If only Sfeir would not take a one sided approach regarding the presidents and presidencies.

I am a Maronite and I am not a big fan of him. That said, he is our spiritual leader and must be respected. However, ALL religious leader and ANYONE who wears the cloak of religion should stick to matters of spirituality and religion and stay OUT of politics.
But… To his defense, although he despised President Lahoud, when the masses wanted to march against him to remove him during the Cedar revolution, Patriarch Sfeir DID draw the line and did say this institution cannot be toppled. I did not agree, because the constitution was broken by given him an extra 3 years in power. When President Chamoun wanted to do the same during the 50s we had a revolution but it was handed to Lahoud and to Hrawi before him.
So whether you agree with his policies or not (and often I do not) the Patriarch is consistent.

hes taking the side hes MEANT to take, u wont stand back in his position and not say anything to this pig

Louay,
Your message is ambiguous. Who is the pig?

if we were living in an ideal western country where church and state separation exists, religious figures would normally take care of only religious and social matters.

but since we are in an arabic middle eastern setting and since in most islamic countries there is unfortunately no separation of religion and politics, so the patriarch and other christian dignitaries find themselves involved in politics regardless, as a counterbalance to the involvement of religious groups from the other side.

nevertheless, the patriarch could do a lot of things to reunite the chritian lebanese.

1- he should have as priority to do whatever it takes to bring again as many times as it takes, aoun, geagea, frangieh and gemayel, among others, to a conference table in bkerki.

2- he should make them realize the plight of the christians in lebanon and the middle east, wake them up and give them the hard figures, make them realize that what is happenning in irak to the christian minorities or elsewhere could easily happen to them if they persist in their divisions.

3-he should pressure the so called christian leaders into mutual concessions in order to come up with a common vision as to the future of lebanon and its christian community. he should categorically cut ties with those who refuse to go along.

an agreement like this would put an end to the miseries and the bloody conflicts of the past and it will reinforce the leading role of the christian community in lebanon and throughout the middle east.

such agreement would also reinforce the role of the president and it would give him first and most importantly the backing and support of the majority of the christian communities as well as the rest of the lebanese population.

and finally a strong president could have more leverage at the negotiation table among lebanese, the syrians, the palestinians and the rest of the world.

I could not have said it better than the “Voice of Truth”. I could add two other things: 1) Yes the Church should not be involved in Politics (agree with Walid) but we live in an ocean of Islam around us where Politcs and Religion are one and Islamic religious leaders are political leaders too. We christians cannot ask our religious leaders to be silent, it would be completely unfair to us and for this I back the Patriarch 100% in all his political stands. I find that he truly cares about Lebanon first.
2) The Church should have another mission that has been too long neglected by the religious leaders and that is unity among Christians. Our divisions, especially in the Middle East, works against us and against the belief in Jesus Christ our Lord.

I know I said 2 things, one 3rd and last one: The Church’s goal should also be as a christian missionary (to Christians and others) in a world where very few really are Christians and know Christ. Not because we are born Christians that we really are Christians. We have to be re-born in Christ consciously and experience him consciously before we can say that we know HIM. The Church is really deficient in this aspect of the faith. Besides there are millions (literally) in the Middle East that are thirsty to real spirituality and to Christ and the Church is doing nothing to reach out to these people and this is one of its duties. Unfortunately, fear of the Christian religious leaders overtakes their duties of being true missionaries of Christ where-ever they are. Our duty as Christians is to be witnesses for JESUS CHRIST and make others know him.