Between Terror and Tolerance: Religious Leaders, Conflict, and Peacemaking

CHAPTER 3 Between Intolerance and Coexistence: The Vatican, Maronites, and the War in Lebanon

49 ChapTEr 3 Between Intolerance and Coexistence l The Vatican, Maronites, and the War in Lebanon GEorGE EmiLE iraNi Lebanon is a very interesting and unique case to study the role that religious leaders, both Christian and Muslim, play in conflict escalation and mitigation. Throughout history, religious leaders have played a key role in mobilizing their communities in empowering their followers or inciting them against other groups. The other dimension to underscore is the interconnection that exists between local religious leaders and the transnational network linking to regional and global religious institutions. Most of Lebanon’s major communities are associated with the large Lebanese diaspora living outside the country. The Maronites have been linked to the Vatican and the worldwide Catholic Church for centuries.The same applies to the Shi’as of Lebanon who have looked up to the Islamic Republic of Iran as a major backer and supporter since the advent of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979.1 In his scene-setting conceptual chapter, David Little writes that “where effective constitutional democracies combine with a high degree of national tolerance . . . , a very low incidence of violence is predicted. Conversely, where illiberal democracies or weak, predatory, or authoritarian regimes strongly lacking the characteristics of constitutional democracy combine with a high degree of national intolerance . . . , a high incidence of violence is predicted.”This approach is flawed and simplistic when it comes to societies or entities that are based on sectarian power sharing, which is the case of Lebanon. In Lebanon, a failed state par george emiLe iraNi 50 excellence, the state barely exists and functions mostly as a framework for various confessional groups to maintain a fragile equilibrium among themselves.This situation is made more dramatic with the current standoff between the two models of governance facing the country: a Swiss-type confederated liberal sectarian-based democracy or a Sparta-like Islamic republic receiving its orders from the mullahs in Iran. Little does not factor in his violence potential score the role played by external actors who intervene in fragile or failed states by manipulating various factions or ethnoreligious groups. A case in point is the role played by Lebanon’s neighbors and other global actors (the United States, the former Soviet Union, France, Iran, etc.) during the civil war, thus rendering tolerance a more complicated quest. In this chapter I focus on Lebanon, a country that, because of its pluricommunitarian constitution (there are in Lebanon more than seventeen religious sects, Christian and Muslim), has long been considered an example of coexistence of multiethnic and multireligious groups. Throughout its history, Lebanon has been a microcosm of changes—sociopolitical and religious—in the Arab world. As a land of refuge, enjoying a high degree of freedom and tolerance, the Lebanese polity became the testing ground on internecine struggles, opposing Arab regimes and ideologies. Because of its pluricommunitarian constitution, Lebanon has long been considered an example of coexistence of multiethnic and multireligious groups. Nevertheless ,there is an inherent corollary to this pluralism that has led some scholars to characterize Lebanon as “precarious,” “improbable,” and “fragmented.”2 As a federation of ethnoreligious communities, Lebanon cannot be considered a nation-state. Lebanese communities, each jealous of its socioreligious traditions and prerogatives, have never evolved from a confessional sectarian “mosaic” to form an integrated political system.3 The ecumenical and interfaith movements inspired by the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) made the Lebanese formula of coexistence between Christians and Muslims of fundamental importance to the Vatican. In fact, in the eyes of the papacy, Lebanon was supposed to be a living example of how different groups can interact in the same social context. Moreover, with the exception of the Philippines, Lebanon is for the Catholic Church “the last citadel of Christianity in the whole Levant, at the crossroads of three continents” (Jabre 1980, 246). I will focus on the role Christian leaders played in mitigating or exacerbating conflict during the Lebanese War (1975–89).4 Religious leaders played and still play an important role in Lebanon’s politics.To tease out their role in conflict management, this essay concentrates on the mediation role played by the Vatican and the Maronite Patriarchs (see Irani 1989). 51 Between Intolerance and Coexistence miLiTiamEN aND WarLorDS During the Lebanese War, Maronite Patriarchs had to contend with extremist elements in the Christian community.Maronite Patriarchs,with support from the Holy See, had to deal with Christian militiamen and warlords who...