Strategi Komunitas Ugamo Bangso Batak Di Kota Medan Dalam Mempertahankan Identitas Agamanya

Discrimination, Identity crisis, Ugamo Bangso Batak

Abstrak

Ugamo Bangso Batak is one of the local religions that developed in North Sumatra and has existed for thousands of years before being marginalized by major world religions. Like other local religious communities, the Ugamo Bangso Batak is not recognized as a religion by the state because of its character which is not like the major world religions. During the 2001-2017 period, they experienced a number of problems up to an identity crisis. This research wants to show the problems they face in maintaining their religious identity, and their strategy in dealing with it. Data were collected through observation, documentation, and interviews and then analyzed descriptively. The results show that: First, they still face three problems, namely; (1) Bullying of their children among schoolmates; (2) Antipathy from residents around their environment; and (3) Discrimination on citizenship rights. Second, to overcome them they carried out four main strategies; (1) Strengthen the sense of internal solidarity; (2) Building a network of cooperation with other belief communities as an advocacy step to obtain legal protection through the 2017 administrative law decision; (3) Living their values and traditions in everyday life; and (4) pass on their knowledge of history, tradition and theology to their children.