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.