THE KUKMIN DAILY

On March 16, the bulletin board next to the student union building of Seoul Theological University in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do, was filled with students’ group posters for incoming students. A Christian group was handing out cotton candy and recruiting new members. A member of the group said, “Recently there have been heretical groups trying to collect students’ contact information on the college campus and at nearby subway stations… They have introduced themselves as CCM producers, or QT book publishers, and conducted surveys to gather personal information.”

On March 19, Cha Byeong-ho, staff of the Campus Evangelization Network, said, “Groups such as Shincheonji, designated as a heretical group by major church denominations, are proselytizing on campus by conducting surveys and giving students wrong impressions of good Christian student groups and mission organizations… We get many inquiries from students asking whether this or that group is heretical, before they decide to join.”

According to CEN’s research survey on college students’ thinking and living trends, published in October last year, 58.3% of the respondents answered that they had been approached by a proselytizer of a heretical group pretending to be Christian. Among these students, 6.3% answered they were active members or had received education from a group defined as heretical. The groups they were involved in, in order of frequency, were: Shincheonji (63.6%), WMS Church of God (18.2%), Unification Church (4.5%), Jehovah’s Witnesses (4.5%), and others (8.2%).

Colleges have initiated countermeasures. Seoul Theological University distributes handouts describing the doctrines of heretical sects twice a month, to students gathered for chapel. The school also supports the students’ countermeasures group Machimpyo (period), which works to raise awareness among fellow students.

*STU posts official warning against heretical groups entering school for proselytization.

In the case of Yonsei University, Christian ministers working on campus must register with the chaplain’s office and wear a name tag, to discourage misleading evangelism on campus. A member of a mission organization active at Soongsil University said, “At some colleges, there have been attempts to form fake groups camouflaged in the forms of movie watching, English speaking, childcare service, or relief work… You need to get help from CEN or other organizations to check whether or not your group of interest is heretical.”

Starting this year, Methodist Theological University has opened a three-credit course called “Orthodox and Heresy,” and will also hold special lectures against heresy once a year. A new policy mandates that student groups have a professor as director and meet at specified venues.

Reporters Jang Chang-Il, Yang Minkyeong, DongWoo Kim, & Gu Jachang (jangci@kmib.co.kr), with Yeara Ahn-Park (yap@kmib.co.kr)
Photo by senior reporter Kang Min Seok & reporter Yang Minkyeong


Full Story in Korean:
학부모들 “이단 헷갈리니 아예 기독 동아리 가입 말아라”: [르포] 새학기 기독 캠퍼스에선…