Shincheonji Daegu Church: From COVID to First Trial Acquittal
Positive Case Emerged at Shincheonji Daegu Church Since February 18th 2020
Surge in Confirmed Covid Cases
Political Agenda Amid General Election Led to Added Pressure on Shincheonji Church Victims
Prosecution's Demand for a Sentence of Imprisonment…Initial trial resulted in 'not guilty'
[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Kim Bit-na] To be infected with the novel coronavirus infection (Covid-19) is not a sin.
On the 3rd February 2021, officials from Shincheonji Daegu Church were acquitted of charges of having violated quarantine regulations. This follows the same verdict given to Chairman Man-hee Lee of Shincheonji Church on the 13th of last month.
On February 18th 2020, a member of Shincheonji Daegu Church ('Patient 31') tested positive for coronavirus. Since that day, the pandemic entered a new phase domestically with hundreds of new cases daily, mainly from Shincheonji Daegu Church members.
As President Jae-in Moon called for "a thorough investigation of Shincheonji", Shincheonji Church was condemned overnight as "the epicentre of the virus". Health authorities requested a list of all Shincheonji Daegu Church members. With the church closed and its leading representative in isolation, it was not easy for Shincheonji Church's General Assembly Headquarters to submit the list.
◆Political circles targeted Shincheonji Church like a witch-hunt
Shincheonji Church, which produced the largest number of graduates in the history of religion with 103,764 graduates in November 2019, has become the main target of the established Church. The Christian community was dumbfounded by the rapid growth of Shincheonji Church at that time, and pastors of mainstream Christianity found an opportune moment to name and shame Shincheonji Church through the Covid-19 cluster outbreak that emerged from their branch church in Daegu.
Amid an anxious and agitated climate, public opinion was heavily swayed and there was a sharp rise in the number of online clicks and views. Reports continued to be churned out as if Shincheonji Church had held overly crowded worship services that broke the law.
Even though numbering some 250,000 members, and not tens of millions, Shincheonji Church believers, who are few in number, did not protest. Although 6000 cases of human rights violations have been registered against Shincheonji Church members, these cases have not been fully disclosed to the public.
A tragedy occurred in which two female Shincheonji Church members fell out of a window and died after suffering domestic violence from their husbands whose emotions had been aroused by the slanderous palaver concerning Shincheonji Church. Yet their deaths did not receive due consideration. Instea, the public 'witch-hunting' of Shincheonji continued on.
In the lead-up to the general election, politicians who understood the social climate manipulated it to their advantage, garnering votes by scapegoating Shincheonji Church. Whenever their criticism of Shincheonji Church grew, so did their approval ratings. Huge pressure was then placed on the victims of the virus when Shincheonji Church officials were accused of murder, with their licences revoked and tax investigations carried out. They were charged with obstructing efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 which, in reality, was an elaborate method to garner votes.
◆Shincheonji Church's pre-emptive measures and active cooperation with government regulations
Following the 31st confirmed case on February 18th 2020, Shincheonji Church's response was unique. Despite the subsequent rise of domestic cases nationwide, Shincheonji Church's General Assembly Headquarters ordered all churches nationwide to shut immediately, and banned all in-person worship services and meetings. Shincheonji Church took pre-emptive measures before waiting for government orders.
Was it a simple matter for Shincheonji Church to ban all in-person worship services at that stage? Pre-covid, Shincheonji Church registered an average attendance rate of 98%, meaning that unless admitted to hospital or for rare cases, a congregant would attend worship service. This is because Chairman Man-hee Lee emphasised attendance at worship service as a basic requirement for a believer.
In spite of the importance of attending worship service at Shincheonji Church (more so than in any other church), the outbreak of Covid-19 from within Shincheonji Church led to pre-emptive measures being taken to protect the family of believers.
Since then, Chairman Man-hee Lee, as well as officials from Shincheonji Daegu Church, actively cooperated with all government guideline. This explains why the number of additional confirmed cases at Shincheonji Daegu Church since April 2nd 2020 is zero.
The cluster outbreak among Shincheonji Daegu Church members was met with a calls for the development of blood treatment. Although each country worldwide has started to develop antibody treatment, the biggest challenge has been securing blood plasma for a cure. Shincheonji Daegu Church members responded by actively donating their blood plasma. A total of 3741 members participated via three rounds of collective blood plasma donation, with individual donations made by more than 100 members.
This group plasma donation is the only one of its kind worldwide. The blood plasma of Shincheonji Church believers has already been used as life-saving material to save the life of a critically ill patient. Health authorities recently revealed that they are also conducting research on mutant strains through Shincheonji Church members' plasma.
Congregation members were actively encouraged to donate their blood plasma by Chairman Man-hee Lee, who sustained psychological trauma following the outbreak, urging them to put their love into action.
◆ Obstruction of quarantine efforts 'not guilty'
On August 1st 2020, Chairman Man-hee Lee was arrested on the charge of obstructing quarantine efforts. When Chairman Man-hee Lee was arrested, the Protestant community rejoiced and, along the same sentiment, the prosecution demanded five years imprisonment for Chairman Man-hee Lee. Eight members from Daegu Church were also sentenced to prison.
