Post 2/2
2. A comment from:
mediacrooks.com/2015/04/church-crimes-2-declining-faith.html
The conclusions are unfortunately too optimistic and hence wrong as at present. Among S Koreans, "christians" refers to protestant (evangelical) christians - who form the majority of christians - as they don't recognise catholics as christians at all. They make the distinction between "christians and catholics" often.
While many "christians" are leaving the church as per the above articles, a significant number of them feel they want to remain christian. Many others are being converted to catholicism. Catholicism has invested a lot of funds in PR in S Korea* as it has been waiting to make a harvest of evangelicals there. Evangelical christianism served as a forest fire to cut all ties between S Koreans and their previous religions, and thus made them stuck in the jesus-meme and hence ready to keep accepting jeebus in one christian cult after another.
(The case is the inverse of Europe or non-American western nations, where people often travel from catholicism to protestantism, often because of American cults evangelising them. Though increasingly, some reverse traffic in the opposite direction has been effected with some effort by the catholic church - especially in the UK - and because of the general dissatisfaction from protestantism also seen in S Korea. In the UK, prestigious catholic schools require people baptised into the catholic faith and so many non-catholic christians and even atheist Brit families have their kids undergo baptism and get recognition as 'catholics' to gain entry. See dailymail.co.uk for news on this.)
That is, even when S Korean christians leave the church or become disillusioned with one christian cult, a significant number of them initially merely keep going from one christianism to another. Some in the older generations die christian even when sick of "the church". Eventually many of them still manage to become atheists, but S Korean churches keep hoping they'll catch the next generation young at that point, so the cycle can start again. The numbers of ex-christian Koreans turning to Buddhism or Confucianism is not so large that it has thus far significantly reduced the christian percentage in Korea, which has grown at creeping rate.
And not many disillusioned ex-christians return to heathenism: some return to Taoism, some turn to consulting Shamanist diviners but not enough.
This may be indicative of how hard it will be to get people back in India if a large tract of India turns into a S Korea type christianised nation. NE India is already going through the initial stages seen in S Korea - excessive craziness and polarisation - but catholicism may quickly pounce on the NE and catholicism is harder to throw off (catholicism keeps christians for longer - numbered in generations - than evangelical christianism manages to).
Curiously, S Koreans do have an interesting soft spot for Hindoo religion - entirely independent of Buddhism. For Koreans' own sake then, maybe the de-christianised may benefit by a closer familiarity and forming an affinity with Hindoo heathenism, which may help them segue back into some of their own ancestral Shamanistic religion. More so since Hindoo religion like other heathenisms is specifically not contrastive to Shamanistic religion, nor does it replace other religions. Many E Asian and SE Asian heathens include Hindoo Gods -and associated rituals- into their local pantheons as a regional and affiliated extension. (I suspect Hindoos could easily feel a warm regard for or even develop some attachment to -say- Taoist Gods for the same reason. Especially were Hindoos to look at their moorties.)
Personally, I think Hindoo heathenism may be better for de-converted S Koreans than Buddhism, since Buddhism has not historically been kind to them or their ancestral religion. On the other hand, many S Koreans are also attached to Taoism, which may be more affiliated to their spirit than Hindoo heathenism, since Taoism has some specific ethnic links to them too, and is closely related to Korean Shamanism (some Korean articles seemed to explain that Korean Shamanism is the local variant of Taoism).
Am not interested in missionising. Whether S Koreans pick Hindoo or Taoist religions alongside their own Shamanism (or a combination, as is done in some SE Asian nations) is not of importance to me. All that matters is that the heathen-inclined, or those that could be, have the opportunity to return.
