Korean Religion

Korea is a country that major religions all around the world are held by its populations. The major religions are Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Islam. These are coexisting peacefully in Korea with the shamanism. It provides large diversity of religious expression. According to the 2005 Korea’s statistics on religions diversity, 43 percent of the populations or about 10,726,000 believe in Buddhism. 34.5 percent or about 8,616,000 of the populations believe in Protestantism. Then the Roman Catholic, it is held by 20.6 percent of the populations or about 5,146,000. The rest that took 1,9 percent of the populations believe in other beliefs which are Confucianism, Won Buddhism, Jeungsangyo, Cheondogyo, Daejongyo and Islam. Trace back

It has no systematic structures but spread throughout the daily lives of the people through folklore and customs. Neolithic man in Korea had animistic beliefs that every object in the world possessed a soul. It is also believed that man have a soul that never dies. So a corpse will be laid with its head toward the east in the direction of the sunrise. They believe that good spirits like the sun would bring good luck to human beings, and evil spirits would bring misfortune. Shamanism in ancient Korea was a religion of fear and superstition, but for modern generations, it remains a colorful and artistic ingredient of their culture. A shamanistic ritual is rich with exorcist elements, but also presents theatrical elements with music and dance. The introduction of more sophisticated religions like Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism did not wipe out shamanistic beliefs and practices. They assimilated elements of shamanistic faith and coexisted peacefully. Shamanism has remained an underlying religion of the Korean people as well as an important aspect of their

It is a system of ethical percepts like benevolent love, righteousness, decorum and good leadership. It is to inspire and preserve the good management of family and society. Confucianism was introduced along with the earliest specimens of Chinese written materials around the beginning of the Christian era. The three Kingdoms of Kogury¬, Paekche and Silla all have records that show the early existence of Confucian influence. In Kogury¬, a state university called T’aehak-kam was established in 372 and private Confucian academies were founded in the province. Paekche also set up institutions. The Choson Dynasty, which was established accepted Confucianism as the official ideology and developed a Confucian system of education, ceremony and civil administration. When Korea was invaded by many West European countries including Japan in the late 19th century, the Confucianists raised "righteous armies" to fight against the aggressor. Today, Confucian ancestral worship is still prevalent and filial piety highly revered as a virtue in Korean