Students pack a road at Ajou University in the city of Suwon, just south of Seoul, on March 6, 2023, as the school’s student clubs operate booths during a fair aimed at advertising to new members for the 2023 academic year. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, March 13 (Korea Bizwire) — The Netflix documentary series “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” has sparked concern on university campuses across the country.
A sense of apprehension was heightened after it was revealed that the religious fringe sect Christian Gospel Mission, better known as JMS (Jesus Morning Star) featured in the crime documentary series, tends to focus on university campuses to recruit new members.
University student clubs are now in the middle of the season of actively recruiting new members.
However, there is a list circulating with the names of the clubs that are allegedly associated with cult groups, sparking concerns among university students about which clubs to select and join.
On the Korea University online community, a series of comments and posts went viral that claimed a student club dealing with religion and philosophy topics is associated with the JMS headed by Jeong Myeong-seok.
“I heard from senior students that there are many cases where religious organizations approach under the guise of psychological surveys and consultations, while hiding their true purpose,” said a 19-year-old student, surnamed Lee, of Sogang University in Seoul.
Amid a heightened sense of wariness about pseudo religions, volunteer organizations are often wrongly suspected and feel embarrassed.
“It’s not wrong for individuals to have a sense of wariness and make efforts to determine whether an organization is a cult or not,” said Kwak Geum-joo, a psychology professor at Seoul National University.
“However, it’s better to take it as a chance to be more cautious rather than making accusations without cause.”
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
