Catholicism most trustworthy, influential religion in S. Korea: poll

South Koreans regard Catholicism as the most trustworthy and influential of the major religions in the country, a survey showed Monday.

In an annual survey of public opinion on South Korean society, politics and religion, Catholicism placed first with 3.39 points in the category of reliability among the country's five largest religions.

A social research institute run by the Buddhist Jogye Order conducted the poll on 1,500 people aged 16 or more around the country in August. Those polled were asked to measure the reliability of each religion on a scale of one to five.

Buddhism came second with 3.32 points, followed by Protestantism with 2.29 points and Won Buddhism with 2.41 points and Islamism with 2.17 points.

The survey also revealed that Catholicism has the largest social influence among all five religions with 3.4 points. Next came Protestantism (3.32), Buddhism (3.27), Won Buddhism (2.37) and Islamism (2.14).

Questioned which religion has contributed to South Korea's social development the most, the largest portion, 31.7 percent, of those polled said "none."

Nearly 30 percent selected Buddhism while Protestantism and Catholicism received 20.1 percent and 15.8 percent support, respectively.

Compared with the 2011 survey, more people answered that no religion contributed to Korea's social development, reflecting the overall decline of social influence of religions in the country, the research institute said.

An overwhelming 59.2 percent chose Protestantism as the religion that triggers the most interreligious feuding while 15.9 percent and 7.9 percent selected Buddhism and Catholicism, respectively.

"The result of the survey reflects the trend in society where religions have become more personalized and conservative as a whole," the institute said in a release. (Yonhap)