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Religion:
Virtually the entire population
is Sunni Muslim (member of one of the two major branches
of Islam, the branch that consists of the majority of
that religion's adherents. Sunnite Muslims regard their
sect as the mainstream and traditionalist branch of
Islam, as distinguished from the minority sect, the Shi'ites.)
Christians constitute most of
the rest, of whom two-thirds adhere to the Greek
Orthodox church. Other Christian groups include the
Greek Catholics, also called the Melchites, or Catholics
of the Byzantine rite, who recognize the supremacy of
the Roman pope; the Roman Catholic community, headed by
a pope-appointed patriarch; and the small Syrian
Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, or Syrian Jacobite
Church, whose members use Syriac in their liturgy.
Most non-Arab Christians are
Armenians, and the majority belong to the Gregorian, or
Armenian, Orthodox church, while the rest attend the
Armenian Catholic Church. There are several Protestant
denominations representing communities whose converts
came almost entirely from other Christian sects.
Over 90 per cent Sunni Muslim, with
Christian and Shi’i Muslim minorities.
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