND POLITICAL BACKWARD
The church movement is led by Reverend Jun Kwang-hoon, the founder of Sarang Jeil and an outspoken critic of Moon.
Jun was jailed again on Monday for attending the Aug. 15 rally, as he breached his bail in April on an indictment earlier this year for violating electoral laws.
Jun’s influence is reinforced by the support of people who officially attend other churches but worship him. There are more than 4,000 of these “desert believers,” according to Park Yoon-sik, a high-ranking member of Sarang Jeil.
READ: Coronavirus restrictions could affect South Korea’s key holidays despite fewer cases
Park called Jun the “greatest prophet of the day” who is risking his life to protect the country.
Ko Jeong-ae, a “desert believer” who attends a major church in southern Seoul, said she was previously not politically active.
“One day I happened to see Jun’s revealing sermon on YouTube. I realized that Moon’s pro-northern socialist forces are manipulating my country,” he said.
“I had to go outside.”
But such views have failed to convince mainstream Christian and non-religious voters.
A petition with Moon’s office calling for Jun’s arrest has garnered 480,000 signatures.
“The churches face a backlash because they now serve more as a political group than a community of faith. And with their political leanings, they are seen confronting the government that is leading the battle against the coronavirus,” Kwon Yon-gyong said. , professor of Christian studies at Soongsil University in Seoul.
However, Jun remained defiant when he was taken back to jail, saying that his church was being considered a scapegoat for political reasons.
“The Republic of Korea is degenerating into a totalitarian country,” he said.
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