This study is based on a phenomenological perspective (Schutz, 1972) with a qualitative method (Sulaeman et al., 2022; Tasleem, Mohd & Nor, 2020) through a subjective interpretive paradigm. The phenomenological perspective is used to explore the involvement of Muslim communities in the Immanuel Church. It ends with a description of the essence of “what” participants experienced and how they experienced it. Cresswell and Cheryl (2017) suggest that a phenomenon experienced by a group of individuals is a phenomenological one that needs to be explored and discussed. This is related to the meaning of the involvement experience of cross-religious ritual at Immanuel Church.
The participants of this study were members of the Muslim community involved in ritual at Immanuel Church on December 2, 2018. The author used a purposeful sampling technique to find participants with certain characteristics according to the needs of the study. Participants did not immediately accept the researcher and expressed considerable doubts. Initially, the researchers approached the critical stakeholders of the designated village: the village chief, village secretary, and imam, who were the formal and informal leaders of the village. After the researchers had spent a month at the location, the participants began to share their communication experiences little by little. By the third month at the location, participants more openly shared experiences of involvement in cross-religious ritual. Because the new participants understood the purpose of the researcher and its impact, many participants realized that they had taken actions that did not meet the definition of ritual involvement. Ultimately, individually, some of them carried out spiritual communication, which is believed to be a desire to be forgiven by God, to improve oneself, and not not to repeat transgressions, all of which is achieved through self-introspection, repentance, and prayer.
Initially, a snowball technique was used to document the author's observations of involvement. Then, during an approximately six-month field data search, the authors found 21 participants who were involved and were able to share their experiences based on a list of available questions. Twenty-one informants, including 14 men, were involved. Their ages ranged from 21 to 63 years when the study was conducted. Thirteen informants were married, and eight were single. Eight had a bachelor’s degree, 7 had a high school education, 3 were still in college, 2 had a primary school education, and one had a diploma education. Regarding employment, 6 were village officials, 3 were college students, 3 were Saniri villagers, 3 were youth figures, and one person each was employed as a middle school teacher, homemaker, religious leaders, public figure, and an empowerment figure who did not work.
Data were obtained qualitatively from semistructured interviews, participatory observations, and several informal conversational interviews (Boeije, 2009; Seidman, 2019). Initially, informal interviews were conducted by gathering 8 participants who were involved in cross-religious ritual at the village secretary's house, assisted by the village secretary. The researcher asked each participant 5 interview questions, and this activity took place for three hours. Such activities were carried out 6 times in different places. Initially, although the participants answered the questions, they did not openly share their experiences and were largely silent or expressed regret over their involvement in cross-religious rituals. Researchers experienced obstacles in obtaining more data from participants. To overcome these obstacles, researchers conducted face-to-face visits with participants involved in cross-religious rituals. During these face-to-face visits to conducting interviews, only 21 people shared communication experiences while the researchers were at the location. For each participant, the researcher held at least 5 face-to-face meetings at his residence, at the mosque, and on the coasts of the Tial and Laha villages.
Data were collected from participants who engaged in cross-religious ritual to assess their experiences, views, and knowledge without weighing them down. Pseudonyms were used to communicate the results of interviews with these twenty-one participants sharing their communication experiences. However, in the interview transcripts, the author did not edit the language or names in the transcript to maintain authenticity.
Data analysis was based on the instructions of Cresswell and Cheryl (2017) by following a systematic procedure. The author began by describing the experience of participant involvement, the feasibility of a list of nonrepetitive questions, the classification of questions, and categorization by theme. Then, we provided discussion of the social reality, focused on presenting the conclusions of phenomenological studies.
Description of Muslim Community Before Involvement
Muslim community members were participants in this study. The Muslim community has cross-religious kinship ties with Amalahat. Prior to the involvement discussed in this study, cross-religious involvement in the “panas pela” ritual was a pela oath-taking ritual. The oath as a symbol of encounter and brotherhood is an identity marker to maintain kinship relations. The author describes the Muslim community as part of Islamic society and as a cross-religious pela gandong (kinship identity).
The Tial and Laha are part of Islamic Society
Qualitatively, this study is very important to explore and discuss why Muslim communities from the Tial and Laha villages were involved in cross-religious ritual at Immanuel Church. In both villages, Islam is the majority religion. The villages are located on Ambon Island, Moluccas, Indonesia.
Tial village is located on the western coast of the Moluccas Islands within the Leihitu District, between Tulehu village to the north, Suli village to the east, the coast of Tial village to the south, and Tengah-Tengah village to the west. Tial village is geographically strategic as well as in terms of coastal economic interests.
