A young couple in Lebanon after having the country’s civil marriage, has now had a child. He belongs to no Sect, has no defined religious affiliation at all. Sect has been, IMHO, the prime driver of violence in Lebanon.
I think that this is a great move but can we begin to hope that this is a step towards lasting peace in the ME? To me Lebanon is a starting point, get that mess fixed and move outward.
What’s to prevent him from declaring he’s a Shi’a or whatever when reaches the age of majority? If this is a step toward ME Peace, it’s like an amoeba moving one of its pseudopods about 1 Angstrom.
I’m not sure how easy it is to “fix” Lebanon, but I don’t think it has any particular influence in the ME. Not like Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Iran.
If we liken it to race, say a kid in the US has one black parents and one white parent. It’s not like the child will be universally accepted by everybody. It’s human nature to include exceptions in “other” than “one of us”.
The original couple were from different Sects one Shia and one Sunni, they declared themselves Sectless and managed to marry with the help of an official in the Gov’t instead of the usual process, going to Cyprus and hoping it gets recognized.
I wasn’t referring to this one couple, since if it’s only them, then it’s not a trend. I was saying that if one sect is less likely to do this than the others, then it will likely make matters worse, not better. I’m no expert on Lebanon, but I seem to remember that it’s the Shi’a who are the poorer demographic. If a bunch educated, upper class Christians and Sunni start some new, hip trend, but the Shi’a by and large don’t play along, then they “win”.
You know, I heard last week about a guy who votes Republican marrying a girl who votes Democrat. So I guess that solves that whole Obamacare issue, huh?