Lebanese Christians Attempt To Speak With One Voice

Lebanon’s most democratic sect wants to become more like its Muslim counterpart.

You can’t blame the Christian clergy for panicking. Now that the international press is syndicating articles with titles like “Christian Split in Lebanon Raises Specter of Civil War”, the guardians of the Maronite church are scrambling to save face for this once glorious and now beleaguered sect.

Very roughly, the problem with the Christians is the following: There is a cold war between the Sunnis and the Shias, but the regional stakes are too high for them to actually face off, so they do it via Christian proxies. In other words, the conspiracy buffs will tell you, the Christians have been divided to conquer each other. As a result, Sunnis and Shias will benefit to produce an nonthreatening President.

The above is not entirely imaginary. After all, it is Hariri (a Sunni) and Berri (a Shiaa), who are negotiating and trotting the globe to produce the next (Maronite) President. No one is really fooled by the “mandate” March14 Christians have given Mr. Hariri, and no one really believes that Aoun wants Berri to speak for him.

It is precisely that dynamic that gave momentum to Bkirki’s new initiative, which seeks to find common grounds for the Lebanese Christians. Both March14 and March8 Maronites have overlooked their differences and shown interest in reaching “something”, because both sides feel that they can change the rules of the game by speaking as one voice.

But is that a realistic outcome? And more importantly, is diversity really a disadvantage for the Christians? 

It is a shame that in the Lebanese political paradigm, the diversity that has produced such rich debate and creative ideas is considered a liability that should be fixed. In an ideal world, it is the Muslim Muftis who should have been busy spinning off their constituencies.