Multi-cultural Society and Religious Education in Unification Church

ABSTRACT

A multi-cultural society consists of cultural diversity. Such phenomenon stems from an increase in immigrants with different cultural backgrounds and means that not all constituents of cultural groups share the same cultural aspect. Such society intensifies a multi-religious society because immigrants and their own religions are introduced to the society. Therefore, a multi-cultural society paves the way for a frequent dispute among religions. Religious education in a multi-cultural society has no choice but to reflect the multi-religious phenomenon. Such situation calls for religious education that allows for understanding of diverse religions to Korean society’s religious organizations and peace among religions. Unification Church, in this case, is no exception. As multi-cultural education in a multi-cultural society is equal to cultural diversity education, this study understands that religious education in a multi-cultural society is equivalent to multi-religion education, or religious diversity education. Religious diversity education is categorized into understanding diverse religion education and practicing religious peace education. Whereas the former is emphasized in terms of understanding the diversity of religions, the latter is focused not only on understanding religions, but also on maintaining and practicing ethical stances and attitudes for the sake of peace among religions. The purpose of this study is to understand a multi-cultural society’s religious education in this vein and review the status and task of religious education in Unification Church.