Fear and Trembling

I believe in the total separation of religion and state and I believe first and foremost in humanity. Being a believer, an unbeliever or an agnostic is something very personal that should not regulate our reltionship with others or our respect of their religious convictions.

For a great many Lebanese who identify themselves as Christians in Lebanon it is either let us emigrate or let us “confederate”. For the other Lebanese who identify themselves as Shiites and Sunnis it is a contest of who is the largest sect and who will take power.

Leaders like Samir Geagea, Michel Aoun, Hassan Nasrallah, Walid Jumblat and Saad Hariri embody the desperation of the majority of our secterian population.

As an example, secterian Christians once loved Geagea for his idea of a Lebanese confederation but now they are not sure anymore because of his alliance with “the Sunnis and the Druze” and for his soft talk about a united Lebanon.

Those who identify themselves as Christians today love Aoun today for his aggressive ways. They feel that he is their will to power. He is saving them from 15 years of feeble and limited participation. He is their way to safety – to a confederation where they will not fear and they will not tremble.

Not that I feel sorry for Samir Geagea, after all he is a guilty murderer and a convict that will slowly but surely regress into his previous monstrous self and become a "Christian hero" once again.
His little bold head and his thin moustache have been popping up on LBC and Future for the last several weeks.
A criminal giving us moral lessons and political theories, Geagea sits comfortably in his heated Chalet in one of the most beautiful parts of our country, the Cedars, and wants to impose a new order on Lebanon.

As for Aoun, his talk of being non-sectarian is a sham. He wants to impose himself as "the leader of the Maronites" and if all else fails than confederation is not a bad idea, as one of his MPs said.

Geagea and Aoun are the products of a deep conviction among the secterian Christians that they have a different culture from their Muslim brothers, when in fact Lebanese moderates accidentally born into any sect are as close culturally as Muslim fanatics and racist secterian Christians are.

Political leaders use religious identity to boost their popularity and it works every time because the Lebanese love it.
Today every sectarian and religious identity is embodied in a leader but unfortunately they are all highly strung and they all serve a lofty purpose that contradicts the interest of 4 million Lebanese.

Moderates, intelligent and cultured politicians like Nassib Lahoud, Selim El Hoss, Hussein Al Husseini and Habib Sadek are not accepted. The people want Aoun and Geagea, Nasrallah and Berri, Saad Hariri and Jumblat and their lackeys. It is the same situation in every sect where the lowest common denominator is the prime motivator: fear of the other.

The Lebanese population has a long process of social and political re-education and if it does not start soon, Lebanon will be torn apart once again until the next foreign power takes us over and that will only prove that we are the prisoners of our history.