Religion's Mission In the Corona Era

The current spread of Corona 19 in Korea is not so serious that the Korean Defense, for which we are proud becomes meaningless. Social distancing has been upgraded to the 2.5 stage, and if the situation worsens there is a concern that the quarantine stage will be upgraded to stage 3. The nationwide re-proliferation of Corona 19 is mostly caused by group infections that have continued since the beginning of August. Many media outlets are dealing with the fact that most of the origins are in Protestantism and Liberation Day rallies. So begins the column In the Eyes of the Believer of the Catholic Times by a pastor.

With 200 to 300 confirmed corona19 cases every day, the quarantine authorities imposed super-strong measures to restrict business operations: restaurants and cafes,  face-to-face worship, and meetings for Protestants, regular Masses for Catholics and Buddhist religious services. The Protestant side argued that stopping worship was religious oppression and violates religious freedom, and continued face-to-face worship even if they had to pay a fine. Of course, many Protestant churches practiced non-face-to-face worship, but many Protestant churches insisted on their regular worship, ignoring administrative orders from the quarantine authorities. Among  Protestant church members, some refused testing and did not cooperate with the authorities resulting in the spread of the coronavirus.

Recently heard in society: "religion is not concerned about society, but society needs to be concerned about religion." In the post-corona era, religion is seen as something that brings harm to society. A situation where citizens' anger and hatred against religions continue to this day due to the coronavirus outbreak from Shincheonji in Daegu and the initial spread thru the country. Some Protestant communities contrary to common sense, oppose the quarantine measures, a reason for a return of ill feelings towards religion. It is becoming the main culprit making social awareness of the situation more negative.

According to the results of a recent survey in June by the Pastoral Data Research Institute, Catholics and Buddhists have a predominantly positive image, within society such as 'gentle' and 'warm', but for Protestants, there is a more negative image.

However,  in the survey 72% of the respondents: "I honestly feel that religion has no role in the critical situation of the corona crisis." Catholicism and Buddhism also need to consider the role of religion in the post-corona era. We must carefully listen to what a scholar says: religion has been transformed not as a "subject of salvation," but rather as a "media of infection,"  not as a "healing space," but a "hotbed of infection".

If religion continues to exist in the post-corona era and wants to play a role of light and salt in the world, shouldn't religion become a community that recognizes the common good of society and work towards its realization? In a disaster situation, religion and citizenship, the individual and religious freedom and the civic good must harmonize and coexist. However, if the freedom of religion is used exclusively for organizational maintenance and expansion, belief propagation, and practice, it will eventually become the object of social criticism, and freedom will be limited.

For the church to exhibit the good of all, it is necessary to restore the social responsibility of the faith, thereby enabling a truly new evangelization. It is necessary to work for the common good in the larger society beyond the church fence.

Currently, there are too many neighbors suffering physical, economic, and psychological pain amid the chaos experienced by the entire human race due to the corona pandemic. The ecclesial community should feel social responsibility for the lives of the suffering neighbors, and witness to God's mercy.

If we properly fulfill the role of religion for the common good and to neighbors suffering from corona, we will not be neglected and coldly treated by citizens. In the post-corona era, one of the most effective ways for churches to practice social responsibility is to visit the suffering, help to heal their pain, share, and sustainably care for them. Now is the time to move from words to actions. "Children, let us not love with words and tongue, but in truth through deeds" (1 John 3:18).

Even With the Strike Save Lives...

Recently the government planned to increase the number of medical students and to require a majority to practice outside Seoul. The doctors are opposed to the plans and have protested by striking. A retired journalist writing in the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times gives the readers his thoughts on the issue.
 
On August 21st he read on the information board in front of Seoul St. Mary's Hospital: "The corona test is not conducted due to a shortage of medical personnel due to the strike." He was upset deeply. "It's the biggest crisis since the coronavirus entered Korea and the doctors are not testing for the virus...?" Should not the Catholic hospitals take a lead when it's a question of 'life and love'? Is not this their brand name?"

Of course, strikes are the right of those that work. However, there is always a problem with a strike by doctors (intentionally or not) that can bring harm to the "life of a person". Moreover, this time, the situation is completely different because of the proliferation of the coronavirus, and fear the whole country is entering an emergency situation.

"The biggest crisis since the corona entered Korea" is the expression of President Moon Jae-in on the present situation. President Moon instructed: "For acts that hinder quarantine, we must strictly enforce the law with firm legal measures."

Perhaps because of the authoritarian nuance of this statement, it was a way of talking President Moon was not accustomed to using. Because the pandemic situation in Korea is urgent, he ordered the administration to take strong measures to establish social order.

If we are not able to control the present situation we will go into level 3 of social distancing, and enter a very serious situation. Socially, only some essential facilities remain, most facilities will close. Businesses will have to switch to telecommuting as much as possible. Sports will be completely stopped, and all fields including politics, economy, diplomacy, and culture will be severely contracted.