In 1978, Tial village was officially designated as a village. The government system of the Village Administration Agency takes the form of “pamarentah dan soa.” In Law S.1824-19a, “pamarentah” is referred to as “regent” to equate it with subdistricts or village heads in Java. With the existence of this law, Tial village uses the government system of “saniri-negeri (traditional institutions at the village level)”, which is common in the coastal and hillside areas. Most of the territory of Tial village is water, with a recorded land area of 26.12 km2.
The Tial village Muslim community is part of the “pela” (basudara-kinship) with the Muslim communities of the Laha, Tulehu, Asilulu, and Lamu Villages. It also shares “pela” with the Christian communities of the villages of Amahusu, Latuhalat, Paperu, Sila, and Leinitu. Pela aims to harmonize kinship identity (Kapferer, 2019; Toth, 2016; Wood, 2014) by maintaining ancestral values that have been passed down generationally.
The location and subject of the second follow-up study is the Muslim community of Laha village, which is a village in the Teluk Ambon subdistrict that includes six villages and two subdistricts: the villages of Laha, Tawiri, Hative Besar, and Rumah Tiga and the Wayame and Tihu subdistricts. Laha village is located at the end of Ambon Island Bay, separated by Tanjung Alang and Tanjung Nusaniwe, and lies between Seith Village in the north, Ambon Bay in the east and south, and Hatu Village in the west. Laha village is strategic geographically as well as in terms of coastal and tourism economic interests when compared to other villages and kelurahans in Teluk Ambon District.
Laha village is one of the villages on Ambon Island that was officially designated in 2008 as a traditional village. The government of Laha village is organized as “saniri negeri”, with management provisions based on the interests of the community. The village system regulates government administration, led by the village head and assisted by other traditional institutions in carrying out governmental tasks. His government not only regulates customary affairs but also the administration of all the benefits of the people living in the coastal areas and hills. Most of the territory of Laha village is water, with a recorded land area of 17.00 km2.
Laha village has a form and pattern of government called “rumatau and soa”, which is similar to that of Tial. The form and pattern of “rumatau” are the clans of Hehuat, Laturua, Mewar I, Mewal, and Mewar 2. The “soa”, as a customary consultative body, has fourteen members, with five “soa”, including soa Hehuat as the customary head, soa Mewar 1 as the king, and soa Mewar 2 as the priest. There are four soa as part of the ritual, having been part of the rumatau or originating cross-generationally. Soa heads are elected from certain clans as heads of government.
Activities of daily life as part of Islamic society are guided by the treatment of civic pluralism. The symbol of cross-religious peace is “basudara samua” (we are all brothers) (Ridwan et al., 2020), which shows kinship relations and models acceptance, such as the values of “masohi-mutual cooperation”, as a form of cross-religious community collaboration and cooperation. This cross-religious acceptance creates harmony with mutual tolerance and respect for differences in religious beliefs and places of worship. For example, on religious holidays, members of society guard one another's houses of worship, such as mosques or churches; respect cross-religious events; visit one another and offer holiday greetings; are involved in participating in MTQ-Church Pesparawi; and help with the construction of houses of worship. All of these activities aim to realize cross-religious harmonization as an awareness of building togetherness through kinship (Toth, 2016).
The acceptance of harmonious cross-religious life is essentially a mutual acceptance of different religious beliefs through civic pluralism (Eck, 2007) as long as they do not interfere with one another. With the form and pattern of Amalahat cross-religious relations, especially in Muslim communities, there are opportunities for religious accommodation and avoiding the tensions of daily cross-religious life.
The Muslim Communities are part of the Pela Gandong Cross-Religious Identity
The Muslim communities of the Tial and Laha villages are part of the pela gandong cross-religious identity, which includes differences in religious understanding that are manifested in pluralistic life (Coward, 1985). Pluralism is the acceptance of differences (Coward, 1985) when entering into a social contract that allows religious communities to live together peacefully (Eck, 2007).
Pela gandong is a cross-religious identity (Sulaeman et. al., 2022). Cross-religious pela gandong involves “panas pela” (oath taking), and the last panas pela ritual procession is “eating patita” (eating together) with traditional Moluccas specialties. Shared meals are a symbol of the identity of “unity and togetherness” without distinguishing between religions. Pela gandong values have become a religious and social identity (Kapferer, 2019; Wood, 2014) that represents an effort to build civic pluralism (Eck, 2007) by accepting different beliefs—in other words, theological pluralism (Coward, 1985)—to live together peacefully. The power of identity (Kapferer, 2019; Wood, 2014) unites and gives value to theological pluralism.
