Source: The Buddhist Channel/Yonhap News
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=45,5114,0,0,1,0
Anti-religious sentiments have emerged in South Korea following a series of headline-making scandals involving religious communities.
The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest Buddhist group in South Korea, held a meeting of the representative council of parishoners on Friday. The Jogye Order has about 2,300 affiliated temples and 13,000 monks nationwide.
The meeting was called to deal with reports by the local media which, the Jogye Order claims, are undermining the Buddhist community.
"We urge the media to stop slandering the Buddhist community, misleading people as if the legally funded temples were illegally supported by the government," it said in a statement.
"We regret that people perceive the Buddhist community as the mastermind behind the scandal involving Shin Jeong-ah. We call on the prosecutors to investigate the incident fairly and quickly to reveal what is truly going on."
Prosecutors allege a Buddhist monk was involved in a fake degree scandal involving Shin, a former Dongguk University art professor and a curator for Seoul's Sunggok Museum.