Ahmed Salkini, Christian Science Monitor, July 13, www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0713/Syrian-secularism-a-model-for-the-Middle-East
Westerners don’t see that Syria’s embrace of diversity is a crucial bulwark against extremism. Secularism is often defined as “indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations.” Syria defines it differently – not in terms of “rejection,” or even “tolerance,” but in terms of “embracing” all religions and “taking pride” in a diverse heritage.
While some countries in the Middle East tout themselves as a state for one religion, Syria prides itself on being a state for all religions – and no religion. It is this formula that defines the true Syrian identity. The Syria I grew up in embraced everyone. My own father is a decorated veteran of the 1973 war against Israel. Yet, when his first child was born after the war – and after four previous heartbreaking miscarriages – it was a Syrian Jewish doctor in whose hands he entrusted my life. I owe my life to that doctor, who saved me after a complication during infancy that nearly resulted in my death. My father was no exception. Syria’s Jewish community was historically among the most successful, with clients and friends from across Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious social fabric.
The Syrian Christian community, one of the oldest in the world, is such an integral part of our society that Pope Benedict XVI extolled Syria as “an example of coexistence and tolerance to the world.” Indeed, there are more than 13 Christian denominations in Syria.