In mid-January 2016, a man in his sixties went into a temple in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang-do, and smashed its Buddha statue and related implements. Reportedly he said to the head priest, “I go to church, and they say a Buddhist temple is a place of superstition and idol worship. I acted as a faithful Christian believer.” The incident was a big shock to the head priest at the time, as well as to the temple’s Buddhist believers.
After the incident became known, Sohn Wonyoung (photo), a professor at Seoul Christian University and director of the Institute for Artistic Ministry, wrote a letter to Buddhists requesting forgiveness. He followed this up with a fund-raising campaign for the affected temple, based on the Biblical text “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:18). “I decided to go beyond just feeling sorry and asking forgiveness, by initiating a small action myself,” Prof. Sohn said.
Though he knew the man was not a representative Christian, Sohn felt heartache because the act had been committed in the name of “Christianity.” The final day of the fund-raising campaign was Buddha’s birthday. Dozens of Christians, agreeing with Prof. Sohn’s purpose, had made donations of 10,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 won. Their sincere help added up to a substantial amount, and Prof. Sohn informed the related temple of their wish to contribute the fund.
The temple, however, declined to accept it, saying, “We thankfully accept your earnest wish to console us. But it would be better to use the money for something more meaningful.” After considering various ideas, Prof. Sohn and the other participants decided to donate the fund to the REPES (Religion and Peace Studies) Forum, a discussion group for religious peace.
What attitude should a Christian take toward our neighbor religions? Jesus was kind to foreigners and Gentiles, who were ostracized by the Jews of his time. He said to the Samaritan woman he met at the well, “Those that drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty” (John 4:3~30). When 10 lepers, including one Samaritan, called out, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” he healed them all (Luke 17:11~19).
Jesus was self-effacing and compassionate in his treatment of persons from different cultures and beliefs. If he were to come to this land today, he would be the same. For this reason, his heart would ache if we were to persecute or harass persons of a different religion. Such acts are contrary to the “love” and “peace” Jesus personifies.
The theologian Hans Kung said, “Without religious peace, there is no world peace.” But throughout the world, there are people who kill and injure in the name of their god.
At the close of the fundraising campaign on the 15th, Prof. Sohn said to the contributors, “I hope that our small effort will be a consolation to the temple people and other Buddhists, who have undergone great suffering; and I sincerely hope our society will become a community of beautiful love and peace.” Let us try to think with the mind of Jesus, about how to live together with persons of different religions.
Reporter Kang Ju-hwa (rula@kmib.co.kr), with Marion Kim (marionkkim@icloud.com)
Original Article in Korean:
[미션쿡] 사찰 훼손 사과한 손원영 교수: “법당 복원 위해 작은 모금 종교 간 평화 계기 되길…”
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2016-11-11 11:11
