Shincheonji Church
The South Korean govt has seized the private data of hundreds of U.S. citizens as component of its investigation into a controversial Christian group in the nation, alarming religious independence advocates.
The Shincheonji controversy has alarmed U.S. officers and spiritual flexibility authorities, some of whom have expressed worries that Seoul is utilizing the pandemic as an possibility to crack down on a religious team that is broadly disparaged as a cult. The problem also serves as a situation review of what occurs when nicely-intentioned pandemic coverage finishes up infringing on spiritual flexibility.
The identical dispute is enjoying out in the United States, even though spiritual leaders have averted the powerful scrutiny South Korea has directed at Shincheonji . Some U.S. politicians have cracked down on religious rituals a lot more harshly than other kinds of gatherings. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, for instance, singled out an in-man or woman Jewish funeral procession on Twitter as "definitely unacceptable," but endorsed jam-packed Black Lives Make a difference protests. Church buildings in Wisconsin and California have filed lawsuits difficult limitations on worship that have not been applied to protests or professional actions.
Even before the pandemic, companies fired Shincheonji practitioners, and household users shunned them, according to Massimo Introvigne, an Italian sociologist who has analyzed the team. Community outcry only grew when authorities accused the sect of being accountable for South Korea's initial coronavirus outbreak in February. Though Shincheonji Church founder Lee Male-hee apologized in a press meeting, the South Korean govt shortly seized all of the data of Shincheonji practitioners a dataset that incorporated data of American practitioners.
The South Korean govt provided the seized data to a number of hospitals and pharmacies leaks before long followed. Community revelations have already led some Shincheonji practitioners to shed their positions. Even though it is unlikely that U.S.-based practitioners would confront the same diploma of harassment in the United States, Introvigne explained that Korean-American Shincheonji practitioners may well confront backlash from their local community if their religious affiliation is uncovered.
The South Korean government's crackdown on Shincheonji has elevated alarm amongst U.S. observers as well. The U.S. Fee on Global Religious Liberty wrote that "South Korea provides a vivid example of how public health emergencies can boost the threat to marginalized spiritual groups," concluding that the Shincheonji Church has confronted harassment from equally the Korean government and modern society.
"The coronavirus response¦still has to respect basic human privacy rights, simple human legal rights and religious freedom," he said. "As much as get in touch with tracing is progressive, it was completed in a way where the blame has been shifted on minority spiritual business."