In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity

1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle

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It all began on a weekend in June. After missing the Dano Festival last year, I was determined to make it out there in 2012. I had fully intended to make a video of the activities and upload it to my YouTube channel for all the world to see.

So, I braved the crowds and did exactly that.

While I was capturing video footage, and photographs, I was approached by a couple of young ladies. They spoke to me in English. Initially, I was hesitant to speak with them due to past experiences. Normally when I am approached by English-speaking Korean women, they belong to some sort of religion and desperately want me to join their congregation. It happens without fail.

I decided to play it cool because I felt guilty for prejudging them. After all, June was a big month for this blog. It broke MBC’s The Shocking Reality About Relationships With Foreigners. I had blasted MBC for prejudging all foreigners based on the actions of a few. When the girls approached me, I was doing the exact same thing. Hence the guilt trip.

These girls didn’t have any religious topics to discuss though. They were asking people to sign a message for South African children suffering from AIDS. They were going to have a big concert event in Seoul and invited me to attend. Having just been to Seoul, I declined the invite.

Once they left, I continued with my Dano Festival video-making. I crossed the river to check things out on the opposite side. While I was there, I was interrupted by another group from the same organization. I told them I had already signed a message. They laughed at that, and we discussed how long I had been in Korea. Then, they asked for my cellphone number. An alarm bell sounded off in brain. In May, some religious guy called my school to read me a Bible passage. He too had wanted my cellphone number, but I refused to give it to him, and gave him hell for calling.

Again, though, I didn’t want to think they were religious recruiters. They never gave me religious pamphlets.

They seemed to be employing the same tactics that the Jehovah Witnesses did, though. Purposefully walking around for foreigners, and ignoring everyone else. That was alarm bell number three, and it didn’t escape my notice. Instead, I gave them my KakaoTalk ID, which is an IM-like app. That way they could contact me via the app, but they wouldn’t have my number. I bid them farewell.

I again meandered around the festival. I was interrupted again, but this time, it was a news crew that wanted to get my opinion. When I finished with the camera crew, I started thinking about heading back home. While I made my way to where I thought the taxis were, I bumped into the volunteer group. This time I was introduced to a girl who was from one of the universities in Gangneung. We exchanged cell numbers.

I had decided to take a chance.

The two of us sent messages throughout July and August. Nothing overly serious, just small talk. She would sometimes invite me to join her group’s events, but they never jived with my schedule. I eventually apologized for continuously declining her offers, and asking her to understand how busy I was teaching 947 students every week. She told me it wasn’t a problem.

Last week she told me she was writing some letters to orphans. Gangneung has an orphanage, and she said her “people” would go volunteer. Ah hah, I thought. “Her people” must refer to a religious group, but when I asked what she meant, she just said her “volunteer group”. She was going to go this Saturday and asked if I wanted to come along. Biting the bullet, I told her I was interested, but I wasn’t interested in joining any churches. A reply came, telling me her group wasn’t religious.

How could I refuse? I would go volunteer at an orphanage and help people like I did in Daegu. It seemed like a nice deal. She even sent me a link to her group’s website. I finally had a name to call it.
Mannam.

With all the good work they seemed to do, I was incredibly surprised I had never heard of them. I was optimistic, and even asked some of my friends here if they wanted to come join me volunteer at the orphanage. I could see this becoming a regular thing on the weekends for myself.

But then today came.

One of my fellow blogging buddies posted a link on his Facebook wall. It caught my eye, because it was about Mannam (만남). Here was an organization I heard nothing about until the day before, and there was already a news article on it? The article wasn’t too positive. Its claims seemed to be a tad over the top. Ties to a cult?

What?

So I decided to do a bunch of self investigating. I stumbled across some blogs from foreigners who attended Mannam’s events. There were also threads for me to go through. My unease began to grow as I read through each entry. What was this thing?

Mannam on the surface seemed to be a benign volunteer organization. Yet, it had a controversial religious leader as an honorary president. A man who believes god himself came down and anointed him to explain divine truths. A man who had at his fingertips a massive amount of followers.

I also read reports where they intentionally stalked foreigners to have them sign up for their events. And when they went to orphanages, they would teach the kids their slogans and hand gestures (rather than the v-for-victory sign, they use a gesture that looks like you’re forming a hand into a gun). That screamed “indoctrination” to me.

Eventually, I knew I had to reach my contact through KakaoTalk. I had to tell her my unease, and my desire to not affiliate myself with such a group. She told me that Mannam wasn’t connected with Shinchonji (신천지), and they were open to people of all faiths and races. When I brought up Man Hee Lee (이만희), the guy behind the Shinchonji religion, she admitted he was a member, and they did get his opinion on things.

Still, she was adamant they were not part of the religion.

At this point I was angry at myself. I was angry at being too polite and not going with my earlier suspicions. I was angry at inviting my friends to join me . I was angry at the Mannam organization for not being upfront with their intentions.

They have a motto, which you can find on their website. Their motto goes: “when light meets light there is victory!”. That in and of itself sounds religious. Perhaps that isn’t enough to sell you on their affiliation with Man Hee Lee’s “religion”? How about we take their motto, and make it a url?

http://www.lightmeetslight.com [Edit: This link is now dead. It was killed after I blogged about it]

Wow. Look where it takes you. Wow. Look what it says about the man running the show.

I pointed that out to my contact nearly two hours ago, and didn’t get a reply.

To sum up how I feel: I am disgusted.

I am disgusted there’s a group of people trying to recruit foreigners for PR purposes. I am disgusted that it’s a front for a “religious” organization. I am disgusted they go to orphanages and teach the children the slogans, which lead to the Man Hee Lee’s webpage. I am disgusted at myself for nearly giving them more legitimacy.
Luckily though, I managed to put a stop to it before I met them in person. While I am sure the individual people are nice enough folks, they are working for a group and doing things I do not condone.
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1) In Which Scroozle Almost Gets Suckered Into Attending a ‘Cult’ Activity
2) Mannam- A Follow-Up Investigation
3) Mannam Part 3- The Unintended Trilogy
4) 2012 Shinchonji Olympiad
5) Is Shinchonji Actually Using Mannam to Promote Itself?
6) Mannam- The Statement and the Apology
7) Mannam, Shinchonji, and the World Peace Initiative (WPI)- Thoughts Around the Web
8) The Curious Case of the Disappearing Article
9) Shinchonji Sincheonji Shinchunji 신천지
10) The Book of Shinchonji
11) 24 Questions asked by Samsung’s Lee Byung-chul, Answered by Shinchonji’s Lee Man Hee, and rebutted by Crimson North’s Scroozle