The study examines the involvement of Muslim communities in the ritual celebrations at the Immanuel Church in the Moluccas region of Indonesia on December 2, 2018. The cross-religious (Muslim-Christian) communities in the Moluccas have strong kinship ties that serve as a model for building harmonious relationships. The study uses a phenomenological approach to explore the subjective experiences and motives behind the Muslim communities' involvement in the Christian church ritual. The findings reveal that the involvement is rooted in the traditional "pela gandong" kinship values, which promote diversity, equality, and togetherness, allowing for peaceful coexistence through cross-religious civil pluralism.

1.     The Moluccas region in Indonesia has a pluralistic society with diverse ethnicities, religions, and cultures.

2.     The cross-religious (Muslim-Christian) communities are united by strong kinship ties, known as "pela gandong".

3.     The study uses a phenomenological approach to understand the subjective experiences and motives behind the Muslim communities' involvement in the Christian church ritual.

4.     Key motives for involvement include ignorance, entrapment, relationship building, acceptance of diversity, self-identity, kinship, and social-community concern.

5.     The involvement allows for the celebration of theological differences and promotes peaceful coexistence through cross-religious civil pluralism.

The study examined the motivations for members of the Muslim community to have been involved with Immanuel Church. Participants offered various reasons prior to their involvement as due to being part of Islamic society and explained what they experienced and how they experienced it from a phenomenological perspective.

Several findings explain that part of Islamic society is guided by civil pluralism with the symbol of cross-religious peace being “basudara samua”, which shows kinship relations that emphasize acceptance, such as the values of “masohi-mutual cooperation”. Such cross-religious acceptance creates harmony with mutual tolerance and respect for differences in religious beliefs and places of worship. Moreover, the Muslim community lives various social processes that embody kinship, diversity, equality, and togetherness based on human values that describe the identity of public pluralism.

Cross-religious involvement has its own meaning. Subjective experience described the meaning participants made of the tambourine–totobuang collaboration, gandong cloth, lesso dancing, the chanting of the call to prayer, and lafadz Rawi barazanji. The participants provided reasons for this involvement in cross-religious ritual based on ignorance, entrapment, human kinship, and acceptance of diversity. They also stated goals that encouraged their involvement in cross-religious ritual to achieve proof of self-identity, human kinship, and express social-community concern.

Cross-religious ritual participation emphasizes the subjective experience of the Muslim community with ignorance, traps, and the ritual of panas pela. The analysis of the phenomenological perspective shows the benefits of religious studies by influencing the cross-religious Amalahat. Cross-religious values build kinship ties through the search for religious meaning and enable peaceful coexistence. Cross-religious ritual enriches and develops social perspectives by strengthening the scientific foundation and roots of social science.