Sacralization of natural environment and the socio-religious conditions of the South Coast of Java

Abstract

This article concerns the sacredness of the natural environment and the socio-religious objects of coastal communities. It employs a sociological approach with the theory of functionalism-structural analysis by Robert K. Merton on the relationship between natural environmental conditions and people’s thinking patterns. It is supported by the Geographical and environmental schools, emphasizing that society responds to environmental conditions in thinking patterns, culture and life values. The heterogeneity of the south coastal environment forms a pattern of community religiosity with a cosmologicalanthropomorphic spiritualism value. It considers that the nature of south coast metaphysics is where mysterious, mystical and magical spirits reside. A famous myth legalizes this cosmological belief in Java about the superiority of the supernatural powers. This myth has a dual function, namely, a theological basis and a traditional instrument that protects the South Coast of Java’s ecological damage. The finding of this study also contributes to the field of Sociology of Religion concerning the wealth of the community’s spirituality embedded in people’s lives.