SEOUL: At Jogye Temple, normally an island of Buddhist serenity, plainclothes officers have staked out the exits, waiting to grab any fugitives who venture out. Camped out on the temple grounds are the leaders of fierce anti-government protests who have been charged with instigating violence. They have come to the temple seeking political sanctuary, not spiritual uplift. One top government official has branded them "Satans."

As a gong echoes through the neighborhood of office towers in central Seoul, afternoon worshipers arriving at the temple - home to the largest Buddhist order in South Korea - walk below a canopy of 6,200 lotus-shaped lanterns. The lanterns are arranged by color to spell the English word "OUT" - a highly unusual rebuke to President Lee Myung Bak from the country's once-docile and normally apolitical Buddhists.

"Religious peace in our country is being threatened by those who dream of turning it into a medieval Christian kingdom through a church elder-president," said Park Jeong Kyu, a spokesman for the Jogye Order.

Lee, 66, is an elder at a Presbyterian church in Seoul. Since his election last December, Buddhists have voiced a rising alarm over the country's conservative Protestant churches. These churches support Lee, but they also have irritated many Koreans - not just Buddhists - with their assertive proselytizing and alleged disregard for other faiths.

In August, tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and lay people marched in central Seoul, accusing Lee and his government of discriminating against Buddhists and favoring Protestants.

-Article Continues Off Site, Courtesy The International Herald-Tribune.