The idea of cross-religious identity through agreements and kinship ties (Toth, 2016) may arise due to a certain event. Examples may include the following: (1) helping one another during a natural disaster or war; (2) cross-religious villages providing mutual assistance, whether requested or not, such as building houses of worship; (3) when visiting other communities, the communities visited are obligated to provide food to guests; for example, if you bring home the harvest you do not need to ask the visited community for permission for a guest; (4) for the cross-religious communities attached to pela gandong, it is not allowed to marry within the community. The four values of agreement and kinship ties (Toth, 2016) constitute civic pluralism (Eck, 2007) as a social contract that is considered a cross-religious identity whose adherents must live together, help each other, and practice tolerance, mutual cooperation, and togetherness.
The practice and principle of cross-religious kinship has entered a deep mental dimension. The bond of kinship (Toth, 2016) developed from the practice of pela gandong is considered to be deeper than the bond between siblings. Cross-religious kinship upholds the value of “panas pela” through rituals in the agreement process, such as cross-religious action, support, and eating patita together with taking the pela oath. The goal is to remind communities that their involvement in the practice of “panas pela” is a collective responsibility that is bound by agreement to realize harmony.
Cross-religious kinship supports the beliefs and values of pela gandong and becomes an early warning medium about internal conflicts (Bigger, 2009; Turner 1962,1969) among religions and cross-religious identity as a kinship process (Herman, 2015). For example, cross-religion kinship has a bond (Toth, 2016) that implies that one’s belief system is a symbol of self-identity (Kapferer, 2019). First, kinship is designed to encourage members to care for one another, share, be responsible, and enjoy togetherness. The second element is embracing diversity as self-identity relationships to understand theological pluralism (Coward, 1985); diversity is accepted, and community members do not offend or insult one another. Third is adhering to the idea of “equality” with the same sense of self-identity (Kapferer, 2019). The fourth is acceptance as a process of “togetherness”, which describes “human values”. Togetherness is realized through cooperation and the openness of searching for different religions in forming a social contract to create peace.
The Muslim community is part of the cross-religious pela gandong, which has kinship ties (Toth, 2016) with the Christian community as an identity (Kapferer, 2019; Wood, 2014) through the beliefs and values of pela gandong based on the accumulated stock of knowledge of kinship, diversity, equality, and togetherness. The study examines the frame of reference and field of experience for the Muslim community in the Tial and Laha villages regarding their way of life before involvement (Turner 1962,1969) in cross-religious ritual at Immanuel Church.
The Cross-Religious Panas Pela Ritual
The panas pela ritual (oath taking) cross-religious concerns aims to strengthen kindred relations (Toth, 2016) and establish the value of peace as a shared value. The panas pela ritual (Chou, 2015; Geiger, 2019) values the maintenance of relationship ties as an ancestral heritage. Relations of mutual understanding have differences; supporting, respecting, appreciating, boasting to, and helping one another are social benefits, together with the ties of friendship.
For the Moluccas, panas pela ritual is an act of self-identity, and individuals diligently maintain oath taking. They consider obedience, hard work, and responsibility to be cross-religious obligations. They understand ritual not only from involvement but also from stories of the surrounding environment.
The panas pela ritual of cross-religious pela gandong is pluralism “unity in diversity” (Eck, 2007) in the Moluccas has miraculously remained intact as a cross-religious practice, accepting differences through the kinship ties, regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, language, religion, gender, generation, social or economic status. Religious pluralism as a bridge builder whose aim is not to eliminate the different cultural and religious worlds in which we live (Eck, 2007), but rather to connect cross-religious communities with the panas pela ritual.
The Cross-Religious Violence
The Moluccas violence that occurred on January 19, 1999, characterized by a very high level of violence and many casualties, reflects political identity dynamics and community polarization as a dissociative social process (Herman, 2015). The chronology of the violence is divided into several stages. The first was on January 19, 1999, when a fight broke out between a car driver and a thug at the car terminal in Batumerah village, Ambon City. The dispute (Herman, 2015) quickly escalated into cross-religious violence.
The second stage occurred on July 24, 1999. The violence started with a riot in Poka village, Ambon City, and spread throughout the city. The third violent stage began on December 26, 1999, when the Silo church and An-Nur Mosque were burned down in Ambon City. The Christian community’s Christmas celebration at that time coincided with “bloody Christmas,” which triggered conflict, violence, and terror as a tool of social control (Herman, 2015).
The last incident occurred on May 14, 2000. Laskar Jihad entered Moluccas. This event was considered an act of anarchy with actors from outside the Moluccas “participating” in the violent. The entry of Laskar Jihad into the Moluccas, led by Ja’far Umar Thalib with approximately 10,000 people as troops, resulted in an imbalance of cross-religious power in the Moluccas.
