I feel I must chip in this time, just for once in a way, in support of Jim's view of the matter. There is a demographic in Ireland which to my mind would qualify as 'persecuted': unhappily or unwillingly pregnant young women; and the persecution persists to this day ~~ the death of Savita Halappanavar was on 28 October 2012, less than 12 months ago. I agree with Jim that her fate [& it was by no means unique] should qualify in anybody's book as an instance of persecution.

Perhaps Jim would now admit the undoubted, statistically authenticated, fact, which he appears oddly reluctant to acknowledge, that, worldwide, Christians are at present the most persecuted identifiable demographic.

I am not a Christian.

~M~