God Squad

(Red neon crosses mark Christian churches all over Korea, inlcuding this one in Cheonsang, one of six in a two block radius)

So, as most of you who know me know, I'm not at all a religious person (hell, I'm not even a spiritual person) and I'm just about the last person who should be commenting about religion, but I would be remiss if I didn't relate my latest incident with religion here in Korea. First, some background to set the scene. My knowledge about religion in Korea is, sadly, limited to hearsay and my Korean guidebook. From what I understand, Korea was traditionally a Buddhist society (don't ask me what branch, I'm not sure I even understand the differences) and there are still Buddhist temples all over the country, and some especially beautiful ones in the mountains I am told. Chinese influence introduced Taoist and Confucian strains of thought, which are still very prevalent today, especially in business. During the Japanese occupation from 1910-1945, Shintoism became the official state religion, forced upon Korea by the Japanese (it's impossible to know how many actual followers of Shintoism there were at this time). Christianity was officially established in the 18th century after centuries of failed attempts by European missionaries. More recently, Christianity has taken off exponentially. Almost 1/3 of the country call themselves Christians, and Seoul has eleven of the twelve largest congregations in the world, inculding the largest church anywhere.

For the past two days, around 11:00 in the morning, the doorbell to the apartment has rung and Jessica and I have been met by two very friendly, very zealous members of The Elohim Church here in Cheonsang. The first time, I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat amused (I was also eating lunch, so Jessica had to deal with them, which may be why I wasn't as annoyed as she was). The second time, however, I took the duty of talking to them and eventually had to politely ask them to leave the apartment because I had to get ready for school. Their English was poor, but they were able to get their point across well, and basically they were like the Korean equivalent of Jehovah's Witnesses, walking door to door trying to save souls. You can't fault them for that. They were very concerned that I would not survive the plagues during the Rapture because I had not partaken in the Passover covenant or something (as Jessica pointed out later, why is it only the people who know that they will be saved that are at all concerned about being saved? ).They even had a sort of palm pilot device with audio files of sermons in English on it, which they played for me, and this was the part that I found most interesting. Part of the sermon dealt with how idolaters would be viciously killed during the plagues, and it made particular mention of so-called "sun worshippers." I couldn't help but wonder whether this was a direct jab at the Japanese and Shintoism, as there is still much tension (if not outright anger) with Japan.

I'm now wondering whether they will be back again today to see whether I've decided I need to be saved or not (for any of you wondering, I don't believe that I have a soul that needs saving, so the answer to that question would be "No"). I suppose if I hear the doorbell, I will just ignore it and let them leave their literature taped to the door like the food delivery services do.