▲ Coronavirus ⓒ CDC

▲ Korean Catholic Heresy group, Shincheonji`s religious lord Lee Mahn-hee

In South Korea, many people are suffering from the fear of the Coronavirus which was proliferated by the heresy group named Shincheonji, which is a group that strongly influenced the spread of Coronavirus in South Korea.

The lexical meaning of religion is as follows: Religion is a cultural system that solves the anguish of human life and pursues the ultimate meaning of life through faith in God or supernatural power. Most religions also instigate the fear of the world after death and claim that their 'God' can make them free from it. They also demand good behaviors and devotion to others and offer a devout prayer to their God. Because of these characteristics, there has been a war that originated in various religions historically. There were Crusades between medieval Latin church and other religions, especially Islam, and Thirty Years' War between the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism.

▲ ⓒ CNN

At this point. we need to reconsider our beliefs. In a primitive tribal society, religion played the same role as law, and as it came to the modern age, it became transformed into ideology and political battle, and it could no longer play the role of law. In addition, the occurrence of heresy, like Antichrist, the receipt of unfair profits based on the belief of the cult group, brainwashing, and intimidation, which is actually done by saying that most religions are right, are also emerging as social problems that cannot be ignored. In the meantime, the heretical group, 'Shincheonji', which is facing the Coronavirus and is being discussed as a problem in Korea, is becoming a problem because of their closure, madness, and false beliefs.

So, we have to warn people about their blind faith that promotes social confusion. Also, we need to question whether we have the right faith. It may be the ideal solution not to fall into a collective madness that does not have religion and presupposes faith. I hope that it will be an opportunity to rethink the dangers of religion today, considering that a religious group has greatly influenced the spread of Coronavirus in South Korea.

Mar. 8th, 2020.

By Lee Hyun-seo