The Interreligious dialogue is a transformative tool that allows Lebanese people to understand and empathize with one another

Reach agreement around a core set of values that celebrate diversity and build cohesion whiles making sure no community is marginalized

1. Interfaith dialogue refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and/or spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional levels
2. Some have proposed the term “interpath dialogue”, to avoid implicitly excluding atheists, agnostics, humanists, and others with no religious faith but with ethical or philosophical beliefs
3. Interfaith initiatives in Lebanon can be grouped into 4 models (Khoury 2007): “Dialogue of Life”, “Unity Dialogue”, “Ritualistic and ceremonial interfaith dialogue”, “Advocacy approach”.

1. Number of court cases related to religious hatred
2. V106 in WVS: Trust of people from other religions
3. V154 in WVS: The only acceptable religion  is my religion
4. V156 in WVS: morality of people belonging to another religion

1. Political parties and politicians use religion as a way to gain votes
2. The civil war (1975–89) weighs considerably on the Lebanese and impacts inter-religious dialogue
3. Communities live separately, go to different schools, and often do not even enter areas perceived as belonging to another religion
4. Every sect has its own version of the civil war and history end with Lebanon’s gaining independence from France in 1943
5. Television channels affiliated with certain denominations instill fear of a constant threat from other religious communities

1. Lebanese people carry a baggage of mindsets filled with emotions, needs, fears, hopes, expectations, stereotypes, and beliefs dictated by their religious identities
2. The nature of the conflicts are existential and are fueled essentially about repressed anger, fear of judgment, fear of exclusion, and mistrust
3. A person’s name provides basic information about where he comes from and  what religious identity he carries; on this basis, assumptions are made on political affiliations
4. Lebanon has no civil  status law; religious identity and one’s rights and duties are closely linked to one’s confessional denomination
5. Political sectarianism has existed in Lebanon since 1943; for many years, political power was allocated  according to a census dating back to 1932

1. 1989: signing of the Taif agreement
2. 1990: Lebanese Islamic Committee for Dialogue was founded
3. In 1993 religious clergies formed the "National Christian-Muslim Committee for Dialogue" to address sectarian issues among the major religious groups
4. President Elias Hrawi’s proposed 1998 legislation sanctioning civil marriage
5. Since 2002, the Near East School of Theology (NEST) has been organizing inter-religious meetings called “Forum of Muslim–Christian Thought.”
6. 2007: Adyan was founded
7. 2013: launching of the “Religions and Cultures Forum for Development and Dialogue” by Fadlallah’s son Sayyid Ali
8. “First Muslim–Christian Convocation,” held in Bhamdoun in 1954
9. 2010: March 25 declared a "joint Islamic-Christian national holiday" by the Lebanese government
10. Lebanese teenagers who were hauled before a court on charges of insulting Christianity have been handed the unusual sentence of studying the references to the Virgin Mary found in the Quran (February 2018)
11. The Lebanese Meeting for Dialogue, initiated by a partnership between the WCC and the MECC, organized meetings and workshops for Lebanese youth in Cyprus as early as 1975–76 (Khoury 2007)
12. The Center for Islamo–Christian Studies at St Joseph University was founded in 1977 to counter the developments of the civil war and to educate religious personnel about the respective “other” religions
13. 1979: Hisham Nishabe founded the Institute of Islamic Studies at the Maqās .id Higher Institute and the Documentation Center for Islamo–Christian Relations

1. Subsidize households from a specific religion willing to live in marginalized neighborhoods due to their residents’ different religion (Taxes and subsidies)
2. Replace current leaders  with independent leaders in order to prevent the situation where religion is perceived as a way to gain votes (Institutional change)
3. Establish a new national census (Service provision)
4. Criminalize  interreligious hate speech (Command and control)
5. Organize and mediatize reciprocal visits between Christian and Muslim priests (campaigns-ish)