Seoul, South Korea - A majority of Koreans believe that a person can go to heaven without having a religion, according to a survey published yesterday by a major research company.
Gallup Korea released the results of a survey on Korean attitudes toward religion, conducted through one-and-one interviews with 1,500 adults on Jan.13-31, 2004.
According to the survey, 71.5 percent of the respondents answered ``False’’ to the statement, ``A good-hearted person without religion cannot go to paradise (the netherworld) or heaven.’’
To the statement saying ``Paradise or heaven does not exist in the after-life, but in this world,’’ 63.4 percent answered in the positive, while 23.9 percent answered negative, indicating many Koreans are secular-oriented.
The survey also showed that inclinations or beliefs in Confucianism or patriarchy have lessened significantly. A total of 51.6 percent of respondents answered ``True’’ to the statement, ``Order in a family can be established only when a male adult has leadership.’’
In contrast, 69.7 percent of the respondents answered positively to the same question in 1984.
To the statement, ``Responsibilities of husbands and wives should be properly divided,’’ only 39.4 percent agreed, a decrease of 33.5 percentage points from 20 years ago.
When asked whether ``someone with supernatural powers created the world,’’ implying a Christian perspective, 35.4 percent answered in the positive, as opposed to 46.1 percent in 1984.
On the other hand, the number of believers in the Buddhist idea of transmigration has increased. To the statement, ``When someone dies, he or she is reborn in this world in a different form,’’ 27.4 percent said yes, a 6.7 percentage point increase from 1984.