National Movements of the Religious Communities

Cheondogyo, Daejonggyo, Buddhists, Catholics, Won Buddhism and Protestants joined the national movement through enlightenment campaigns, armed struggle, campaigns to reform daily life and refusal of Shinto shrine worship.

Japan kept watch over religious life, placing Buddhism under the Government-General’s control by the Temple Ordinance (1911). After leading the March First Movement, the religious communities each pursued the national cause. Cheondogyo, which under Son Byong-hi had led the March First Movement, published the magazines Gaebyeok, Eorini and Sinyeoseong and led enlightenment work such as the children’s movement. Daejonggyo, founded by Na Cheol to revere Dangun, organised the Junggwangdan and the Northern Military Administration in Manchuria for armed struggle. Among Buddhists, Han Yong-un called for reform in his Treatise on the Revitalisation of Korean Buddhism and campaigned against the Temple Ordinance.

Catholics formed the armed independence group Uimindan in Manchuria in 1920. Won Buddhism, founded by Park Jung-bin at Yeonggwang in Jeolla in 1916, ran land reclamation and savings associations and led a New Life Movement of thrift, simpler ceremonies and the rejection of superstition. Protestants built schools and hospitals, and in the late 1930s resisted forced Shinto shrine worship.