* E.g. of PR for catholicism is catholicism's promotion of popular catholic actors and actresses and singers, all trying to beat out the evangelical/protestant christians in the top spot. Many S Koreans are easily swayed by the religion of their idols and many distinct band-members (especially Buddhist ones) are often evangelised to convert into the christian cult followed by the majority band members. S Korean pop culture boards are full of Korean and western christians (fawning over S Korean pop culture) congratulating themselves on christianising having converted yet another popular person from the "atheism of Buddhism" to christianism. They are very interested in the religion of each Korean idol and feel instant dislike if they find out they are not christian but plain atheist or Buddhist or Confucian. Western christian fans stalking the Korean entertainment industry especially get all agitated if they find out some goodlooking Korean actor/actress or singer is not christian like they immediately imagined/assumed these were. The Korean actor/singer then immediately stops being their favourite (of course).
In contrast, they get all giddy by rumours of some actor or singer having been evangelised and getting converted. Christians are really that crazy about their evangelical "success" in every sphere.
Also note that S Korean christian programming has much influence in India's evangelical NE: states like Mizoram entirely boycott bollypoo - for the wrong reasons: not because bollypoo is admittedly trash, but because NE's converts don't identify with unsaved India but only with the 'Jerusalem of the east' (S Korea). I.e. for anti-national reasons, plus for indoctrination, plus for pretending they suddenly have things in common with S Korea.
Ironically, I don't think the pro-heathen (including pro-Hindu) material made in S Korea is made available to watch by the converted Mizos et al.
In general, I think S Korea's progression from recent past to present and into the future is a good object of study for Hindoos: what to expect in India as christianistion proceeds apace, and especially what the long term chances for a restoration of any degree of (actual) heathenism in a post-christian India might be. (Although it doesn't account for the fact of that huge other major factor, islamania, which exercises equal power in the equations of India's fortune. Islam always takes over a christianised nation better. S Korea has a small number of islamics, I vaguely remember this number being at about 30,000 I could be wrong. And islam there is quite kept in check.)
2. A comment from:
mediacrooks.com/2015/04/church-crimes-2-declining-faith.html
Quote:Christianity has converted the South Korean Cities into a cartoonish cityscape
http:// www.hancinema.net/blinded-by-the-light-seoul-s-neon-pollution-30664.html
There is hope though. In South Korea itself the numbers of Xnity are actually falling now
http:// english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_opinion/148175.html
http:// www.koreabang.com/2013/stories/south-korean-christians-increasingly-disillusioned-with-church.html
http:// www.koreabang.com/2014/stories/poll-finds-only-20-of-koreans-trust-protestant-church.html
The comment section in the last 2 links is particularly interesting
So the Homo Sapiens species may still avoid extinction !!
The conclusions are unfortunately too optimistic and hence wrong as at present. Among S Koreans, "christians" refers to protestant (evangelical) christians - who form the majority of christians - as they don't recognise catholics as christians at all. They make the distinction between "christians and catholics" often.
While many "christians" are leaving the church as per the above articles, a significant number of them feel they want to remain christian. Many others are being converted to catholicism. Catholicism has invested a lot of funds in PR in S Korea* as it has been waiting to make a harvest of evangelicals there. Evangelical christianism served as a forest fire to cut all ties between S Koreans and their previous religions, and thus made them stuck in the jesus-meme and hence ready to keep accepting jeebus in one christian cult after another.
(The case is the inverse of Europe or non-American western nations, where people often travel from catholicism to protestantism, often because of American cults evangelising them. Though increasingly, some reverse traffic in the opposite direction has been effected with some effort by the catholic church - especially in the UK - and because of the general dissatisfaction from protestantism also seen in S Korea. In the UK, prestigious catholic schools require people baptised into the catholic faith and so many non-catholic christians and even atheist Brit families have their kids undergo baptism and get recognition as 'catholics' to gain entry. See dailymail.co.uk for news on this.)
That is, even when S Korean christians leave the church or become disillusioned with one christian cult, a significant number of them initially merely keep going from one christianism to another. Some in the older generations die christian even when sick of "the church". Eventually many of them still manage to become atheists, but S Korean churches keep hoping they'll catch the next generation young at that point, so the cycle can start again. The numbers of ex-christian Koreans turning to Buddhism or Confucianism is not so large that it has thus far significantly reduced the christian percentage in Korea, which has grown at creeping rate.
