Shincheonji and the COVID-19 Epidemic: Sorting Fact from Fiction
Blaming epidemics on unpopular religious minorities, which served as scapegoats, has been common in past centuries. It is happening again with the COVID-19 crisis, in various countries: the more unpopular the minority is, the more severe is the blame. Shincheonji,...
| Published in: | The journal of CESNUR |
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| Authors: | ; ; ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[2020]
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| In: |
The journal of CESNUR
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
South Korea
/ COVID-19 (Disease)
/ Pandemic
/ Shincheonji
/ Scapegoat
/ Anti-cult movement
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AZ New religious movements KBM Asia |
| Further subjects: | B
COVID-19 2020 Epidemics in South Korea
B Covid-19 B Shincheonji B Lee Man Hee B COVID-19 and religion B Coronavirus and Religion |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Blaming epidemics on unpopular religious minorities, which served as scapegoats, has been common in past centuries. It is happening again with the COVID-19 crisis, in various countries: the more unpopular the minority is, the more severe is the blame. Shincheonji, which was accused of spreading the virus in South Korea after one of its female members was infected, is a case in point. Although it did commit mistakes in its handling of the crisis, accusations that it supplied to the authorities incomplete or false lists of its members, or refused to cooperate, have been recognized as false by South Korea’s Deputy Minister of Health and Chief Prosecutor. The campaign against Shincheonji, however, continues, driven by Christian counter-cult opposition and by some politicians’ electoral interests. |
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| ISSN: | 2532-2990 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of CESNUR
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.26338/tjoc.2020.4.3.5 |