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[27] [28] Cyprus is the only Christian majority country in the Middle East, with Christians forming between 76% and 78% of the country's total population, most of them adhering to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Lebanon has the second highest proportion of Christians in the Middle East, around 40%, predominantly Maronites.
Christians developed Arabic-speaking Christian media, including various newspapers, radio stations, and television networks such as Télé Lumière, Aghapy TV, CTV, and SAT-7, which is a Christian broadcasting network that was founded in 1995; it targets primarily Arab Christians in North Africa and the Middle East. [103]
Today Judaism in the Middle East is mostly practiced in Israel. Israel's population is 75.3% Jewish, with the remainder made up of Muslims (20.6%), Christians, Druze, BaháΚΌí and various other minorities (4.1%). [73] There are few other countries in the Middle East with significant Jewish populations, but the communities are small and scattered.
Christianity in the Middle East is characterized by its diverse beliefs and traditions, compared to Christianity in other parts of the Old World. In 2010, Christians were estimated to make up 5% of the total Middle Eastern population, down from 20% in the early 20th century. [1] This was before the devastating civil wars in Syria and Iraq.
The Eastern Orthodox Christians include many free-holders, and the community is less dominated by large landowners than other Christian denominations. In present-day Lebanon, the Lebanese Greek Orthodox have become increasingly urbanized, and form a major part of the commercial and professional class of Beirut and other cities.
The Christian community in Israel is the one of the few growing Christian populations in the Middle East. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] Israeli Arab Christians generally have higher educational achievements and enjoy higher incomes.
The largest Christian denomination in Syria is the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch (officially named the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East), also known as the Melkite church after the 5th and 6th century Christian schisms, in which its clergy remained loyal to the Eastern Roman Emperor ("melek") of Constantinople.
[8] [9] Serjeant states that the Baharna may be the Arabized descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaeans), among other religions at the time of Arab conquests. [10] Beth Qatraye which translates "region of the Qataris" in Syriac was the Christian name used for the region encompassing north-eastern Arabia.