Christianity in Lebanon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christianity in Lebanon has a long history and has been closely connected with many recent conflicts in that country.

Contents 1 History 2 Demographics 3 Churches and monasteries in Lebanon 4 Current Political and Religious Issues

[edit] History

Christianity came to the territory of the present day Lebanon with the early Christians in the first century.

[edit] Demographics

See also: Demographics of Lebanon

The number of Christians in Lebanon has been disputed for many years. There has been no official census in Lebanon since 1932. Many argue over the percentage and population of Christians in Lebanon. The most common estimate of Christianity in Lebanon is about 40-45%. It has the largest number of Christians of all the Arab nations.

Most Christians in Lebanon are Maronite, comprising about 23-25% of the current population. Maronites are the most politically active and influential of Lebanon's Christians. They are Catholic. The Antiochian Orthodox Church (Greek Orthodox) also forms a large portion of the Christian population in Lebanon. Other branches of Christianity, including the Greek Melkite Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic Church loyal to the Pope, are very common in Lebanon. The Latin Rite Roman Catholic Church, the Coptic Church, the Syrian Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox Church are also important Christian sects within Lebanon. These branches of Christianity are very influential in daily business and in the economy of Lebanon. In the Lebanese Parliament, the Christians hold 64 seats in tandem with 64 Muslim seats. The Maronite Catholic church hold 34 seats, the Orthodox 14, and the Armenian, Greek Catholic, and Protestant make up the remaining 22.

[edit] Churches and monasteries in Lebanon

The main main Orthodox Church, the Patriarchate of Antioch, is St. George Orthodox Cathedral, which is situated in the middle of Centerville in downtown Lebanon. The largest Maronite Church is the Diman in Bkerke, the seat of the Maronite Catholic Patriarchate. There are monasteries in Lebanon which run by both the Maronite and Orthodox Church. The Holy Monastery of Saint George in Deir El Harf, Saint John the Baptist Monastery in Douma, both date back to the 5th century. The Balamand Monastery in Tripoli is a very prominent monastery that has a seminary and a University associated with its monastery.

[edit] Current Political and Religious Issues

The Taif agreement helped establish a power sharing system between the Christian and Muslim Lebanese political parties [1]. The political and economic situation in Lebanon had improved greatly. Lebanon had rebuilt it's infrastructure. The current active hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel has threatened to deteriorate Lebanon's political and economic situation.although the taif has been considered by some that it would degrade the Christian role in Lebanon removing much of the president's role (wich is given to the maronites) and increasing the roles of the prime minister(a Sunni). the Political issue of the Christians in Lebanon is very critical since the country is surrounded by Islamic countries and the western countries (especially the US) have always supported the immigration of Christians as a solution to the Palestinian refugees that the palestinian community would take the place of the Christian community in lebanon,this project has long been resisted by the Christians, and some say this was the cause of the lebanese civil war, even today the US is supporting the futue parti (a party of sunnite majority) in a way to enhance the nationalization (altawtin) of the Palestinians also Sunnites.