Recently I was very interested about the history and culture of England. It is mainly because that I'm planning to travel England during the summer vacation, but aslo because of the wedding ceremony which was held today. While watching the wedding ceremony of Prince William and Kate Middleton today, I was interested about their religion 'The Anglican Domain'. As I also saw in the movie 'King's Speech', the role of the pope was very powerful, for example during important events of the Kingdom of England, the pope was in charge of those events.
As United States and England share a lot of things in common, I searched for informations about 'The Anglican Domain' in the States. But while studying the culture of the United States, I've found that the religion of United States wasn't similar to England. From the book I read gave the reasons why those two nations have different religions. United States is known to separate religion from the personal lives of its citizens. United States was founded upon the doctrine of “separation of church and state”. This originated from the European founders who came to America to avoid religious prosecution in their homeland, and many Americans take pride in religious freedom that government provides and keep harmony among different groups.
While seeing the freedom of religion in the United States, I was questioned about Korea. Although we also state the freedom of religion in Korea, when seeing the happenings which happen here sometimes make me confused. How do you think about it? Do you think that we have freedom in religion in Korea or not?
I question that wedding ceremony in England and freedom of religion in Korea are related or not. There is freedom of religion in Korea. We can believe any religion we want. We can participate in various religious events and ceremonies.
ReplyDeleteI think that in Korea, we also have the rights to freedom of religion. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights reads that "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." There are two parts to religious civil liberty which are the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. The first prohibits the government from establishing a national religion or excessively involving itself in religion, particularly to the benefit of one religion over another. And the Free Exercise Clause prevents Congress from prohibiting the free exercise of religious practices. Looking at these two factors of the freedom of religion, I think the Korean government also guarantees these rights to its citizens because there is no national religion and the government does not prohibit its citizens from exercising any religious practices.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that Koreans have freedom of religion. But sometimes I wonder.. if we have a national religion, will it be better? Then, which religion should it be? If we decide by majority, it will be Christianity.. But it will certainly cause an uproar from Catholics and Buddhists.
ReplyDeleteJust a side comment... why an uproar from the Catholics?
ReplyDelete