The Subjectivity of Liberation and Oppression in Modern Korean Religion

This paper argues that discourses on liberation and oppression of religion in Korea have been contested and shaped by actors representing diverse religious traditions and national and imperial interests, making our understandings of these concepts subjective and in need of critical re-evaluation. The pressures and influences of multiple empires, and Korean responses to them, were instrumental in shaping modern ideas of religion and religious freedom in Korea. Likewise, the perspectives of various religious traditions have played an active role in conceptualizing religion and religious freedom. Religious freedom talk in Korea has developed and changed depending on the national and religious affiliations of who is talking. What was considered normal for Korea once became abnormal later, and what was acceptable for some was unacceptable for others. Divergent interests made liberation and freedom in Korean religion debatable concepts, and so we must question and critique narratives of these phenomena in Korean history.