Modern society needs for religion to fulfill its social functions. The Jogye Order's Hwajaeng Committee for Harmonious Debate (established in 2010) and the Committee for Society and Labor (established in 2012) bring issues of social confrontation and conflict to the public, and are active in spreading the way of hwajaeng, a Buddhist way to resolve conflict harmoniously through public debate.

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In August 2012, the Jogye Order established the Labor Committee (which in December 2015 became the Committee for Society and Labor), and worked vigorously to put compassion into action to benefit laborers, women, the poor, the marginalized, and to promote human rights.

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The Order has held “Great Equal Seon Assemblies” to listen to the voices of the alienated and offer them solace. It has also held memorial dharma assemblies for those who died in poverty and for migrant workers and temporary laborers who died in industrial accidents. The Order also held memorial ceremonies for disaster victims, including the Sewol Ferry and Itaewon Halloween disasters, and engaged in activities such as fasting, performing prostrations, and prayer assemblies to demand investigations into the precise facts behind these incidents. Recently, the Order held prayer sessions in front of the National Assembly Building to urge the enactment of antidiscrimination legislation to prevent discrimination based on gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

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