I’ve met a variety of peoples in my travels, but not until I moved to South Korea to teach English did I come into close contact with real church-going Christians. Amazing! Not only do these people believe in a big invisible alpha male in the sky, but they also regularly attend organized worship at a church!
Of course I’ve met Christians before. At least one of my mates back home believes in the Christian god, but he never goes to church. In my home city I couldn’t tell you where a church is. Christianity is the past where I’m from, the religion of my grandparents and ancestors. Despite this 'loss,' our godless society hasn’t suffered from damnation. Things are good. There are plenty of happy, moral people about. We just don’t do God.
South Korea is unlike my almost-churchless, western home. With an obscured view from the roof of my old workplace I could see no less than 12 church crosses amongst the city’s buildings. Back home, I heard jokes about bible bashers knocking on your door, but here it actually happens. Some of my Korean co-workers, seemingly trying to connect with me, have bragged about how they go to church every Sunday. "It’s so weird," I think to myself, “you're Asian and you're practicing my grandmother’s religion. We are nowhere near Jerusalem, Rome, or any western nation, and you're Christian?”
A Korean Jesus descending from Heaven.
Only slightly funnier than a white Jesus!
In fact, Korea is the Christian heart of Asia, with Christianity now being the nation's biggest religion. A lot of Koreans have abandoned their traditional belief in the supernatural Buddhism to believe in the supernatural Christianity, though almost 50% of Koreans, like me, have no religion. The sudden rise of Christianity here over the last few decades must have inspired a lot of confusion. In conversation, one of Korea's recent Christian converts, my friend Ms. Lee, told me that for marriage to be legitimate it must involve the Church and God. She had learnt this at bible study. When I said that she, therefore, must believe that her Buddhist parents are not legitimately married, she replied that they were, and refused to continue discussing the point. Maybe confusion is not the word; rather Christianity has inspired Koreans to non-think.
I've also come into contact with plenty of church-going Westerners here. This contact is possible as many of my fellow foreign English teachers are from Jesusland, otherwise known as the USA. The USA is the only nation with a rich, well-educated populace in which a majority still believes in a deity, and whose influence is largely responsible for Korea embracing the invisible Father. I doubt that young adults from Christian families are encouraged to travel as much as their non-religious counterparts, but I do wonder if Korea's Christian-ness attracts church-going believers. I mean, if you want to teach English abroad and surf, you don’t move to Mongolia. And if you want to teach English abroad and go to church every Sunday, you don’t move to China. Maybe I'm right. My girlfriend's American friend will only live in a Korean city with Catholic services in English.
So what are these church-goers like? For the most part they are nice, friendly people. Regular folk whom you can enjoy talking to, dining with, and playing sport with. People whom you can become mates with. They don’t push their beliefs upon you. It’s just that occasionally they do things that I consider a little weird, like talk about an invisible man in the sky, go to church, or talk to themselves before a meal, but it’s no problem. I have however met a few who have shocked me. The most devout of these was a graduate of Christian studies from a religious institution. At times she would vent her hatred towards other religions, mainly the 'Satan-worshipping' Islam, and other types of Christianity such as Catholicism. Her hatred did not stem from personal events in her life, but rather was learned from her bible studies.
Certainly, a few of the godly English teachers I've met here are just downright crazy. However, this may have nothing to do with their strong religious views, as there are just as many non-religious crazies here too. Close contact with this variety of people is something I have done without.
