Church Sasi: beyond Religion Boundaries Study of Religious Anthropology

Abstract

This paper discusses the understanding of Christian and Muslim communities about the Church Sasi in the Protestant Church of Maluku (GPM), Maneoratu Congregation, which is actualized in their daily lives. The Church Sasi can be used as a means of encountering Christian and Muslim communities to solve their common problem like internal conflicts between people from the same and different faiths, resulting from the corps stealing behavior. The church sasi is done every the third week of the month, followed by both Christian and Muslim communities. Based on the results of research conducted in Negeri Maneoratu, for 1 month, it was found that first, Sasi Church is a sacred ritual for Christian and Muslim communities, as those in Negeri Maneoratu are actually afraid to violate it. They believe that by doing so they will get punishment from Allah. The impact is the loss of internal conflict. Second, church sasi serves as a reconsolidation and reconciliation media by Christian and Muslim communities, so they are not easily influence by issues that can trigger a conflict. The impact is ongoing peace. And third, Christian and Muslim communities can enjoy good harvests, as they have changed their behavior. Another impact is that shared prosperity can be realized. The research was conducted by using the Anthropology of Religion, with qualitative method as a medium to obtain data in order to answer the problems studied, with Negeri Maneoratu, Telutih District, Central Maluku Regency serves as research site. Keywords—sasi, church, reconsoliation, reconciliation, peace.