The new Maronite Patriarch

Today, Patriarch Sfayr elected Bishop Bisharah Ar-Ra`i as his successor.  That was his choice. The new Patriarch is a most conservative and most reactionary cleric.  He belongs to that category of obsurantist clergy who served France prior to the French revolution.   He has said that eliminating sectarianism from Lebanon is bad because it will lead to an Islamic state.  He is the one who came up with this idea last year: he said that "Great excommunication" should be imposed on anyone who dares to criticize the Maronite patriarch in Lebanon.  I kid you not.  He has been writing articles in the rag produced by Elias Murr (Al-Jumhuriyyah).  His last articles commented on the disaster in Japan: he said that "God" speaks through disasters, avalanches, deluges and tsuanami.  He said this language of God is intended to call people to repent for their sins.  I kid you not.  Oh, and he at 71 still dyes his hair but said that he just does that because he thinks that Husni Mubarak looks good in black hair.  This is a guy who for all intents and purposes belongs to the Lebanese Forces militia.  But as a reactionary he should work well with US foreign policy: do you notice that all allies of US foreign policy in the Middle East are reactionary?  Can you think of one progressive who is aligned with US foreign policy?