Lebanon’s Religious Diversity: Change, Crisis and the Future of Pluralism

In this webinar hosted by ADL's Task Force on Middle East Minorities, Carole Nuriel joins Nadine Maenza and Hanin Ghaddar to examine how Lebanon's religious communities are faring amid war, economic collapse and the power of the Iranian regime-backed Hezbollah. The conversation traces how Lebanon arrived at this moment, explores what an inclusive Lebanon would require, and considers whether the country can preserve and renew its pluralism. Speaker bios: Carole Nuriel is Managing Director of ADL Israel and Senior Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. Nadine Maenza is Co-Chair of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable and Co-Chair of ADL's Task Force on Middle East Minorities. A former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), she has more than two decades of experience advancing freedom of religion or belief and has traveled to Lebanon and throughout the region to assess conditions on the ground. Hanin Ghaddar is the Friedmann Senior Fellow in The Washington Institute's Linda and Tony Rubin Program on Arab Politics, where she focuses on Shia politics throughout the Levant. A Lebanese journalist and former managing editor of NOW Lebanon, she has written extensively on Hezbollah, Lebanon's political system and Iran's regional influence. She is the author of Hezbollahland: Mapping Dahiya and Lebanon's Shia Community. Learn more at https://www.adl.org/ copyright © 2026 ADL