Fr Nassif said that Christianity in Lebanon remained strong despite widespread emigration. The priest, who works for ACN’s French branch, said that out of Lebanon’s entire population of some 4.4 million, about 3.5 million are Lebanese by birth, half of which are Christians. He added that, due to emigration, the Lebanese diaspora totals some 16 million, about 80 percent of which are Christians.
Many Lebanese Christians belong to the Maronite Catholic Rite. Others are split among Orthodox Churches and other Rites united to the Roman Church. A small portion of Lebanese are also Protestant.
If those numbers are correct, then 12.8 million Christians could go home and completely dominate the political scene in Lebanon... Allow me to daydream about this prospect... A Jewish state and a Christian state along the coast of the Mediterranean, both democratic... Okay, I'm done.
Of course, it's not likely that almost 13 million people are going to leave their lives wherever they are to pack up and move back to the homeland. But on a hypothetical level, the ramifications of that kind of move are fun to think about.
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