Actually, the largest category in Korean faith today is "None of the Above." As of 2008, about 47% of Koreans say they don't follow any particular religion. Buddhism claims about 23% and Christianity about 30%. When Margaret was teaching in 2000, these percentages were 49%, 24%. and 26% respectively. The trend isn't dramatic, but you can definitely see a change.

Even though he was a Catholic, former president Kim Dae Jung seemed scrupulously fair about keeping Christianity and Buddhism balanced in Korea. He made sure that Korean workers got the same time off for Christmas and Buddha's Birthday, for example. It also became more of a challenge for foreign Christian missionaries to get visas, since they'd already been so successful. (Most Korean Christians are of a fairly evangelical flavor.)

However, Korea's current president is not quite of the same mindset, and Buddhists are understandably a bit concerned about the situation. It remains to be seen how Korea's religious harmony will stand up under Lee Myung-bak's presidency.

Fewer than 1% of Koreans would say they believe in the old religion, Shamanism, but still its roots go deep. This probably has to do with the fact that when Buddhists arrived from China in 372, they very reasonably and sensibly borrowed some rituals and principles from Shamanism. (The early Christian church in the west did the same thing with pagan rituals -- such as taking over the Winter Solstice celebration and calling it Christmas.)

The photo above shows one of the most visible and intriguing ways that Shamanism hangs on in Korea. Shamanists believe that things (yes, including rocks) have spirits just as people do. Apparently concentrating lots of these spirits in one place makes them happy, because legend says that adding a rock to the pile will bring you good luck. Judging from the number and size of the rockpiles you see just about everywhere that isn't paved over, there must be lots of lucky Koreans.

Be they religious or no, Koreans love their mountain hikes. This photo comes from our walk through part of Odeasan National Park, as good a place as any to try out some of that old time religion.