[1] The government has generally respected these rights; however, the National Pact agreement in 1943 restricted the constitutional provision for apportioning political offices according to religious affiliation.
There have been periodic reports of tension between religious groups, attributable to competition for political power, and citizens continue to struggle with the legacy of the civil war that was fought along sectarian lines.
However, the most recent demographic study conducted in 2012 by Statistics Lebanon, a Beirut-based research firm, estimated Lebanon's population at approximately 54% Muslim (27% Shia; 27% Sunni), 5.6% Druze and 40.4% Christian (21% Maronite, 8% Greek Orthodox, 5% Melkite, 1% Protestant, 4% Armenian, 1% other Christians).
The Maronite community, by far the largest Christian group, has had a centuries-long affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church but has its own patriarch, liturgy, and ecclesiastical customs.
The Lebanese Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen (Arabic: الموحدين), or "believers in one God," are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas located east and south of Beirut.
These people include Kurds, Shi'a, and Assyrians from Iraq, as well as Copts from Egypt, Sudan and Libya.
The Constitution declares equality of rights and duties for all citizens without discrimination or preference but stipulates a balance of power distributed among the major religious groups.
The Government generally respected these rights in practice; however, there were some restrictions, and the constitutional provision for apportioning political offices according to religious affiliation may be viewed as inherently discriminatory.
The Government permits recognized religious groups to exercise authority over matters pertaining to personal status, such as marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance.
The "Twelver" Shi'a, Sunni, Christian, and Druze confessions have state-appointed, government-subsidized clerical courts that administer family and personal status law.
In addition, the Taif Agreement, which concluded the country's 15-year civil war, endorsed the constitutional provision of appointing most senior government officials according to religious affiliation.
The political establishment has been reluctant to change this "confessional" system, because citizens perceive it as critical to the country's stability.
They are disadvantaged under the law in that their members do not qualify for certain government positions, but they are permitted to perform their religious rites freely.
Religion is encoded on national identity cards and noted on ikhraaj qaid (official registry) documents, and the Government complies with requests of citizens to change their civil records to reflect their new religious status.
As Maya Mikdashi shows in her analysis of religious conversion in Lebanon, changing one's religion was a practice embedded in and maintained by the secular state.
Unrecognized groups, such as Baháʼís, Buddhists, Hindus, and some evangelical denominations, may own property and assemble for worship without government interference.
Representatives of some churches have complained that the Synod has refused to accept new Protestant groups into its membership since 1975, thereby crippling their clergy's ability to minister to the members of those communities Many families have relatives who belong to different religious communities, and intermarriage is not uncommon; however, intermarriage is difficult to arrange in practice between members of some groups.
Article 473 of the Penal Code of Lebanon stipulates a maximum prison term of 1 year for anyone convicted of "blaspheming God publicly."
People's exposure to different sects and religions; and knowability about the future in-laws, and the commonality they experience towards the (family of) the partner, indicate their approach toward interreligious marriages.
In some occasions, the age of the bride, the economic status of the groom and how religious the family is may also play a role to accept or reject an interreligious or intersect marriage.