Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- In a country as small as a newborn baby is tiny, the birth of Ghadi has been a very big deal for Lebanon. "Ghadi was born pure, was born a Lebanese citizen," explains his happy mother, Kholoud Sukkarieh, as she holds her nearly 2-month-old baby close. "He was not born a sectarian person." Sukkarieh calls that accomplishment "a step forward for a better Lebanon" and "the result of a long struggle." You certainly wouldn't know from glancing at Ghadi's uncluttered birth certificate -- a simple document that belies the complexity of his status. Sukkarieh points proudly to a line that would normally denote her son's sect. But on this historic, yet flimsy little square of paper, it's been very deliberately left blank.
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Lebanese parents refuse to mark baby's sect on birth certificate
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Parents have received threats in Lebanon, a country deeply divided on sectarian lines
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Parents also fought two-year battle to get first civil, non-religious marriage certificate
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Divisions among sects in Lebanon deepen as Syria's civil war spills into country
It's difficult to imagine how anyone could see Ghadi as a threat, yet sectarian tensions have long existed in this country -- one that experienced a brutal 15-year civil war, and one that is being drawn deeper every day into another civil war in neighboring @placeholder.