If the death toll increases significantly, citizens are psychologically adversely affected. There will be a long shadow of depression and fear in the whole society. Much of our current life will be harmed. In a social disaster, it is the weak,  sick, poor, elderly, and disabled, that are sacrificed first.

The work of doctors has increased, so securing more doctors and more beds have become a big problem. Because of this, many ask: "Why are the doctors striking now? It's like saying that we won't treat the injured when the war breaks out."

Those who generously accept workers' right to strike are also worried about the strike that coincides with the spread of the coronavirus and even making the corona tests difficult. The doctors did not intentionally set the strike date at the time of the corona re-proliferation crisis but this was the result.

Nothing is as holy as saving lives, and this is the professional calling of a doctor. A primary task of a doctor would be "not to break a broken reed, nor extinguish a smoldering wick" in the words of Jesus. It was to heal the sick that Jesus worked on the Sabbath against the custom of the times. "The Sabbath was made for man, not man  for the Sabbath."

The degree of maturity of a society is revealed in times of crisis, and this also comes from the reverence for life. Human life is itself a noble value from the beginning, not a value that can be exchanged for a strike. To compare again with the words of Jesus: "Strike is for man, man is not for Strike."

Doctors hope that even if a strike is inevitable, they want to exercise wisdom to save human life first. He believes or rather prays that we will negotiate a strike while taking care of corona issues and critically ill patients who need surgery. If you think about it, now is also a great opportunity for the maturing of our society.

Do you Fear Death?

A sociology professor in an article in the Kyeongyang magazine about fear of death reminds us it is not of one color. Commonly we think of sadness, separation, pain, and fear. In the article, she wants to concentrate on the keyword  'fear'.

The philosopher Spinoza said there is no reason to talk about death since it is a fact of life. All life dies. We don't know when it will arrive and what is to follow. We have the known and unknown at the same time and left with a paradox. What about its fear?

In modern society, death is a taboo subject. However, if this was the case one would be able to quantify it with examination but this is not easily done. The professor believes this requires more study and analysis. In the article, she will be more concerned with the reasons for the fear connected with the times.

In traditional society, we have had wars, hunger, plagues, short life spans, common but taken in stride. Life and death were not under human control. It was seen as either nature's or God's providence. They knew the meaning of existence and the reason many were able to accept death.

The reason for fear and the lack of fear has appeared in the modern age. But today rather than nature's providence or God's will, the human will is center stage. Humanity has been able to conquer most of the many risks that we face but has met its limitations.

Since death is nothing why the fear? Nietzsche and the thinking of Epicurus bring to the fore the 'nothingness' of death. More than human maturity, reason or religion it's the belief in the emptiness of death. No reason for fear for there is nothing after death. There is nothing to think about with death and consequently nothing to fear.

But did fear of death disappear?  No, it has been changed into the fear of dying. The process of dying with cancer or senility, the isolation, loneliness, loss, helplessness these thoughts bring fear. In Korea, often as a blessing, we hear the numbers 99/88/234. May you live to 99, 88 in Korean has the meaning of lively, 2 or 3 days of sickness, and 4 is also the word for death.

This kind of thinking separates the dying from the 'beyond'.The connection between life and death disappears and we have the concern only for the dying process. This is what we have to solve and with our knowledge we can. Death is forgotten along with fear.

The talk about death has lost much of it luster. We don't like talking about the certainty of death. We have transferred the talk of the certainty of death to the dying process. The mutual understanding about the beyond we have lost and is it not the reason we talk about the freedom to choose death?  Is it not necessary to bring back to the discussion the 'beyond' and make sure that it is not extinguished from our thoughts and actions?

A Library That Never Closed Its Door

When it comes to libraries, what immediately comes to the mind of the writer is the  Russian libraries during the siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), one of the most terrible battles in world history. 

The blockade, which began on September 8, 1941, when the Germans cut off all land links to Leningrad, lasted 872 days until January 27, 1944. The supply of food and fuel, as well as daily necessities and medicines, ceased. People endured by eating dogs, cats, and mice in a city ruined by air raids every day. More than 1 million civilians died of starvation. This is why some war historians use the word “genocide” instead of the word battle. A university professor reminisces on the use of the libraries during the blockade, in the Peace Column of the Catholic  Peace Weekly.

During this terrible period, the city of Leningrad ran 22 libraries. Among them, the municipal library and the science academy library were not closed for a single day. People starving went to the library reading rooms to read, they were warehouses of ice due to the loss of electrical power. The librarians, who were all dying from malnutrition, wandered through the shelves like ghosts to find the books.

