Losing My Religion: Why many East Asians dey change faith

"Joon” grow up in a Christian home for South Korea. But like many pipo for im home kontri, im religious beliefs now dey very different from wen im bin be pikin.

Im dey identify as agnostic.

“I no know wetin dey out dia. God fit exist, or maybe no be God exactly - sometin supernatural,” e tok over di phone from Seoul.

Joon parents na still committed Christians, and e say dem dey feel “deep sorrow” if dem go read say im no be believer again. Im no wan upset dem, so e ask us to use a different name.

Joon experience reflect di findings of a new study from US think tank Pew Research Center, wey show say kontries for East Asia get some of di highest rates of pipo wey dey leave and change religions in di world.

Dem ask more dan 10,000 pipo about dia beliefs, and many say now dem dey hold a different religious identity from di one wey dem grow up with.

Hong Kong and South Korea top di list, with 53% of respondents in each kontri saying dem don change dia religious identity, including dropping dia religion altogeda. In Taiwan 42% of pipo don change dia religious beliefs, and for Japan e be 32%.

Compare dat wan with a 2017 survey in Europe, wia dem no find any kontri wia di switching rate pass 40%. Or di US, wia data dem collect last year find say just 28% of adults no longer identify with di faith dem grow up with.

For Joon, di change for im outlook coincide with leaving home, and being exposed to new ideas. Growing up, im family go “wake up evri morning at around 6:00am, and evribodi go read and share Bible verses.”

Evri morning “bin be like a small worship service”, e tok.

E comot from house at 19 years and start to go to one of di biggest churches in Seoul - a mega church with thousands of members. Dem get a very literal interpretation of di Bible, for example, rejecting di theory of evolution. Dis dey incompatible with di scientific theory wey Joon bin don learn. Im worldview change in oda ways too.

“I think Christianity get a very clear sense of black and white, right or wrong. But after observing society, and meeting pipo from different backgrounds, I begin to tink say di world consist of more grey zones“

Joon say around half im friends no longer believe in di faith dem bring dem up with, particularly those wey grow up as Christians.

And no be just Christianity wey dey lose followers around am. 20% of pipo wey bin dey raised as Buddhist now don drop di faith. For Hong Kong and Japan dat number na 17%.

E get some pipo for di region wey don choose to take up a new faith. In South Korea, for example, 12% of Christians na new entrants to di religion, with new entrants to Buddhism at 5%. In Hong Kong, new entrants to Christianity and Buddhism na 9% and 4% respectively.

However, di biggest group among those wey don change dia religious identity na mostly those wey no identify with any at all, and dat number dey higher in East Asian kontries dan in oda parts of di world. 37% of pipo in Hong Kong and 35 % of pipo in South Korea say dat na dia experience, compared to 30% in Norway or 20% in di US.

But despite wetin look like increasing secularisation, large numbers of pipo across di region say dem still dey take part in spiritual rituals and practices. In all di kontries surveyed, more dan half of di religiously unaffiliated say dem don take part in rituals to honour dia ancestors in di past 12 months. And most pipo surveyed across di region say dem believe in gods or unseen beings.

None of dis come as surprise to Dr Se-Woong Koo, wey be expert in religious studies. Speaking to di BBC from Seoul, e say dat ability to take on parts of different religions dey in tune with di history of di region.

“Historically speaking, for East Asia, e get less of a focus on wetin you fit call exclusive religious identity. If you be Taoist, e no mean say you no fit be a Buddhist at di same time, or a Confucian. Dis boundaries dey far less clearly demarcated dan in di West.”

Na only for 19th Century, following an increase in contact and interactions with di West, wey di concept of religion as we understand am today, dem bring am come to East Asia.

And to dey able to hold multiple identities and traditions na sometin wey never really comot for di region, na so Dr Koo tok.

Im don see am close to home too. Dr Koo say na im make im mother don switch her religious affiliation on several occasions.

“Last weekend she register as a member of a Catholic Church for our area, and I dey sure she dey go go dia on Sunday."

But den, she tell am say she actually dey “go to a prayer healing session" for one local Evangelical church.

Dr Koo ask “wetin happen to di Catholic Church, mom?” She say wetin she need at dat moment na “more healing dan anytin else”.

Im mother bin “wan to go to di Catholic Church becos she use to be a Catholic. But somehow, wen e come to receiving a particular kind of physical intervention wey she believe say she require, she dey go to anoda tradition.”