This article explores the communication patterns of Muslim communities after their involvement in the pela gandong ritual in Moluccas, Indonesia. The authors used a phenomenological approach to qualitatively investigate the subjective experiences and identity transformations of the Muslim community. They found that after involvement, the Muslim community faced psychological challenges in their intrapersonal and interpersonal communication, including with family, community, cross-religious contacts, religious organizations, and government. The study contributes to understanding the acceptance of different religious contexts and the application of religious values and local traditions in daily social contexts. The authors argue that strengthening acceptance and overcoming disharmony is crucial for building kinship bonds and social identity in the digital era.

1.     The study explores the communication patterns of Muslim communities after their involvement in the pela gandong ritual in Moluccas, Indonesia.

2.     The authors used a phenomenological approach to investigate the subjective experiences and identity transformations of the Muslim community.

3.     After involvement, the Muslim community faced psychological challenges in their intrapersonal and interpersonal communication, including with family, community, cross-religious contacts, religious organizations, and government.

4.     The study contributes to understanding the acceptance of different religious contexts and the application of religious values and local traditions in daily social contexts.

5.     Strengthening acceptance and overcoming disharmony is crucial for building kinship bonds and social identity in the digital era.

Based on this research, the communication pattern used by Muslim communities is verbal and nonverbal, consisting of categories related to spiritual communication, family communication, community communication, cross-religious communication, religious organizational communication, and government communication. This category is used as a way to communicate intrapersonally and interpersonally after ritual involvement as a search for religious meaning that makes it possible to live together peacefully and has proven successful in conveying a message of apology through the “bakudapa” ritual.

Through the pela gandong, cross-religious people will feel obligated to help each other. If Christians have a need, for example, to build a church, then Muslims will definitely help, and vice versa, if they are building mosques, Christians are involved in helping. Cross-religious communities can unite and strengthen kinship ties. However, the pela gandong is a communication medium providing early warning information so that the conflict does not escalate.

In the theological aspect, cross-religious recognizes religious differences. However, on the social aspect, cross-religious maintains kinship ties. So that the pela gandong ritual does not happen again in the future, a Fatwa from the Moluccas Indonesian Ulema Council is needed.

The pela gandong ritual at the Immanuel Church is proof of the Moluccas’ implementation as a cross-religious peace laboratory that has been declared by the Muslim-Christian community. The peace laboratory was built using the local wisdom values of the Moluccas people to strengthen brotherly relations and build peace to strengthen intercommunity and cross-religious relations in the Moluccas.