COVID-19 and the Church in 2020 Korea: Vast Difference in Response

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Pastor Gwang-Hoon Jeon preaches at the nationwide united worship service held at Sarang Jeil Church in Jangwi neighbourhood, Seoul on July 5th. It is believed that at least 1000 believers attended the service

Initial Cluster Outbreak at Shincheonji Church Met With Immediate Cessation of In-person Worship Services & Delivery of Large-scale Blood Plasma Donations
2nd Outbreak at Sarang Jeil Church - Despite the Rise of Confirmed Cases, Some Churches Still Insist on In-Person Worship Services & Gatherings

[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Lim Hye-ji] “God can not be confined in a church!” a Protestant pastor has declared. It was a blow to churches who conduct face-to-face worship services and gatherings, even in a city rife with the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). There is one 'unique' church that was at the centre of the coronavirus pandemic and has acted throughout. Yet the churches' responses have been quite different. Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji Church of Jesus) suddenly came to the forefront during the first pandemic. Coronavirus displayed its might as it swept through Shincheonji Daegu Church in no time. Churches surely would have learnt a thing or two from this, yet the reality was very different. Some churches have continued to gather despite the coronavirus. They even protested against the government's quarantine guidelines that forbade church gatherings, arguing that it violates religious freedoms. Moreover, some have criticised the government for oppressing the church. Despite the government's appeal on quarantine guidelines, it was actually uncommon to find a church closed. Groups maintain that gathering in accordance with the Biblical teachings and faith. However, there are churches across the country which closed their doors after the COVID-19 outbreak and have not even conducted a single on-site worship service.

◆The 1st Wave: Shincheonji Church of Jesus, The Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony

In early February this year, after the 31st confirmed domestic case, Shincheonji Church of Jesus' Daegu branch church experienced a significant outbreak, leading to Shincheonji Church becoming the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and the target of criticism. At the time of the general election, the President ordered a special investigation of Shincheonji Church. Soon every municipal government and party, including the mayor of Seoul and Gyeonggi Governor Jae-myeong Lee, actually declared war with Shincheonji Church.

In the prosecution's forensic investigation, it was declared that their list was consistent with the list originally submitted to health authorities by Shincheonji Church, yet all-round pressure on Shincheonji Church continued, including a tax investigation and a search-and-seizure by the prosecution. After the outbreak at Shincheonji Daegu Church, Shincheonji Church held a press conference, expressed their regret, and announced their full cooperation with health authorities by any means possible.

Chairman Man Hee Lee even stood in front of the media and issued a repeated apology, saying, "As the chairman of Shincheonji, I would like to sincerely apologise to all the people of Korea for this crisis." After the first confirmed case in their Daegu branch church, Shincheonji Church closed all 1100 churches and affiliated buildings nationwide on February 18th.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) provided the addresses of all churches and affiliated organisations and expressed their intention to provide facilities for COVID-19 treatment. Shincheonji Church has had all its churches nationwide closed until now, 11 months since February, with all worship services and educational meetings made online.

Thankfully, quarantine authorities quickly responded to the outbreak at Shincheonji Daegu Church to prevent a worst-case scenario. In fact, Korea's response to the outbreak has become highly esteemed worldwide.

However, in Korea, hatred towards Shincheonji Church has only increased daily. As Shincheonji Church became hot topic due to COVID-19, the established Church - which has made Shincheonji Church subject to a witchhunt since its rapid growth - began to persecute Shincheonji Church more severely, labelling it a 'cult'. Today, Shincheonji Church congregants are stigmatised by society as criminals. Day by day, hate crime has only increased which, in the end, robbed the lives of two of its faithful.

Even though Shincheonji Church has, from the outset, announced their willingness to fully cooperate with health authorities right through to the end - which began with the closure of its entire church - the prosecution nevertheless requested an arrest warrant for 90-year-old Chairman Lee and five Shincheonji Church administrators for allegedly interfering with COVID-19 quarantine activity. Upon the court's issuance of a warrant, Chairman Lee was arrested in the early hours of August 1st. Chairman Lee encouraged COVID-19 recovered Shincheonji Church congregants to express love and forgiveness amid great suffering by donating their blood plasma. After the initial request for bail was dismissed, bail was later granted and the Chairman was released on November 12th.

Shincheonj Church did not express any opposition to the police search-and-seizure, prosecution investigations or successive arrests of Shincheonji Church representatives. Rather, they began donating their blood plasma, thinking about people who have been affected by COVID-19. In fact, about 3700 recovered members of Shincheonji Daegu Church started to donate plasma collectively for the development of a blood treatment.

