Religion

Religion (종교/宗敎) in Korea refers to the belief and cultural systems that relate Korean people to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. According to statistics, most of Korean people are believers of any kind of religion:
 * Traditional belief including Shamanism: The legend said that the foundation of the Gojoseon (고조선/古朝鮮) was made possible by the ancient Shaman Dankun (단군/檀君).
 * Confucianism: Confucian school and its dialects were imported from China in the 4th century, at first to Goguryeo (고구려/高句麗), then to Baekje (백제/百濟) in the Three-Kingdom Period (삼국시대/三國時代).
 * Buddhism: Ever since Buddhism was introduced to Korea (Goguryeo Dynasty) in the 4th century, it has been engraved in the mindset of Koreans, as illustrated by the below-mentioned poem.
 * Christianity: Catholic and Protestants have increased Christian believers even though they were introduced to Korea in the 1800s.
 * Islamism: Recently Muslims are on the increase thanks to the migrant workers from the South East Asia.

Poet Chung Dong-muk described a bare tree in winter with a Buddhist eye in his The Legend.
 * A bare tree, winter
 * Where have all its leaves vanished to?
 * Its aim must be incarnation
 * Simply standing
 * Sipping water ceaselessly through its roots
 * Concentrating solely on life,
 * The will to survive, to be alive till the end
 * Every one of its leaves cast
 * Into the river

Key words
religion, Shamanism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Catholic faith, Christian belief, separation of state and religion

Cross-road of Religion and Law
The freedom of religion is protected by the Constitution in Korea based upon the principle of separation of church and state.

Taxation
Pastors, fathers and monks would be subject to income tax sooner or later by the present government. The government has made it clear where there is income, there must be a tax. This sensitive tax issue will be settled by the national consensus including the religious community. The clergyman income tax will be classified into earned income (근로소득) rather than other income (기타 소득).

The so-called clergymen taxation disputes were triggered by an NGO (종교비판자유실현시민연대) in 2006, but subdued on account of other political issues. This argument was surfaced when a local municipal government levied property tax and acquisition tax on profitable business operated by big churches and charities in its jurisdiction.

The government has not officially decided to impose tax on the earned income of pastors, fathers, monks and other clergymen. But the government is expected to settle this sensitive tax issue prior to the Presidential Inauguration to secure sufficient funding sources for the ever-increasing welfare expenditure.

Once the clergymen's income is regarded as earned income, then the taxation could be definitely grounded on Article 38 of the Enforcement Decree of the Income Tax Act. Otherwise, the other income belonging to clergymen would be a mere compensation (사례금). Anyway, the clergymen's income is hard to identify in a concrete manner.

Compensation

 * Act on the Recovery, etc. of Reputation of 10·27 Buddhism Massacre Victims (10·27 법난/法難 피해자의 명예회복 등에 관한 법률): "10·27 Buddhism Massacre" is referred to the nationwide incident conducted by the Joint Investigation Team of the Martial Law Command. At that time, military investigators and policemen trespassed upon temples and hermitages, and arrested anti-martial law monks and believers in the name of purging corrupt temples.


 * Act on the Recovery of Reputation and Comensation, etc. of Democratization Movement-related Persons (민주화운동관련자 명예회복 및 보상 등에 관한 법률): The "Democratization Movement" shall mean any activities after March 24, 1964 to protest the authoritarian rulers who have disturbed liberal democratic basic order and violated fundamental rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution, thus to contribute to the realization of the Constitution-oriented ideology and values and the establishment of the democratic constitutional order, thereby recovering and advancing the freedom and rights of citizens (1964년 3월 24일 이후 자유민주적 기본질서를 문란하게 하고 헌법에 보장된 국민의 기본권을 침해한 권위주의적 통치에 항거하여 헌법이 지향하는 이념 및 가치의 실현과 민주헌정질서의 확립에 기여하고 국민의 자유와 권리를 회복·신장시킨 활동).

But in a broad sense, the Democratization Movements include 2·28 Daegu Democratization Campaign, 3·15 Strife, 4·19 Student Revolution, 6·3 Anti-Korea-Japan Negotiation Demonstration, Opposition to Constitutional Amendment for the Third Term Movement (3선개헌 반대운동), Anti-Yushin Constitution Movement (유신헌법 반대운동), Busan-Masan Struggle (부·마항쟁), Gwangju Democratization Movement (광주민주화운동) and 6·10 Protest Movement, as stated in the Act on the Democratization Movement Commemoration Association (민주화운동기념사업회법) related with religious movements.

Globalization of Korean Religion
Contrary to the conventional pattern to import foreign religions, Koreans are eager to export a Korean way of belief and faith to foreigners overseas, as represented by the following outstanding activities:

Global Outreach of Christianity
These days Korea is the second largest missionary state next to the United States. Each year a number of missionaries are dispatched to remote non-Christian countries.

At present, hundreds of Korean churches, big and small, send missionaries, school teachers, engineers, doctors and nurses to remote countries, with hearts to serve the people in need of spiritual liberation, and financial or technical assistance.

Temple Stay
During the two-day "temple stay" program, participants have three communal meals known as "baru gongyang" that are prepared and eaten in a ritualistic way in line with Buddhist tenets. As Buddhists take special care to avoid killing any living being, meat is not provided in temples.