Ahead of the launch of the new government, which is just over a month away, one of the top priorities is to alleviate the conflicts in our society.
The conflict index in Korean society is the third-highest among OECD member countries. In the 2021 Korean Public Conflict Awareness Survey report released earlier this year, 88.7% of the respondents said that the overall level of conflict in our society is serious.
We have conflicts between 'progressive and conservative' (83.2%), 'poor and wealthy' (78.5%), 'manager and worker' (77.1%). In addition, the conflict between the young and old' (+3.2%), 'metropolitan area' and 'provinces' (+5.5%), 'man and woman' (+5.8%) was serious and higher than the previous year. In a nutshell, this is the result of 'ideological conflict' the most serious conflict in our society.
In addition, 9 out of 10 people pointed out 'the National Assembly' and 'the press' as the groups most responsible for conflicts occurring in our society, and showed the least efforts to resolve social conflicts.
For example, just looking at the recent gender conflict and the demonstrations for the rights of the disabled, the spread of hate speech beyond the level of social debate has been fueled by the media, which should be playing a role in getting the groups to come together.
Hateful remarks from some on the far-right say that improving the social system to reduce discrimination against women discriminates against men and that strengthening social welfare to reduce the discomfort of the disabled makes non-disabled people uncomfortable These are not legitimate arguments and the National Assembly and the media have not been responsible in their response.
But what role do churches and believers play, when politics cannot peacefully reconcile conflicts and the media cannot form a desirable public opinion for the common good? In this survey, among the groups working to resolve conflicts in our society, only 14.7% thought religious groups had any influence, lower than the government or civic groups.
In other surveys, 'religious groups' appeared at the bottom among the groups that should play a central role in social cohesion. The religious community is not seen as playing a major role in reducing conflicts and achieving peace in Korean society, and little is expected from them.
Perhaps instead of mediating peace in the world, we should reflect on whether it is because we are fighting with each other within the church community. In the church community of diverse people, there are ideological progressive and conservative, economically rich and some poor. Also, there are young people and old people, there are men and there are women.
In the church, we are similar to the busy world where each person is divided and looking out for themselves. Do we respect each other as brothers and sisters without discrimination and prejudice, and happily practice the greeting of 'peace' and 'forgiveness' from the risen Lord?. The writer often hears that one of the reasons that believers have a hard time while working in the church is that they have difficulties in relationships with people and hear a lot of criticism.
Imagine what life would have been like to become one in Christ: "where there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). This was the early church community formed by the gathering of disciples who experienced the resurrection.
Perhaps, by experiencing God's merciful love, the more compassionate they were to others, and the more they tried to build a peaceful relationships by respecting their differences. In this age when conflicts are increasingly spreading to hateful sentiments, she hopes Christians who are to resemble Jesus our merciful God will become workers who sow the seeds of peace.
