초록/요약

Korean churches have taken the lead in politics to instigate the hate of sexual minorities. From this background, this study aims to criticize such instigative politics and to seek alternatives from the perspective of the ecumenical movement. To this end, the study analyzes the ecumenical movement by dividing it into the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the National Council of Churches in Korea (NCCK). At the 4th Assembly of the WCC, the concept of homosexuality openly emerged for the first time. Leading up to the 9th Assembly, the WCC had developed discussions on the human rights of sexual minorities or LGBTQ+ as well as opening up the possibility for embracing them in the churches at the pastoral level, while paying heed to the issues of LGBTQ+ lest the issues cause conflict or division among the churches. In this process, the WCC did its best to create a “safe space of dialogue,” where one side does not indiscreetly criticize or condemn the other side regarding different cultures or sexual experiences among regions and denominations. However, in the 10th Assembly held in Busan, Korean conservative protestant churches boycotted the assembly criticizing the WCC for “advocating and supporting homosexuals.” Due to this disturbance, the WCC had to step back without making further progress on having a future-oriented conversation about sexual minority issues. Conservative protestant churches were also engaged in politics to incite hatred against homosexuals in relation to the legislation of the anti-discrimination law. In this situation, there arose a division among the members of the the NCCK. In spite of all this, the NCCK has since translated and published related books and held international symposiums to encourage churches to cordially welcome sexual minorities. To stop the instigative politics in Korean society, it is important, above all, to make alternative activites a “safe space of dialogue” in the ecumenical movement.