Following Chairman Man-hee Lee's imprisonment, all Shincheonji Daegu Church representatives were accused of having obstructed quarantine efforts.
On the 13th of last month, Chairman Man-hee Lee was committed to trial before the Suwon District Court and acquitted of all charges related to the obstruction of quarantine efforts.
Although not all trials have yet been resolved, it is undeniable that the politics behind this pandemic has made the victims of this virus the cause of the outbreak, too. This has made an indelible mark on human history.
◆“The government's indiscriminate witch-hunt of Shincheonji”
Lee-seung Kwon, a professor at the Department of Healthcare Management at Catholic Kwandong University, said in a telephone interview with Cheonji Ilbo, "Now that quarantine regulation standards are clear (banning face-to-face worship etc.), any religious organisation whether Shincheonji, Catholicism, Won Buddhism or any other must act according to that standard." He added, "The time of the outbreak of confirmed Shincheonji Church cases occurred before existing quarantine guideline standards were decreed.”
Mr. Kwon continued, “I think the resulting verdict of this trial reflects the fact that they could not be held responsible for what happened before quarantine guideline standards were clearly established."
In a phone call with Cheonji Ilbo, Meng-gi Cho, Emeritus Professor of Sogang University Graduate School of Media said, “Up until that time (before the 31st confirmed case), Shincheonji was not aware of Covid-19 infection and there was no cover up.”
Mr. Cho added, “We can not attribute the rise in confirmed cases of coronavirus to their worship gatherings in a country with freedom of religion.”
In a call with Cheonji Ilbo, Sang-gyeom Kim, Professor of Law at Dongguk University, said, “The government requested that the list be submitted by Shincheonji, yet a lawsuit was later filed against Shincheonji Daegu Church on charges of omitting data. However, because personal information is sensitive information, the court made a strict judgment.”
Professor Kim said, “When a judicial decision is made, the evidence is thoroughly examined and this would have been no different in this case."
Professor Kim continued, “The government seems to have blindly made a conviction on Shincheonji without undergoing a legal review, such as seeking advice from legal experts. There are no grounds for criminal punishment. It seems that this was a witch-hunt against Shincheonji.”
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Global Media Reports on Shincheonji Church's Blood Plasma Donations
Initial donation by 500 recovered Daegu congregants, July 2020 (video at the end)
Second donation by 1100 recovered Daegu congregants
Third donation by 4000 recovered Daegu congregants
From mid-2020, 231 reports published in 69 countries on intended 4000 donation
Shincheonji Church's official response to all allegations:-
“This is our earnest request: please stop the cursing and hatred towards Shincheonji. And we ask some media outlets that are slandering and suppressing Shincheonji using unconfirmed information and fake news to stop immediately.”
Official Statement by Shincheonji Church
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Further Global News Reports on Shincheonji Church (COVID-19)
Lies regarding the Coronavirus about Shincheonji 신천지 (03/03/2020)
Quarantine Official: "Confirmed case of COVID-19 in Daegu had existed before ‘patient 31’" (Daum News 22/03/2020)
Quarantine Official: "Confirmed case of COVID-19 in Daegu had existed before ‘patient 31’" (Naver 22/03/2020)
Shincheonji Church of Jesus in S. Korea Responds To What It Believes Are Erroneous Media Reports (Cision PR Newswire, 01/03/2020) ▶https://prn.to/3hDu3uo
"Shincheonji didn't lie about membership figures." (The Korea Herald 17/03/2020)
'Shincheonji members who survived COVID-19 volunteer en masse to aid vaccine development' (Religion News Service 26/06/2020)▶https://religionnews.com/2020/06/26/shincheonji-members-who-survived-covid-19-volunteer-en-masse-to-aid-vaccine-development/
South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research (Today Online 23/06/2020)▶https://bit.ly/3dxDTup
South Korea church hit by COVID-19 says members to give plasma for research (Jakarta Post 24/06/2020)▶https://bit.ly/2CBY5if
Official COVID-19 Response by Shincheonji Church of Jesus
•0307 Chairman Man Hee Lee asks "all congregants to fully cooperate for disease control" in a special announcement
•0302 Statement at Press Conference of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding COVID-19
•0302 Regarding COVID-19 Testing of Chairman Lee, Man-hee of Shincheonji Church of Jesus
•0301 Letter of Appeal to Political Leaders
•0228 Letter of Appeal from Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Regards to COVID-19
•0226 Shincheonji Church of Jesus Provided a List of All Members to Public Health Authorities
•0223 Statement of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding COVID-19
•0222 Over 1000 Shincheonji Church of Jesus Locations Disinfected and Closed Down in Korea
•0221 Shincheonji Church of Jesus Closed Down Its Churches and Affiliated Buildings from 18 Feb
•0220 Statement of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding COVID-19 Countermeasures and Fake News
•0219 Statement of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
•0218 Notice on the Worship Service of Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Regards to COVID-19
COVID-19/Fact Checker: Q&A on Shincheonji Church of Jesus Regarding the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)
Personal Blog
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500 cured congregation members of Shincheonji Daegu Church Donate Blood Plasma
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