The relationship ties show the community that their ancestors built with a worldview. Relationship ties become the identity of unity, openness, and courage and result in a shared family responsibility. Kinship will form a self-personality. It consists of having a picture of one's life formed by two life principles, “sagu salempeng mar bage dua” (sago one divided by two). The principle of life means caring for each other, sharing, being responsible, and enjoying together. One person’s misery is everyone’s trouble and must be borne together based on the relational life. Thus, the togetherness–kinship worldview helps everyone in the community help and respect one other.
Cross-Religious Ritual at Immanuel Church
As a concept, ritual provides an understanding of theological (Coward, 1985) and civic pluralism (Eck, 2007) through cross-religious social interactions (Toulson, 2012), which are classified into traditional (Dandirwalu & Qodim, 2021) and religious rituals. Traditional rituals are based on involvement through cross-religious ritual. Ritual performance (Bigger, 2009; Middleton, 1969; Knowlton, 2015; Turner 1962,1969) is one of the functions of fulfilling self-identity (Kapferer, 2019; Wood, 2014) as situational kinship—pela gandong—which is performed through the tambourine–totobuang collaboration, gandong cloth, lesso dancing, and eating patita. Religious rituals include adzan and lafadz Rawi barzanji.
Tambourine–totobuang collaboration
The tambourine–totobuang collaboration is embraced by the cross-religious community as a form of identity (Fig. 1). Tambourine–totobuang is understood as a bridge representing kinship. Tambourine is an artistic medium belonging to the membranophone group and is sourced from membranes or animal skins. In tambourine, the art of Sholawatun means prayer or conveying a message of praise to the Prophet Muhammad Shallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Totobuang, a nonverbal ritual instrument that is hit or beaten, has a special tone and is shaped like a Javanese gamelan artistic instrument. Totobuang has a shape similar to a small gong (mata pela) and is arranged in several sizes with different tones. Totobuang includes ceremonial artistic rituals for including guests, such as for the ritual of cross-religious worship by the basudara people of pela gandong.
The attitude of the cross-religious community about playing the tambourine-totobuang demonstrates the identity of kinship with the values of belief and compliance as shown by the involvement in cross-religious rituals at Immanuel Church in collaboration with the traditional arts. Participants’ involvement is an awareness-raising effort to realize the harmonization of kinship through tambourine-totobuang collaboration. Cross-religious collaboration through playing the tambourine-totobuang involves a group of Amalahat children who have different religious beliefs but can be united by displaying verbal and nonverbal communication through traditional communication media, allowing them to spread information on the values of the basudara people’s life traditions.
The tambourine–totobuang virtual identity collaboration is displayed in cross-religious ritual both outside and within the church grounds (Fig. 2). The tambourine–totobuang collaboration in ritual involvement by cross-religious communities is a symbol of identity. The symbolization of the mixing of ritual identities is displayed by the incorporation of cross-religious songs.
Gandong cloth
Gandong cloth is a white cloth whose exact size is uncertain but usually ranges between 25 and 50 meters long and between 2 and 2.5 meters wide. The tambourinewas played by the Muslim community and the Christian community beat the totobuang during the procession accompanying the invited guests and the gandong cloth up the steps to the entrance of the Immanuel Church building. The gandong cloth is held in the shape of the letter “U” by married cross-religious women (Fig. 3), who sang the “gandong” song. The gandong symbolizes the lineage of harmonious kinship, representing a mother who gives life and unites kinship identity.
The gandong cloth is a cross-religious identity involving experience and knowledge based on intrapersonal emotional psychology. Emotions arise with the inability to hold back nonverbally, resulting in “crying” and “hugging” when participants hear the gandong song. This song simultaneously involves the tambourine-totobuang collaboration in the procession of the involved participants toward the entrance of the Immanuel Church building. Intrapersonal nonverbal messages of “crying” were interpreted by participants as recalling the “past” and its disputes that led to conflicts from 1999-2003: “I was moved to tears listening to the song gandong eee. Remember in the past, you cannot be together with the pela gandong (Kristiani) brothers. I feel the emotion in my heart, do not repeat the conflict again” (Informant 18, personal interview, December 11, 2021). The nonverbal message of hugging while embracing interpersonally was interpreted as an expression of “longing” between brother and sister as a bond of kinship.
The gandong cloth serves as a marker of identity to help and protect one another by referring to the values of living together. The first is the value of brotherhood. The gandong cloth forms cross-religious brothers and sisters. Holding and being wrapped in the gandong cloth will offer participants a sense of peace through kinship bonds. The second is the value of equality. The gandong cloth is proof of the existence of women, who are given the opportunity to present their identity in the public sphere as agents of peace by uniting across religions. The third is the value of peace. The gandong cloth can unite any differences through a social contract that allows cross-religious people to live together peacefully.
