How Could A Religion Spread The New Coronavirus Nationwide In South Korea?
HOW RELIGION COULD SPREAD CORONAVIRUS – South Korea had been experiencing a rapid spike in the number of coronavirus cases in the last few days with the majority linked to a Church.
South Korea had now become the country with the second-largest number of coronavirus cases next to China. But how did this happen?
VIRUS SPREADING FASTER THAN RELIGION?
According to recent reports, the coronavirus cases in Daegu, the epicenter of the outbreak, started with a “superspreader” who was a member of a Church known as the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.
Most of the country’s 833 cases of COVID-19 could be linked back there. Because of this, over 9,000 members of the church had been placed under quarantine.
HOW DID IT SPREAD SO FAST?
The Shincheonji Church of Jesus had been dubbed by its critics as more of a “cult” rather than a religion. And here is how they conduct their service.
Shincheonji followers hold services sitting on the floor, without any chairs. Because of the number of followers, the members are packed together like sardines in a can.
CAN I GET AN AMEN!?
Another big problem with the church is that they shout “AMEN!” after every sentence the pastor says, that’s pretty much every few seconds. Aside from that, they scream at the top of their lungs.
This has a very high possibility of sending droplets which were believed to be the cause of the transmission. Not only that, but the church also operates in the shadows.
WORKING IN SECRECY
According to a former member of the church of 20 years who managed their Bible study instructions, members evangelize in secret.
Shin Hyun-uk, the director of the Guri Cult Counseling Center works to extract or “save” members from the church.
He stated that members cannot reveal themselves in public. That means it would be harder for people to know if they had come in contact with a member of the church.
Moreover, according to Shin, it would be impossible for others to be cautious and self-quarantine themselves.
However, a spokesperson for the Shincheonji group stated that the church is fully cooperating with the health authorities and had shut down some 1,100 churches nationwide.
Along with this, they had also shared a list of followers with authorities to help them track down and quarantine potentially infected members.
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