The global expansion of American evangelism contributed to Koreans’ association of Christianity with the United States and White supremacy. In the late-19th century, waves of American missionaries settled in Korea as part of a larger movement of American imperial expansionism through philanthropic missions. They aimed to extend salvation to “uncivilized heathens” and create a global Christian family while furthering their country’s military, cultural and economic influence. For Koreans who struggled with corruption at the local and national levels of government, missionaries from America who provided social services appeared to offer a solution.
Many missionaries also described to Koreans the freedom to practice Christianity in America as protected by the U.S. Constitution, a striking counterpoint to life under increasing Japanese control. Japan’s power in the region was growing after its victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). Wielding enormous military influence in East Asia, the Japanese government forced Korean Christians to turn against both their country and religion by participating in State Shinto, a religious and national ritual system that included shrine worship practices. The idea that they could worship freely as Christians in the United States made America seem especially appealing.
The first Korean Methodist bishop, the Rev. Ryang Ju-sam, who was pastor of the San Francisco Korean Methodist Church from 1906, when he immigrated to the United States, believed that Christianity was the basis for the intellectually and materially “advanced” United States. In the Korean Evangel, a monthly magazine broadly shared among Korean immigrants, Ryang wrote that “the Bible governs this prosperous America … and the constitution was faithfully enacted through the inspiration of the Bible.”
Believing Protestant Christianity was deeply connected to America’s national stability and the contentment of its citizens, Ryang highlighted U.S. presidents such as Abraham Lincoln and William Howard Taft as faith leaders who “solemnly committed [their] official obligations in front of God.”
Ryang’s conception of Christian America was particularly rooted in ideas of Whiteness tied to popular discussions of eugenics and social Darwinism in the late-19th century. In an 1897 issue of the Korean newspaper Tongnip sinmun, Korean writers illustrated distinct hierarchies of each racial type. For instance, the “Oriental race” was the second-tier race below the White race, “the most clever, diligent, and brave among all the races in the world,” but above the “Black and Red humans.”
When the global “civilizing project” approached a Korea that was struggling to survive, often in competition with neighboring countries, these ideas gained adherents. Intellectuals like Ryang believed that if Koreans embraced Christianity, it would better equip them with the necessary morality and knowledge to overcome this perceived inferiority. As Korean scholar Vladimir Tikhonov (Park No-ja) notes, Koreans’ belief in achieving superiority through “nurturing” beyond “nature” provided a form of hope.