Lesso dancing
Lesso dancing is an art that uses left-right hand movements and nonverbal limb movements to convey rhythmically patterned expressions with the aim of expressing emotion through hand movements and attitudes. Lesso dancing conveys a message of kinship that unites identities. It is performed by cross-religious girls in groups of between 6-9 people and has a gentle appearance to convey politeness, respect and sincerity in accepting participants through cross-religious ritual involvement (Fig. 4).
Lesso dancing uses two red and white handkerchiefs, symbolizing the identity of “friendship” without distinguishing between civic pluralism (Eck, 2007) and harmonious union. Lesso dancing accompanies the tambourine-totobuang collaboration in the procession to welcome the participants in the cross-religious ritual to enter and sit inside the Immanuel Church building. The dancers' expressions show gentle nonverbal communication.
In the context of cross-religious women's collaboration, it is clear that lesso dance collaborations are understood not only as bridges connecting religions but also as indicating awareness of the need to welcome invited guests as a representation of acceptance of religious differences, allowing communities to maintain the values of friendship and strengthen the harmonious relationship between self-identity and diversity.
Eating patita
Eating patita is a traditional ritual communication medium. The eating patita ritual involves traditional Moluccas specialties, such as kasbi (cassava), kohu (Moluccas urap), fried fish, grilled fish, fish gravy, boiled bananas, papeda, colo-colo, vegetables, and other types of traditional dishes. These foods are served as shared meals to symbolize the identity of “unity and togetherness” without distinguishing between religions in the context of civic pluralism (Eck, 2007). The symbol of eating patita is used as a symbol of cross-religious kinship identity.
Cross-religious communities eat patita at Immanuel Church as an act of bakudapa (encounter) to welcome the first advent celebration. Eating patita signifies the nonverbal message of “brotherhood” and eliminates kinship disputes to promote the spirit of coexistence (Fig. 5).
The identification of kinship relations will give meaning to the message of “brotherhood, friendship, deliberation, mutual cooperation, and tolerance”. By eating patita, the members of the cross-religious community strive for “togetherness and solidarity” as a manifestation of harmony in their lives. They interact and carry out the social contract that allows cross-religious people to live together peacefully. Harmonious cross-religious coexistence requires raw intensity to strengthen the social resilience of self-identity as a buffer for a peaceful life.
In the procession of eating patita, betel represents a symbol of the bond of kinship and encouraging the spirit of coexistence. Eating patita at Immanuel Church through cross-religious rituals is a symbol of situational identity that identifies kinship and togetherness relationships. Eating patita strives for "togetherness and solidarity" across religions as a manifestation of harmony in social interaction and communication. Harmony living side by side requires intense bakudapa to strengthen the social resilience of self-identity as life support for harmony.
Religious rituals such as chanting of the call to prayer and lafadz Rawi barzanji also present various symbols of Islam at Immanuel Church.
The chanting of the call to prayer
The chanting of the call to prayer is a symbol of Islam and represents not only a marker of the time for performing the fardlu prayer but also a way for the social reality to be heard by newborns and is used during the burial process for Muslim bodies. The identity of the Muslim community, including the sound of the chanting of the call to prayer, is represented through the performance of fardlu prayer.
The chanting of the call to prayer at Immanuel Church through cross-religious rituals is no different from the activities of other Islamic societies. However, what distinguishes the Muslim community's self-involvement is the tendency of exclusivity and the situational setting, in which—in this case—the call to prayer is heard from the church altar (Fig. 6).
The ritual begins with greetings, such as Islamic members of society greeting other Muslims by saying, “Assalamu Alaikum Waramatullahi Wabarakatu”. Then, the participants (Muslim-Christian) in the Church answer “Waalaikumsalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh”. Continuing, the statement “peace be upon you for basudara gandong samua” is made. As the chanting of the call to prayer reverberates, it can also be heard at the altar of the Church: “Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar, Asyhadu alla ilaha illallah, Asyhadu anna Muhammadar Rasulullah, Hayya ‘alash shalah, Hayya ‘alal falah, Allahu Akbar Allahu Akbar, La ilaha illallah”.
The subjective experience of the chanting of the call to prayer at the church altar is situational, with some of the Christian community participants in the church building listening to the call for individuals to take action toward victory. In their involvement in “worship of the basudara”, some of the Christian community watched with reverence and others left their seats, instead standing in the church areas.
