Korea's Religious Placesa - 4.1 Cheondogyo (Donghak)

The most important of Korea’s native religions is probably Cheondogyo, the “Religion of the Heavenly Way,” originally known as Donghak. Choe Je-u, a man living near Gyeongju in 1860, was aware of Catholicism, which was then called Western Learning. He had direct inspiration from heaven and set forth doctrines that he called Donghak, or Eastern Learning, clearly a response to Catholicism. It was not anti-Catholic, per se. In fact, they incorporated some Western ideas, such as a weekly worship service—theretofore Confucianism and Buddhism had commemorated important anniversary dates, but had not yet established weekly services. And they eventually built places for worship that looked very much like Western churches.