Religion Changes in India

Religion has been a very significant part of Asian countries for centuries. Traces of religion’s influence are still apparent in most countries and are manifested through its effect on their culture and political policies. To explore about Asia’s encounter with different religions I will be studying the countries of India, Korea and Philippines as part of the assigned Religious Change topic.

Korea

China became a major source of influence for Korea from where several books and ideas were borrowed, as was Confucianism. It grew expansively during the Choson Dynasty (1392-1800). In the early seventeenth century Korea had a brief prelude with a new religion, Catholicism. Catholic theology was brought into Korea from China but it was not well received by the Confucius Korean scholars who condemned the religion for its resemblance to Buddhism (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.253). In the mid to late nineteenth century, after suspecting a plot to undermine Korean security, The Taewongun ordered a nationwide persecution of Korean Catholics. In response, the French reacted by landing troops on Kanghwa Island to chastise the Koreans for their intolerance towards Christianity, but the expedition failed (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.359).

Persecution of the Christian converts continued well into the nineteenth century. However, the number of converts continued to grow and it was composed of yangban, commoners and a remarkable number of women (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.354). In late nineteenth century the first Protestant missionaries arrived in Korea and demonstrated good social work by bringing in education and medicine (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.364). The discriminated non-yangban intellectuals and businessmen supported these missionaries and efforts to modernize the society had begun (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.365).

The nineteenth century, however, was a turbulent era for Korea as the government faced several rebellions mainly due to government’s failure to control maladministration in various taxes and prejudicial policies of blocking men of intermediate statuses from being promoted to high office (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.356). During these times a new faith called Tonghak was formed by a discontented yangban, Ch’oe Cheu. Most of its followers were the maltreated commoners and slaves. The Tonghak faith taught that all men were equal in their duty to serve the Lord of Heaven. Seen as a threat to the preexisting Confucian belief, Cheu was captured and decapitated in 1864 (Ebrey et al., 2009, p.359).

In the late nineteenth century Koreans struggled to find a national identity. New religions with nationalistic motives, influenced by neoteric ideas of nationalism and race was formed. The first one being the Tonghak movement, led by Son Pyonghui, who formed the Progressive Party and made the overlooked rural farmers and city dwellers its members. Another new religion was formed with nationalist overtones, called the