The chanting of the call to prayer is a ritual medium to show the identity of Islamic society by mentioning the greatness of God, calling people to prayer, and calling the community to victory. The chanting of the call to prayer is not only a symbol of prayer but also the strengthening of cross-religious kinship in the context of civic pluralism (Eck, 2007).
Lafadz Rawi barzanji
Lafadz Rawi barzanji is ritual worship of the history of the Prophet Muhammad.In a cross-religious ritual, the lafadz Rawi barzanji is heard from the altar of Immanuel Church. Saying Rawi barzanji represents a situational identity through which some of the Christian community manifest acceptance and acknowledgment of the Muslim community’s religious identity (Fig. 7).
Setting the place and “worship of the basudara” by lafadz Rawi barzanji as a symbol of identity represents the acceptance of religious differences through the context of civil pluralism to “release the barriers that have made Muslim-Christians not brave” (Informant 07, personal interview, Februari 13, 2022) and helps maintain the values of brotherhood to strengthen the harmonious relationship of interreligious identity. Lafadz Rawi barzanji is performed to communicate the message of God that was brought by the Prophet Muhammad to all humans on this earth.
Motives for Cross-Religious Ritual Involvement
Human actions usually have a motive (Sulaeman, Malawat & Darma, 2019). Participating in rituals is an action for Muslim communities that serves the purpose of creating a social contract that enables religious communities to live together peacefully, which is motivated bby the drive to avoid conflict. The act of involvement, explained by certain motives, encourages Muslim communities (Sulaeman & Sulastri, 2017; Sulaeman, Kamaruzzaman & Malawat, 2020). Through this connection, the Muslim community gave diverse responses, reasons, and motives for involvement. The motives that encouraged the Muslim community, with its members from diverse backgrounds, to get involved in rituals at Immanuel Church are shown in Table 1.
Table 1 The motive for cross-religious ritual involvement at Immanuel Church
|
No.
|
Motives
|
Characteristics
|
Category
|
|
1.
|
Involvement ignorance
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Go along through receiving indirect verbal information
|
Motive reason
|
|
2.
|
Entrapment
|
Changes are not in accordance with the written invitation
|
Motive reason
|
|
3.
|
Meeting relationship
|
Preliminary planning of self-identity before the ritual at Immanuel Church
|
Motive reason
|
|
4.
|
Acceptance of diversity
|
The performance of cross-religious acceptance by respecting and appreciating kinship
|
Motive reason
|
|
5.
|
Self-identity proof
|
Enhancing cross-religious relations by understanding one another’s differences through strengthening kinship relations
|
Motive purpose
|
|
6.
|
Human kinship
|
Relationship goals of togetherness without any differences, showing acceptance and recognition of different beliefs
|
Motive purpose
|
|
7.
|
Social-community concern
|
Achieving a relationship of civil pluralism by understanding the differences of theological pluralism to help one another
|
Motive purpose
|
Source: Field observations and interviews
Involvement ignorance
One reason given for involvement in performing cross-religious rituals was “ignorance” (Prothero, 2007) about participating at Immanuel Church. The involvement of these participants is likened to “recipients of information”, allowing them to construct a direct kinship relationship in an empathetic way with the Christian community. Empathy is raised through cross-religious closeness as an identity (Toth, 2016) that has unique advantages and offers mutual care: “I always come when pela is holding an event. My friends say, I am patient and empathetic to feel that you are of a different religion. I care about them” (Informant 13, personal interview, December 06, 2021). Participants respect one another in kinship.
Entrapment
Entrapment was given as a reason for encouragement to engage in cross-religious rituals (Irta et al., 2022). This urging exerts a very strong influence on the identity and psychology of the Muslim community because it is highly emotional. Participants noted that their psychology of self was disturbed by their involvement in “bakudapa” (cross-religious meetings) at Immanuel Church.
The impetus for involvement was a communication—viewed as an entrapment—by the ritual executive committee (members of the Immanuel Church congregation) inviting them to participate in “worship of the basudara” with the addition of chanting the call to prayer and lafadz Rawi barzanji. The invitation was carried out by the executive committee through cellular media communication before participants’ involvement at Immanuel Church.
Early in the morning, three buses from the Moluccas local government came to the village to pick up the community to be taken to Amahusu. I myself took a separate car from the community. Halfway in front of Pandam Pattimura Ambon on Air Salobar before arriving at Amahusu, I got a call from the chief executive, like this, the words “hello father gandong eee, if this is possible, this activity involves chanting the call to prayer from the land of Tial, continue to promise from the land of Laha,” I did not answer the committee again until I finished calling. (Informant 05, personal interview, November 14, 2021)
Changes and additions to the ritual agenda, which included the chanting of the call to prayer and lafadz Rawi barzanji, were not in accordance with the written invitation agenda. The agenda was distributed by the executive committee to indicate a cross-religious “worship of the basudara”. On the ritual agenda, there was only the opening ritual, welcome greeting, worship of the basudara, welcome, thank you, and closing. The invitation stated that there was a ritual of “worship of the basudara”, but the nature of this ritual was not explained. Thus, these changes and additions to rituals were categorized as entrapment by the implementing committee.
