 A small minority of 0.1% includes Jews, and foreign workers who belong to Hindu and Buddhist religions.Even though non-religion is not recognized by the state, in 2009, the Minister of the Interior Ziad Baroud made it possible to have the religious sect removed from the Lebanese identity card, this does not, however, deny the religious authorities complete control over civil family issues inside the country.According to a study published by the American Journal of Human Genetics, present-day Lebanese derive most of their ancestry from a Canaanite-related population (Canaanite = pre-Phoenician name), which therefore implies substantial genetic continuity in the Levant since at least the Bronze Age.