Congratulations Lebanon
It is good to see Lebanon is making a strong effort to move into the 21st century and end centuries of divisions, hatred and violence amongst different sects.
A baby cannot choose it's sect in the same way it cannot decide what political party to support. By this move these parents and Lebanon have removed a stigma each child in Lebanon would have to live with for the rest of their lives.
A victory for freedom of choice and a victory for this child who knows not yet what his place is in the world.
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Trending: The baby making history in Lebanon
Lots of people announce the birth of their baby on Facebook - but not many get a congratulatory tweet back from the president. Yet that's what happened to Lebanese couple Kholoud Sukkarieh and Nidal Darwish.
Earlier this year, they became the first couple to have a secular, civil marriage in Lebanon. Now, their baby - one-month-old Ghadi - has reportedly become the first child registered there without a sect specified on its birth certificate. The pair announced the news on their Twitter and Facebook accounts, and the response from President Michel Suleiman came a few hours later. "It was nice surprise that he congratulated us - we didn't expect it," Ms Sukkarieh told the BBC.
In Lebanon, a person's religious sect matters in everyday life. Military and public sector jobs are allocated according to a religious-based quota system. This approach extends to the top level of government too - the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim and the speaker of parliament a Shia.
But Ms Sukkarieh and her husband argue that this system is unfair. Jobs should be allocated based on a person's qualifications and abilities - and bringing sect into the equation is divisive, they say.
The pair took advantage of a loophole in the law when they married in a civil ceremony. A handful of other couples have followed in their footsteps - and according to Ms Sukkarieh - they too are planning to leave the sect section blank on their children's birth certificates.
Though the president has come out in support of their moves, there is not universal agreement within the rest of the government, or Lebanese society.
After their marriage, some MPs in Lebanon attempted to get the law changed to explicitly allow civil marriages - but this was thwarted after complaints from a number of religious clerics.
Ms Sukkarieh says it's not about rejecting religion, but embracing a Lebanese national - rather than a sectarian - identity.
Source: BBC Trending What's popular and why
Ummmmmm, who told u that ur sect is recorded at birth!!!!
I'm a local, and have blood relatives in ALL of other GCC countries, in a couple of european countries and in the US....absolutely NONE of them have ever required a child's "sect" to be recorded at birth!!!!
maybe ur confusing sect with religion?
With no peace of mind everything looks like poison. :) Sects are not to fight..It has a beautiful logic but very few understands the beauty of Sects.. However Quran Clearly forbidds sects and denominations http://www.alim.org/library/quran/ayah/compare/6/159/those-who-divide-the-religion-into-sects-are-not-muslims
By the way.. We muslims don't like even the nationalistic identities..
Religions tend to give you solace and peace of mind in many difficult situations. Their formidable role spanning over centuries, has been very well recognized by even the early and primitive men.
Religion poisons everything, even your choice of job!
Religion poisons everything, even your choice of job!
How horrible to think that your life can be determined at your birth because someone write, Shia, Sunni, Copt, Jew on a piece of paper.
It's child abuse by the state!
Yr right Brite foolish parents and the poor baby has to face the consequences
Poor baby. Now many of the jobs will not have access to key jobs :O(