Another situational entrapment change was identified as the incorporation of the cross-religious gandong cloth and lesso dancing. The participants’ involvement caused annoyance with themselves due to the psychological disturbance caused by the accompaniment of the gandong cloth. Involvement with the traps such as lesso dancing resulted in these participants entering and sitting in Immanuel Church with a feeling of self-shame. Their involvement is likened to the “inconvenience of diversity” with the acceptance of “worship of the basudara” as indicating an unhealthy relationship. This categorization of involvement as a coercion of participants brings to the fore the potential discomfort of performing the acceptance of kinship. This action has a psychologically debilitating impact on the Muslim community.
Meeting relationship
Ritual involvement is a cross-religious relationship that involves meeting one another; it is a relationship of attaining common goals by accepting differences (Coward, 1985), and there is no difference within a social context (Eck, 2007) to strengthen kinship. The relationships represent the values of traditional life and of social institutions and community concerns (Chou & Soe-Tsyr, 2015). The ancestors tried to build a relationship in which there were no differences (Coward, 1985) in a social context (Eck, 2007), thereby realizing the convenience of diversity and harmonious relationships.
The cross-religious ritual on December 2, 2018, at Immanuel Church was preceded by a cross-religious meeting that involved visiting one another to strengthen relations through cross-religious ritual planning. In October 2018, Amahusu village invited the Hatalai, Tial, and Laha villages to a meeting at Immanuel Church.
In October 2018, we Amalahat received an invitation from Amahusu village to come to church to talk about the relationship between pela brothers and not gandong. Pela is a sibling relationship, not a blood relationship. The pela relationship for our ancestors helps us care for one another through the ties of sibling relations, we all have ties of kinship between different religions from our ancestors based on matarumah matitaputih. (Informant 09, personal interview, November 26, 2021)
The next meeting was November 2018. The Christian community members of the Amahusu and Hatalai villages visited the Muslim community members in the Tial and Laha villages. These visits had a common goal to strengthen brotherly relations and build peace to strengthen self-identity cross-religious relationships (Kapferer, 2019; Wood, 2014). The relationship was achieved through the meeting, which was held prior to participants’ involvement in the ritual and symbolized the agreement to carry out cross-religious rituals at Immanuel Church. Then, on the night of December 1, 2018, a cellular digital media meeting was held to ask about the willingness of the Muslim community to be involved.
Acceptance of diversity
Acceptance of diversity (Broad, 2013) was a reason for some participants’ involvement. This relationship has the common goal of mutual respect and respect for differences in beliefs and acceptance without differences in a social context (Eck, 2007).
We are all born different. Differences are used as the identity for all of us to understand each other's religious differences. (Informant 13, personal interview, May 11, 2022)
We all have to want to learn to understand each other, and there are differences. Learn to respect each other, learn to love each other, and not only that but also learn to be proud of each other. The Tial people should be proud of their Amahusu people, the Laha people should be proud of their Hatalai people, and vice versa. The Salam people must agree that they are proud of their fellow Sarane people. The Sarane people should be proud of their Salam brothers and sisters. This will guarantee the brothers and sisters of Salam-Sarane. Hopefully, Salam-Sarane will further strengthen the true bond of brotherhood relations. (Informant 17, personal interview, July 05, 2022)
What you feel, I also feel, where difficulty and happiness are shared together. Let us not fight because we are of different religions. Promise each other to always live in peace. It is better to live as brothers. (Informant 19, personal interview, April 24, 2022)
Participants’ involvement indicates their acceptance of diversity to realize a peaceful, harmonious life with one another—a life that values healthy humility rather than hating and insulting one another. This attitude embodies the harmonization between the acceptance and the practice of religion. Acceptance of diversity by itself constructs human values (Broad, 2013); of course, kinship provides additional benefits and does not promote disharmony in the relationship.
Self-identity proof
Involvement in performing cross-religious rituals was a form of self-identity proof (Alhassan & Ridwan, 2021; Goitom, 2016) thatthe driving force behind the action was situational involvement. For one participant, his involvement with the invitation to participate in “worship of the basudara” was characterized as ignorance, because he only received a verbal message to perform a social ritual—a way to consider community concerns as self-identity proof (Goitom, 2016) through the context of civic pluralism (Eck, 2007). Through self-identity, the existence of different religions is internalized in action, thus building peace and strengthening kinship relations.
