Monday, July 12, 2010

Lebanon, the Middle East, Christianity, and the future

I always ask myself, what will the future of Lebanon, the Middle East, and it's minorities be like in the future. One topic that interests me the most, however, is the topic of Lebanese and Arab Christians. For those of you who don't know, Lebanon is the only Middle Eastern country that is democratic, along with Israel, and is the ONLY country that has a Christian (Maronite Catholic) as it's president (by law). This however, is threatened by Hezballah, Iran, and Syria daily. This makes me wonder, what will happen to Sunni Muslims, Christians, and other religious groups in Lebanon when we have a militia and Iranian backed organization like Hezballah with the amount of weapons, and power we see today? In the times of the Late Prime Minister Rafiq el Hariri, these groups were not threatened as they had someone with a power much stronger than that of Hezballah's. That power was equality. Fairness. Respect. Democracy. As we inch closer to the threat of a Shiite run government in Lebanon, one can only think about what will happen to these groups. Will they be safe? Will they have the ability to live as they once did, practicing their faiths freely without the fear and persecution we now see in Iran. Today, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani provides us with an example of what will become of us under Hezballah and Iran. Will we one day sit in a court that convicts us on a basis of assumptions, lies and extremism? Will we too one day be stoned to death? Lashed 90 times? Will we not live democratically, and freely, with no worries of leaving our homes? Will we fight senseless wars for the sake of the Shiite Mahdi Iran and Hezballah clearly and desperately anticipate? Coming from an Arab Muslim, who has friends of Jewish and Christian faiths, who does not differentiate between the Christian cross and the Muslim crescent I pray that we will never reach a time where we will be faced with the decision of leaving the Middle East for good because the only sanctuary of peace and love in the region called Lebanon is gone. Pray that images, like the one above, showing freedom and love and coexistence never be lost from us... do you guys disagree?
Posted by TheRealLebanon at 4:35 AM

3 comments:

  1. Lebanese ChristianJuly 12, 2010 at 4:43 AM

    WOW. what an fine piece of writing. GOD BLESS YOU.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JackShadiJuly 12, 2010 at 7:11 PM

    Do you really think it is possible for Hezballah to really take over Lebanon and the Middle East? I'm not challenging your thoughts, I'm just very curious on this topic because I don't have much information on it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TheRealLebanonJuly 12, 2010 at 7:22 PM

    Hey JackShadi! Great to hear from you again. Okayy, I personally believe Hezballah to be the strongest militia and group to be present in all of the middle east today. Lebanon is considered one of the most important strategic points in the middle east. We cannot deny they have power and control in Lebanon, because we see it every day. I think they are slowly working their way up to ultimate power. Did you know, Shiites (the main and only religious group of Hezballah) used to be a minority. In 1980 their Ayotallah's passed a fatwa, or religious law, urging Shiites to have more children in their families, and so they did. they went from a minority group to the largest religious group in the country (although Lebanese catholics make up the majority of Lebanese on an international level). The scary thing is, is that shiites, unlike Sunnis, take everything said from an Ayatollah to be literal and that they "have to do it". Thats a scary thing. If their Ayotallahs declared a war or revolution....they all would do it. I am NOT an anti-Shiite, I'm an anti Hezballah and Iran, form a political perspective. so keep in mind if they declared a revolution and took over this strategic point in the middle east we know as Lebanon, they will have A LOT of control in the region.

    ReplyDelete

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