In addition, many Shincheonji Church members participated in plasma donation after losing their jobs. At the blood plasma donation site, Joon-wook Kwon, Deputy Head of the KDCA, visited and encouraged donors in person. He said, "This blood plasma donation by believers of Shincheonji Church, who have now recovered from COVID-19, will make an indelible contribution to overcoming this pandemic and, eventually, eradicate it. We hope that the voluntary and active example set by Shincheonji Church members today will serve as an example to all citizens". At present, a very sick Covid patient has been cured through a treatment made through the blood plasma donations of Shincheonji Church members.

◆The 2nd Wave: Sarang Jeil Church
In Sarang Jeil Church (Seongbuk district, Seoul), Pastor Gwang-Hoon Jeon, who is also Chairman of the Christian Council of Korea, took the lead in a church revival among his members during the coronavirus pandemic. The first confirmed case from Sarang Jeil Church was in Dongdaemun district, Seoul on August 2nd.

As a result of the investigation, it was confirmed that 'Mr. A' had attended a special lecture delivered by a former pastor called 'Holy Spirit Explosion Conference' at Sarang Jeil Church for two days from July 27th to 29th. A video uploaded on YouTube TV at that time shows a scene where a former pastor openly rejects donning a mask and conducts a worship service with hundreds of people in attendance. This was, in fact, a violation of quarantine rules. At the daily 8:15am prayer meeting held before the Gwanghwamun assembly, believers gathered in an enclosed church to sing hymns for two hours, raising their hands and praying in voice.

The confirmed case in Sarang Jeil Church had a snowball effect. On the 13th, following the initial confirmed case, another Sarang Jeil Church member was confirmed with coronavirus, and within a week or so, about 200 related confirmed cases occurred in Seoul alone. In addition, infections related to Sarang Jeil Church amounted to 100 people nationwide, including in Gyeonggi, Incheon and Chungnam.

Even in a climate where COVID-19 from Sarangjeil Church swept through the country, Pastor Jeon held a large-scale liberation day rally on August 15th. The city of Seoul took measures to ban the assembly, but they ignored it, saying it was a "political act." About 10,000 people flocked to the rally conducted by the former pastor. Health authorities and the Seoul city government accused Pastor Jeon of having violated the Infectious Diseases Control and Violation Act because Pastor Jeon participated in the Liberation Day assembly knowingly violating self-isolation measures, and obstructed epidemiological investigations by under-reporting church membership to health authorities.

Sarang Jeil Church supporters gathered standing. The church held a press conference and announced its position to sue the government. Pastor Gwang-hoon Jeon even raised a conspiracy theory that the government was intentionally making confirmed cases to destroy Sarang Jeil Church. In an interview with the Protestant media, Pastor Jeon defined the cause of the spread of COVID-19 in his church as a 'virus terror' and said, "An invisible hand from the outside is involved; broadly speaking, it could be an act perpetrated by North Korea."

Some members of Sarang Jeil Church who believed in the words of the former pastor filled citizens with deep anxiety, such as leaving the quarantined hospital and causing outdoor commotion. As the spread of COVID-19 continued throughout Sarang Jeil Church, societal hostility towards the former pastor grew. On the bulletin board of the Blue House National Petition, a petition received the support of more than 200,000 people urging the former pastor to resign.

In the midst of this, the former pastor tested positive for coronavirus. As he was taken into an ambulance, controversy arose as reporters caught him smiling while using his smartphone with his mask down. Pastor Jeon, who had been released on bail after being arrested on charges of violating the election law, was remanded on bail for attending the 8.15 Liberation Day rally, and was finally arrested again on September 7th.

◆ Recurrence of COVID-19, the 'church' remains at the epicentre
Was it wishful thinking to expect that Sarang Jeil Church would have taught us a lesson? In religious facilities such as churches, confirmed patients still maintain that the day is far away, yet the figures are not insignificant. In the case of the metropolitan area, for example, from November to December, more than 100 confirmed cases occurred at Hongdae Sae Church in Mapo district, Seoul and Seongseok Church in Gangseo district, Seoul. It was confirmed that all dozens of them ignored quarantine regulations. Furthermore, there are dozens of small and large churches across the country.

Most religious circles have recognised the severity of this virus and have switched to non-face-to-face online activities. However, some Protestant churches continue to conduct face-to-face meetings despite the earnest appeal by our society. There are still pastors and believers who protest on grounds of "invasion of religious freedoms." While there are still a few churches that continue such dogmatic behaviour, ignoring the safety of society, my neighbours and I, it is forecast that carefully evaluated the credibility of the Protestant Church will plummet in the coming year.

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