When I came to Amahusu, I was greeted with joy. He said, pela gandong is self-identity as evidence of different religions. You have to come here, you have to join the activities. At that time, I often participated in the heat of pela of different religions, but I did not have enough and ate patita together. With the frequent use of the bakudapa coupled with seeing the panas pela event firsthand, I thought, oh yes, the worship of the basudara (are all brothers) is like a panas pela event with bakudapa (meeting) and eating patita (eating together). Therefore, the activities are the same, so that they can live in peace and strengthen relations as brothers. (Informant 03, personal interview, January 11, 2022)
This participant’s involvement offers several advantages, one of which is allowing a medium of communication “ale rasa beta rasa” (feeling for each other—empathy). Such empathy is reflected in the attitudes and actions of cross-religious people who establish kinship between different religions by empathizing with their fellow individuals. Cross-religious empathy for fellow community members as a proof of identity is, of course, not a guarantee that cross-religious participation will avoid differences and disputes. However, such actions do, at least, become a source for early warning so that conflict does not spread, especially in a cross-religious relationship. Such involvement reflects the acceptance of kinship relations with awareness to build equality, which aims to foster a sense of brotherhood and emotion. The acceptance of harmony—essentially, the acknowledgment of the existence of one's identity within a tradition—is valued as long as it does not interfere with others, especially in the context of cross-religious relations.
Human kinship
Some participants were involved in cross-religious rituals with the aim of encouraging human kinship (Bardhan, 2014; Starkman, 2013). Although it was not disclosed openly, such social reality that appears repeatedly: “If it were not for the relationship between brothers and sisters of different religions, I would not necessarily have gone to Amahusu” (Informant 18, personal interview, January 23, 2022). The acknowledgment of the involvement in cross-religious rituals was conveyed; over time, the purpose of kinship ties could be felt together.
Such involvement was initially understood as participating in a bakudapa ritual at Immanuel Church as a typical experience to strengthen the relationship of diversity (Toth, 2016). Such involvement is defined as embracing the “brotherhood” of humanity by respecting one another's kinship ties without any differences (Coward, 1985), except for acknowledging and accepting different beliefs.
I live to respect one another, there is no difference, accepting each other, acknowledging differences in beliefs. Finally, I went to Immanuel Church. However, at first I did not know it was like that. (Informant 17, personal interview, November 19, 2021)
The meaning of human kinship (Bardhan, 2014; Starkman, 2013) is not merely a kinship relationship but one constructed on the basis of the values of justice, good treatment, compassion, and peace. Even people concerned by the identity of individuals of other religions must humanize their fellow community members by living together with an attitude of opening up and establishing brotherly relationships to avoid conflicts and/or disputes, thus harmonizing their coexistence. Human brotherhood, side by side, raises human awareness about the need for kinship relations to construct harmony and peace, even when there are different religions and there is already a bond of kinship.
Social-community concern
Cross-religious kinship ties (Toth, 2016) through using the “worship of the basudara” as the theme of cross-religious rituals. Cross-religious rituals are a form of religious action. The involvement of the participant quoted below aimed to achieve harmony by creating peace.
His involvement was driven by existing social–community concerns (Geiger, Swim & Glenna, 2019; Baeh & Gordon, 2012), such as promoting respect by maintaining relationship ties as an ancestral heritage. Relationships understand differences; mutual support for one another is the social benefit of kinship. Involvement was used to establish relationships by strengthening cross-religious kinship.
My involvement in the rituals at Immanuel Church is because of social-community concerns. I did not enter the church, only the courtyard outside the church building. I just joined friends who came out of church. I did not go into the church because I understood the ritual of social-community care, and it was done outside the church, not inside the church. I saw in front of the church there was a banner that said “worship of the basudara”. Its aim is to strengthen fraternity and discord, and strife is marginalized. That is the purpose of involvement in Immanuel Church. (Informant 11, personal interview, January 15, 2022)
This disclosure highlights goals that encourage involvement in rituals motivated by social–community concerns, such as the ritual of taking the oath of brotherhood and eating patita to establish relationships and strengthen brotherhood in an atmosphere of peace. With this goal in mind, the motivation of social-community concerns becomes an icon of nonverbal harmony, a kind of “peace gong” for kinship between different religions. Even social–community concerns are symbols of a unifying soul that does not demean, insult, hate, fear or embrace prejudice in relationships but instead creates social values (Salvatore, 2019) through kinship. The process that emerges with the bakudapa ritual by eating patita is situational in nature with the aim of establishing relationships and strengthening peace brotherhood as kinship of different religions.