Neon signs...and neon crosses?

You may already know about the Korean obsession with neon signs. What you may not know about is the Korean obsession with neon crosses. This was one of the first things I discovered after my arrival in Korea. Eagerly looking out the window of a bus from Incheon airport trying to catch the first glimpses of my new home, all I could see were glowing red crosses dotted across the nighttime landscape. While I suppose it's nothing more than the nationwide symbol of a church, the red is actually a bit foreboding. I've gotten used to it now, but it's hard not to take these signs as a warning of the fire and brimstone coming to non-believers.



To be perfectly honest, this may indeed the reason for the red color. Korean Christians tend to be quite hardcore if not downright militant about their faith. I somewhat naively expected Korea to be a largely Buddhist country. In reality, the demographic breakdown of religion goes something like this:

About half of Koreans don't identify themselves as having a religion. As for the other half, ~30% (15 million) are Christian and ~20% (10 million) are Buddhist. Korean Buddhists aren't big proselytizers and generally lay low when it comes to talking about religion. Korean Christians, on the other hand, are contrarily the most fervid recruiters I've ever seen.

I admit, I may get more attention that average Koreans simply due to the fact that I am Western. I regularly get approached by strangers in the street distributing handouts about Jesus, and have been anxiously asked by countless co-workers about my religion (regardless of my personal views, I always respond "Christian" to avoid the inevitable conflict that comes with an alternative answer). Some of my friends get calls every Sunday morning with invitations to go to church, and even tricked into attending religious functions under the pretense that they will be doing something else.