A South Korean pastor sits in jail for interviewing a political candidate during a church service, and the new president is threatening to punish churches that refuse to celebrate what Scripture condemns. Could this signal the end of religious liberty for one of America’s closest allies in Asia?
This article is a lightly edited transcript of the “Here’s the Point” podcast by Ryan Helfenbein, executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center.
Pastor Hyun-bo Son has been imprisoned for nearly three months in South Korea on minor election-law charges. His crime? Interviewing a candidate during worship who opposed Korea’s Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Law, legislation that would criminalize preaching against homosexuality and restrict religious free speech.
Prosecutors aren’t just holding him without bail, they’re requesting one year in prison — an unprecedented punishment for such a minor charge. Make no mistake: This isn’t about election law. Pastor Son mobilized two million people against the Anti-Discrimination Law and spoke against political candidates promoting the LGBT agenda. He did exactly what pastors are called to do: He warned his congregation about political policies that would silence the Gospel and marginalize churches.
Now, President Lee Jae-Myung is ordering cabinet ministers to review church-state violations and consider disbanding churches that have “intervened in politics.” Churches that dare to speak truth to power may lose their legal standing entirely.
This is a growing problem in Western countries notorious for championing international human rights; among those rights are religious liberty, which has been the cornerstone of the Western world. But throughout this past decade, the pattern is clear on the political left: weaponize the law, silence the faithful, make examples of those who won’t comply.
So, how should we think about this? Three points:
First, theologically, what’s happening in South Korea reveals the inevitable collision between Christian truth and government power.
Jesus warned, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). When authorities commanded Peter and John not to speak in Jesus’s name, they responded: “We cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
The Korean government wants churches silent on moral issues — faith confined to Sunday platitudes while the rest of society sinks into a moral and spiritual abyss. Jesus Christ is Lord. That statement was true in the first century when Paul was saying Christ is greater than Caesar, and it is still true today when Christians declare that Christ is the true seat of all government.
The lordship of Christ extends over every domain, including the public square. Christians have no optional box for neutrality.
Second, morally, this imprisonment exposes the lie of “anti-discrimination” laws.
These laws don’t protect anyone — they weaponize the state against biblical Christianity. Pastor Son opposed legislation that would criminalize preaching Romans 1 or 1 Corinthians 6. He did his pastoral duty: protecting his flock from laws that would destroy religious liberty.
The hypocrisy is staggering. The same government imprisoning Pastor Son for speaking during worship allows radical activists to dominate public discourse, push gender ideology into schools, and demand Christians celebrate what Scripture condemns.
Third, practically, what happens in South Korea matters for America and the rest of the world.
The U.S.-South Korean alliance goes back more than 80 years. More than 50,000 American soldiers died on the Korean Peninsula to secure South Korea’s freedom from communism. We share the same view of freedom and faith. South Korea is the second largest Western nation for sending missionaries around the world.
When one of America’s closest allies imprisons pastors for preaching truth, every American Christian should be alarmed.
And if the South Korean Democratic Party succeeds in silencing churches through legal intimidation, other nations and other political factions will follow suit. This gives more power to menacing China and their ambitions to demoralize free nations in their sphere of influence.
What we saw in Hong Kong just a few years ago is coming for South Korea today, and it could be coming to America tomorrow. The same ideology driving Pastor Son’s imprisonment is embedded in American institutions. We saw it under the Biden administration — COVID lockdowns, forced vaccinations, the Black Lives Matter protests, corporate DEI programs, university speech codes, and Drag Queen story hour.
What should we do? We should pray for Pastor Son’s immediate release. Pray for South Korean Christians and support their churches in their fight for freedom. Pray for courage among pastors worldwide to speak truth regardless of the cost.
Pastor Son told his congregation before his arrest to “stay focused on sharing the Gospel and keeping the faith.” That’s the charge for every Christian today. We worship a Savior who was falsely accused, unjustly imprisoned, and executed by the state. Yet He rose victorious, and His kingdom cannot be shaken. Fear not, for He has overcome the world.
The question is whether we’ll have the courage to follow Him when courage counts the most.
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