Science, state, and spirituality: Stories of four creationists in South Korea

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the birth and growth of scientific creationism in South Korea by focusing on the lives of four major contributors. After creationism arrived in Korea in 1980 through the global campaign of leading American creationists, including Henry Morris and Duane Gish, it steadily grew in the country, reflecting its historical and social conditions, and especially its developmental state with its structured mode of managing science and appropriating religion. We argue that while South Korea's creationism started with the state-centered conservative Christianity under the government that also vigilantly managed scientists, it subsequently constituted some technical experts' efforts to move away from the state and its religion and science through their negotiation of a new identity as Christian intellectuals ( chisigin). Our historical study will thus explain why South Korea became what Ronald Numbers has called "the creationist capital of the world."

South Koreans’ responses to evolution and creationism: A survey and its implications

“…Constituting about 20% of the South Korean population (KOSIS, 2017), many Protestant Christians have rejected evolutionary theory due to their belief in God's creation of humanity and the world. This belief has been fostered by Christians with scientific expertise, including members of the Korea Association for Creation Research (KACR), which has tried to defend the religious belief through what it regards as "scientific evidence" (Park, 2012a(Park, , 2012bPark and Cho, 2018). Since the 2000s, the KACR has disseminated its creationist theory 2010; Elsdon -Baker, 2015;Unsworth and Voas, 2018).…”

“…The rise of South Korea as an Asian creationist hub is tied to the country’s history. Although Korea—a nation with a long tradition of Confucianism as the official religion and philosophy—did not support any monotheistic faith until the late nineteenth century, the country opened its door to creationist thoughts with the coming of Western Christian missionaries during Japanese Colonial Rule (1910–1945) (Park and Cho, 2018). Around that time, evolutionary theory also came to the peninsula with the form of social Darwinism that inspired Koreans’ nationalistic struggle to make their country stronger, independent, and more competitive amid global imperialism (Schmid, 2002: 32-8, 172–192; Tikhonov, 2010).…”

“…However, there was little conflict between Darwinism and creationism, partly because the latter did not attract much attention. Many Koreans, including most Buddhists and some Christians, accepted evolution, which shaped their theological and political outlooks during their movement against the Japanese Empire that colonized Korea in 1910 (Park and Cho, 2018: 43–46; Tikhonov, 2010: 113–194). The years after the 1945 liberation did not make Korea a fertile ground for creationist endeavors, because of subsequent political chaos, the Korean War (1950–1953), and the harsh military dictatorship under Park Chung Hee (1917–1979).…”

“…It was only in the 1980s that creationism, including its young-earth variety, found strong support in the southern half of the Korean peninsula. While the North Korean communists had exterminated creationism, South Koreans saw a resurgence of creationism resulting from a seminar by the American fundamentalists Henry M. Morris (1918–2006) and Duane Gish (1921–2013), who visited Seoul during the World Evangelization Crusade in 1980 (Park and Cho, 2018: 53–54). Many participants in this seminar with Christian faith and scientific credentials went on to establish the KACR in 1981 and fostered the antievolutionary movement in the country.…”

Guest Editor’s Introduction: Understanding Creationism in Korea

“…21 In a sense, Korea was no exception, because creation science was introduced into the country by the right-wing anticommunist pastor Kim Joon Gon in 1980. 22 Hence, Jeong's paper leads us to delve further into the place of creationism in Korean society. Why was it a matter of -dry‖ facts to Koreans in the early twenty-first century?…”