Generally, the identities of immigrants are categorized by race, class, age, nationality, and gender, etc. Such classifications make us familiar with the distinctions between the West and East, white and black, male and female, the majority and the minority. Moreover, it leads us to label the latter as inferior. Therefore, it is important to understand them from the perspective of religion, which is the utmost universal value system of human beings. Especially for Muslims, it is highly significant that they identify themselves in light of religion rather than nationality. Many current immigrants forming Korea‘s multicultural society are Muslims who come across the boundaries of the East Asian countries. Their suffering as minorities is severe and multi-faceted, ranging from basic survival to extreme discrimination in Korea. It is more serious in comparison with immigrants from countries of Buddhist backgrounds, with which Korean culture is familiar. Furthermore, the attitude of the Korean people toward Islam is considerably negative, predicated upon “Orientalism,” introduced to Korea indirectly by Western Christianity. In fact, it is such an obstacle to establish a multicultural value system in Korean society because the “Islamophobia” of the Korean fundamental Christians is so extreme. The religion issue of multicultural education is therefore significant, because it is not rooted merely in cultural factors, which are acquirable or adjustable. Rather, it is a philosophical, psychological, and even historical basis of a certain society. Therefore, the encounters of different religions, come out in four different phenomena: exclusivism, inclusivism, relativism, and pluralism. Pluralism is the ideal basis of the religious education in multicultural society, and it should be the main subject of Culture Refinement Education. Concerning the contents of Culture Refinement Education, we need to understand the Muslim belief system in the light of world history in a broad perspective and its conflictual history with Christianity, in particular. (Keimyung University)