According to the writer Chukovsky's recollections, “People read incredibly much. They  read classical literature and poetry handed to them from dying librarians, read under soot-eating oil lamps.”  During the containment period, 80,000 books were officially loaned out. More than half of the librarians lost their lives. Thanks to the librarians, the concept of an "unclosed" library have been imprinted in human history.
 
The professor wonders why librarians were so obsessed with opening the libraries. For her who has not experienced such terrible hunger, she will never know what it means to read a book until just before starvation. But for one thing, it can be speculated that there must have been some solidarity between library users and librarians. In the face of the coming end, the books would have made everyone equal. People sitting in the dark corner of the reading room and feeling the nearness of death and flipping the pages of a book with their frozen fingers, what they were reading, how they had lived, they had something in common that cannot be judged on the scale of good and evil. Whether it was human nature or human dignity, librarians were there to protect and share it.

However, in front of the virus, a library that 'never closes' also raised their hands in surrender. The Library of Science Academy was completely closed from March 20 to July 6, when Corona 19 was in full swing. Now, opening the door unconditionally is no longer the virtue of a library, in our world. It has become a desirable requirement for librarians to take care of themselves when they are sick.

Of course, the library will still exist. Operation hours will be adjusted according to the government's quarantine guidelines, and new services will be introduced for the convenience of users. Most libraries will rely more on electronic resources and the digital transformation will accelerate. However, the library space where finite humans physically connect through books will disappear to the other side of history. Instead of the sad and magnificent space shown in the pictures of the library during the Leningrad blockade, a cool, clean, and empty space isolated from people will symbolize the pandemic.

For someone whose access to the library is a way of being, the difference will be huge indeed. "There is nothing in this world that disappears without a trace," said Bakhtin. Where to find the traces of the “unclosed” library?

Fact-Checkers and Fake News

We may have had the experience of asking a child: "Who do you like more mom or your dad?" For the questioner, easily asked without much thought, but for those who have to answer, it is difficult; relatively easy to answer the question: "How much do you like mom or dad? A professor in the Department of Political Science gives the readers of the Catholic Peace Weekly some thoughts on 'Fake News' and Fact-Checkers.

The process of judging fake news is similar. It is not easy to discuss the news with only the options of true or false for producing news essentially involves a value judgment on the part of the media. The results of judgment on the factuality of information may appear differently depending on the context in which news is discussed.

This is the reason why the media's fact-checker uses scales such as 'not at all factual,' 'mostly not factual', 'half fact', 'mostly true', and 'fact'. Of course, such a measure may have higher validity than a method of judging the facts of news with only the two categories: fact or falsehood, but even where the fact check was performed we have no guarantee of the objective truth.

This is because it is not only difficult to quantitatively evaluate how many facts or non-facts are contained in the news, but subjective value judgments of the media is inevitably involved in the fact verification process. For example, as a result of quantitatively measuring the facts of the news, 49% of the information is 'mostly not true', and 51% of the information is 'mostly true', saying that the amount of factual information is 2% percent more— Can we conclude that it is mostly true? The same is true when the fact check is judged to be 'half-true'. 'Half the truth' is, in other words, 'half a lie'.

Public perceptions of the media or public officials can be very different when a media company judges reports of other media companies or public officials as half-true' and 'half false'. The results of fact checks have a greater impact on the public when dealing with remarks by public officials they do not support or media they do not trust.

Research results report that the media users with strong factionalism have a tendency to 'perceive hostile media' those that report controversies 'biased' in a direction unfavorable to their position. It is highly likely to further strengthen the hostility of users. Because people are more inclined to rate the media based on information that was unfavorable to their position, the fact check result can conclude that all news produced by media companies that I do not support is 'fake news'.

Media users are more likely to trust information that is not true when it comes in the form of news. This implies that it is necessary to continuously verify the facts of the media. However, rather than the results of the verification by the media companies themselves, discussions based on various judgments by each media company performing the fact check should be conducted more actively. In other words, the basis for the judgment used by multiple media companies in checking the facts for the same information, and the process of discussing the validity and reliability needs to be expanded.

Discrimination or Love

The country is noisy now because of a bill called the 'anti-Discrimination Act' or 'Equality Act'. Article 11 of our Constitution: "All citizens are equal before the law. No one shall be discriminated against in any area of ​​political, economic, social, or cultural life based on gender, religion, or social status." The anti-discrimination law explains this in more detail. A lawyer writing in the Catholic Times' column In the Eyes of the Believer, explains the bill for the readers.

 'Gender, religion, and social status' listed for reasons of constitutional discrimination are subdivided into 21 categories: including 'gender, disability, age, country of origin, marital status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and educational background'—the constitution's 'no discrimination in all areas of political, economic, social and cultural life'.

In response to this bill, some Christian communities are questioning the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of "sexual orientation and gender identity." 'Sexual orientation' refers to whether you are celibate, heterosexual, or homosexual; gender identity' refers to whether you think of yourself as male or female regardless of your actual biological sex. The anti-discrimination law stipulates the legal principle that discrimination based on "sexual orientation and gender identity" is understood as a principle of law that is now codified.

