Ok.

1. People from many religions are persecuted, mainly by people claiming to be religious.

2. Keith started this thread a long time ago with statistics provided by the Scottish head Catholic bloke who is now in disgrace, hidden away by the church to prevent the police from investigating him.

3. Awful and wrong, that's how I describe any persecution, whether it be religious, colour, sexual orientation or gender. From plotting inequality to murder, it's degrees of persecution.

But singling out one particular type, creed, and then one particular cult of creed, Christianity, ain't going to solve anything. Tackling intolerance for what it is, that's where you start. Protecting one cult and ignoring those who murder in it's name ain't going to cut much with those on their receiving end. That they are receiving more than others at the moment is a combination of awful circumstance and media interest, so we tend to know more. Ask a Sunni Muslim in Iran or a Shia Muslim in Iraq where persecution comes from in a the main, and it is each other.

One of the worst things that can happen is for William Hague to admonish China for persecution of Christians without equal emphasis on their persecution of Hindu, Muslim and Jews. After all, British citizens are British citizens and equal...