And not many disillusioned ex-christians return to heathenism: some return to Taoism, some turn to consulting Shamanist diviners but not enough.
This may be indicative of how hard it will be to get people back in India if a large tract of India turns into a S Korea type christianised nation. NE India is already going through the initial stages seen in S Korea - excessive craziness and polarisation - but catholicism may quickly pounce on the NE and catholicism is harder to throw off (catholicism keeps christians for longer - numbered in generations - than evangelical christianism manages to).
Curiously, S Koreans do have an interesting soft spot for Hindoo religion - entirely independent of Buddhism. For Koreans' own sake then, maybe the de-christianised may benefit by a closer familiarity and forming an affinity with Hindoo heathenism, which may help them segue back into some of their own ancestral Shamanistic religion. More so since Hindoo religion like other heathenisms is specifically not contrastive to Shamanistic religion, nor does it replace other religions. Many E Asian and SE Asian heathens include Hindoo Gods -and associated rituals- into their local pantheons as a regional and affiliated extension. (I suspect Hindoos could easily feel a warm regard for or even develop some attachment to -say- Taoist Gods for the same reason. Especially were Hindoos to look at their moorties.)
Personally, I think Hindoo heathenism may be better for de-converted S Koreans than Buddhism, since Buddhism has not historically been kind to them or their ancestral religion. On the other hand, many S Koreans are also attached to Taoism, which may be more affiliated to their spirit than Hindoo heathenism, since Taoism has some specific ethnic links to them too, and is closely related to Korean Shamanism (some Korean articles seemed to explain that Korean Shamanism is the local variant of Taoism).
Am not interested in missionising. Whether S Koreans pick Hindoo or Taoist religions alongside their own Shamanism (or a combination, as is done in some SE Asian nations) is not of importance to me. All that matters is that the heathen-inclined, or those that could be, have the opportunity to return.
* E.g. of PR for catholicism is catholicism's promotion of popular catholic actors and actresses and singers, all trying to beat out the evangelical/protestant christians in the top spot. Many S Koreans are easily swayed by the religion of their idols and many distinct band-members (especially Buddhist ones) are often evangelised to convert into the christian cult followed by the majority band members. S Korean pop culture boards are full of Korean and western christians (fawning over S Korean pop culture) congratulating themselves on christianising having converted yet another popular person from the "atheism of Buddhism" to christianism. They are very interested in the religion of each Korean idol and feel instant dislike if they find out they are not christian but plain atheist or Buddhist or Confucian. Western christian fans stalking the Korean entertainment industry especially get all agitated if they find out some goodlooking Korean actor/actress or singer is not christian like they immediately imagined/assumed these were. The Korean actor/singer then immediately stops being their favourite (of course).
In contrast, they get all giddy by rumours of some actor or singer having been evangelised and getting converted. Christians are really that crazy about their evangelical "success" in every sphere.
Also note that S Korean christian programming has much influence in India's evangelical NE: states like Mizoram entirely boycott bollypoo - for the wrong reasons: not because bollypoo is admittedly trash, but because NE's converts don't identify with unsaved India but only with the 'Jerusalem of the east' (S Korea). I.e. for anti-national reasons, plus for indoctrination, plus for pretending they suddenly have things in common with S Korea.
Ironically, I don't think the pro-heathen (including pro-Hindu) material made in S Korea is made available to watch by the converted Mizos et al.
In general, I think S Korea's progression from recent past to present and into the future is a good object of study for Hindoos: what to expect in India as christianistion proceeds apace, and especially what the long term chances for a restoration of any degree of (actual) heathenism in a post-christian India might be. (Although it doesn't account for the fact of that huge other major factor, islamania, which exercises equal power in the equations of India's fortune. Islam always takes over a christianised nation better. S Korea has a small number of islamics, I vaguely remember this number being at about 30,000 I could be wrong. And islam there is quite kept in check.)