However, many fear this law will overturn the Christian doctrine of homosexuality as a sin and destroy the marriage system. However, this law says not to discriminate in areas such as employment, education, provision of goods and services, etc. because of homosexuality. Religious activities are not included in any areas subject to discrimination. If a church or related educational institution teaches the doctrine that homosexuality is a sin, or does not employ homosexuals, will they be punished for violating the anti-discrimination law? If so, then this would be obvious reverse discrimination. Our constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religion. So, just as we allow homosexuality, we must ensure that thoughts or doctrines against homosexuality are guaranteed.

However, since the anti-discrimination law does not apply to purely religious activities the teaching of doctrine in the church is not a problem at all. The anti-discrimination law applies only to daycare centers, elementary, middle, high school, and universities that are established by education-related laws, discipline, and support. Freedom of catechesis is guaranteed for churches and educational institutions within the church.

In the case of private schools established by the denomination, it is natural that certain doctrines should not be enforced because when they receive national benefits, academic qualification and budget support following the Education Act, and the education is not only for members of the church. In terms of employment, the anti-discrimination law does not apply to church institutions. Article 3 of this Act does not regard discrimination in hiring only believers when it is necessary due to the nature of the work.

Homosexuality is usually not a choice of one's own will, but a natural inclination. Paragraph 2357 of the Catholic Church Doctrine states: "tradition has always declared that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." However, in paragraph 2358 teaches: "The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition, for most of them, it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."
 
Doctrine is nothing more than a specific guideline for practicing "love for God and neighbor" well. The same is true of Jewish law. Later, when the law became important for its own sake, Jesus blamed the law scholars, saying that the Sabbath was created for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Doctrine cannot go beyond the teaching of love.

Whenever I look at this passage in the Bible, I look deeply at Jesus: "For he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and his rain to fall on the honest and dishonest alike...Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:45-48).

That's right. If the mysterious right reason of this world was to be summarized in one word, it would be 'love'.

Culture of Life

Until now, Korea's science and technology policy has been directed to economic growth. When a crisis arises various alternatives appear, over time all becomes vague for national resources are concentrated in areas where economic gains are greatest. Presently not only our society but the world is more concerned with coronavirus infections rather than economic growth. Infectious diseases threaten the life and health of all mankind and at the same time cause enormous damage to economic and social activities. With these words, a scholar in the field of morality begins her article in the Current Diagnosis column of the Catholic Peace Weekly.

Historically, the pandemic worsens the distribution of income and hurts mostly the weakest groups and classes both socially and economically. With the impact and urgency of the climate crisis, Corona 19 allows reevaluating our situation promoting a transition to a green economy. The global supply chain is being reorganized demanding a new international order. The world before and after Corona is radically changing.

On July 14, 2020, the government announced the Korean version of the New Deal as 'Korea's New 100 Year Design' and 'Korea's New Social Contract'. The major transition in the economy is from its pursuit to activation, from a carbon-dependent economy to a low-carbon economy, and from an unequal society to an inclusive society. 

The government's Korean version of the New Deal is driven by the spirit of voluntary participation shown by the Korean people in the wake of Corona 19. This spirit is not just for individuals. Awareness of the biological limits of humans, which are bound to be mutually influenced and dependent on each other, society showed the spirit of consideration for others.

The causes of the climate crisis are reviewed through the recent heavy rains sweeping Korea. In the 100 years after industrialization, economic growth has increased the global temperature by 1°C. Humans regarded nature as something to use for material abundance, and they were not interested in what would happen as a result. As the late Cardinal Soo-Hwan Kim pointed out: "The gap between those who have and those who do not have, continues to grow. Pursuing a better life materially is a problem that undermines human dignity and what follows is sexual assault against women, oppression of the poor and weak, and liberalization of abortion, etc. are appearing everywhere" (East Asian Laity Conference, 1992).

The attitude of humans toward nature also affects the relationships between humans. So the culture that kills nature is never separated from the culture that kills human life. Because everything is interconnected. Because everything is related to each other, conservation of nature and justification of abortion is incompatible. ("Laudato si" 120).  

"Openness to life is at the center of true development. When a society moves towards the denial or suppression of life, it ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man's true good. If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of a new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away ("Love in Truth" 28). The government, the National Assembly, and the judiciary should look at the crisis facing humanity more fundamentally.

Through Corona 19, we learn that human freedom has limits, and the realization of freedom must aim for the survival of all. It is difficult to overcome either the Corona 19 crisis or the climate crisis without a culture that saves lives. The realization of "freedom for all" shown by the Korean people should not be limited to the crisis of Corona 19. As Pope Francis emphasizes, unless human beings are renewed, they cannot establish new relationships with nature.