Lebanon - Religious Sects
Lebanon is a mosaic of various religious factions. There are Maronites, Chaldeans, and Greek, Syrian, and Armenian Catholics, all in communion with Rome, but following their own rituals. Other Christian sects include the Greek and Armenian Orthodox, Jacobites, Nestorians, and Protestants. Among the non-Christian elements are Jews, Druze, and Sunni and Shiite Moslems.
The National Constitution of 1926 recognized this religious framework by requiring the allocation of government jobs and appointments on a religious basis. An unwritten gentlemen's agreement, worked out by Christian and Moslem leaders in 1943 and referred to as the National Covenant, secured the organization of the government on this "confessional" basis. The traditional practices of selecting a Maronite president, a Sunni Moslem premier, and a Shiite speaker of parliament, as well as allocating parliamentary seats on the basis of the relative numerical strength of religious communities in each electorial district, are traceable to this agreement.
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