An Unexpected Tolerance

While walking in downtown Damascus, I came across a sandwich shop named Falafel Abu Rumaneh. This particular shop is owned by an Armenian Christian and staffed by Arab Muslims. Its walls are decorated with pictures of the Virgin Mary, and verses from the Quran. With sectarian violence raging in Iraq, sectarian tensions in Lebanon, and Jews and Muslims clashing in Israel and the Palestinian territories, one would think that tolerance and pluralism do not exist and will never exist in the Middle East.

Little known is the religious tolerance found in Syria today. Although relations between the governments in Washington and Damascus have been strained in recent years, it may be possible to find common ground between the two countries, based on the fact that both societies are pluralistic and diverse.

If one walks the streets of the United States, especially in our major cities, they can feel the presence of diversity in American society. A similar feeling overcomes a visitor in Syria on the historic streets of Damascus. Syria has one of the most religiously and culturally diverse societies in the Arab world.

Its religious makeup consists of Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Catholic and Orthodox Christians, Alawis, Druze and even a small Jewish community. Its ethnic makeup consists of Arabs, Kurds, Armenians and many others. There is also the Christian town of Ma'loula where Aramaic is still spoken. Yet, in contrast to other countries in the region, all of these people live in peace with each other with little sectarian violence. Even varying degrees of religious devotion are tolerated. For example, in Syria one can find both veiled and unveiled women dressed in the latest fashions. In addition, Damascus is home to some of the world's oldest mosques, churches, and synagogues. All of this diversity coexists in a part of the world where one would least expect it.

I asked many Syrians how this type of society exists to find out what Syria has done to create this environment. One of the answers given by most people is that Syria has a strong central government, which is run by a minority community, the Alawites, who only make up 10 percent of the population. Thus it is in the interest of the regime to maintain a tolerant and diverse society. In fact, although many Syrians are dissatisfied with the current form of government, they are willing to sacrifice their right to a democracy for the stability and security they now enjoy. Currently, one can walk in almost any part of Damascus at any hour and feel completely safe. But beyond this reason, people point to the Syrian government's separation of religion and state, and the conflicts in surrounding countries as other reasons for the country's tolerant society.

Syrian law is based upon an amended form of the French legal system. While the system is generally secular, Syrian family law is unique in that Muslims, Christians and Jews each have their own set of laws that apply to them based on their respective faiths. Although Syrians respect religion and are devoted to their faiths, they believe that faith should remain outside of politics. In addition, people point to surrounding conflicts, saying that they are aware of the repercussions of ethnic and religious conflict after seeing what is happening in Iraq and Lebanon, and are afraid of following that path. Many Syrians told me that after the war in Iraq, they feared that Syria would succumb to a similar fate of religious and ethnic strife if regional instability spread to their country.

The Syrian people are proud of the tolerant society they have built and say that although it does not mirror any western style of pluralism, it is a system that they believe works for them to maintain stability and security. Although surrounding countries in the region may not choose to follow the Syrian model of a pluralist society they may take a lesson from the ideologies of its people. Seeing this coexistence brings hope that maybe one day the Middle East can be a place where all people whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish or otherwise can live together peacefully.