종교와 사회복지의 접점 — 종교의 사회적 책임과 복지활동의 실제 —

The concern and caring for the social disadvantaged groups belong to the responsibility and mission of religion, and faith-based social service of any established religion, especially Christian large-sized churches in Korea could be regarded as an effort to fulfill its social responsibility. However the true welfare activities of faith-based agencies lies in their taking charge of the role as welfare agency; it means social service delivery of faith-based agencies must not only rely on offering which the believers contribute to the religion agencies, but also create the conversion as ‘daily life’ or ‘life’ of social welfare in religion by letting them to approach closely to the weak in their everyday life and groping the way to help them. Faith-based welfare agencies actively compete with other secular agencies for government funding, but it should be considered that the victory from competition rather raise negative recognition and criticism in that it means extended power of religion. It is true that confidence religiously-based group provides turns out favorable for being trusted, the problem is that the expenses faith-based group invests and management of business enabling profits are not different from those of other secular agency. Therefore it has to be answered that what constitute a faith-based agency and how they differ from secular providers. This means it is necessary to reconsider where the ‘religiosity’ or ‘religion’ of religiously-based welfare agency lie in. Religion must not simply be an ‘add-on’ which differentiate faith-based and secular social service: the two types of agencies must be united in their programs. In this sense it should be reaffirmed that social service delivery is responsibility of religion and at the same time the mechanism of its self-retrospection.