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Christians make up about 10 percent of Syria's 18 million population , but the secular Ba'athist government of Bashar al-Assad ensures they are well represented in government and have access to jobs. The fact that President Assad himself is from the Alawite Muslim group, another religious minority, provides some reassurance for Syrians Christians. The overwhelming majority of the country's population are Sunni Muslims. Professor Joshua Landis, who works at the University of Oklahoma's Department of International Studies and lives in Syria, says Christians feel more insecure than other minorities in Syria because they are thinly spread throughout the country. They do not have a regional stronghold where they are in the majority. Landis says many Syrian Christians to fear that they would lose out if the government, dominated by the Ba'ath party since 1963, were to hold free and fair multi-party elections that might bring Islamic radicals to power. "Christians are one of the more affluent groups and are largely concentrated in the cities," Landis said. "They don't have a region in which they are the majority, which would guarantee them representation in elections. And they don't believe that Muslims would necessarily vote for a Christian candidate." However, Georgette Atiya, - more available