A confessional community is a group of people with similar
religious belief
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people often ...
s.
In the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...
, this allowed people to be grouped by religious confession as opposed to nationality or ethnicity, which was more consistent with the existing social structure. People were able to represent themselves more effectively as a group than as individuals. With the
rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire and after the Ottoman
Tanzimat
The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 187 ...
(1839–76) reforms, the term ''Millet'' was used for legally protected ethno-religious minority groups, similar to the way other countries used the word nation.
''State and Nation in Multi-Ethnic Societies: The Breakup of multinational states''
Uri Ra'Anan, Manchester University Press ND, 1991, , p. 18].
The Lebanese Constitution
The Constitution of Lebanon was adopted on 23 May 1926. Article 11, on the Official National Language, declares that
"Arabic is the official national language. A law determines the cases in which the French language may be used."
The most recent ...
is based on the idea of Confessionalism, a balance of powers between a number of state-recognized confessional communities.
See also
*Millet (Ottoman Empire)
In the Ottoman Empire, a millet (; ar, مِلَّة) was an independent court of law pertaining to "personal law" under which a confessional community (a group abiding by the laws of Muslim Sharia, Christian Canon law, or Jewish Halakha) was ...
* Vakif
References
Demographics of the Ottoman Empire
Politics of the Ottoman Empire
Religion in the Ottoman Empire
Society of the Ottoman Empire
Confessionalism
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