I can't see how anything Jim quoted there from Keith could be reasonably said to be advocating or defending the persecution of any religion. That is not an accusation that should be thrown at anyone without being able to point at specific and unambiguous words or actions which do that.

Greg's words on the other hand did in fact do precisely that in respect of Christians. He now suggests that they were sarcasm. However they did not read in their context as sarcasm or irony. Possibly they might have been a kind of exaggeration of what he actually believes, which isn't at all the same thing. I hazard that rather than actually welcoming murderous persecution of the wrong kind of religious minority he just doesn't think it is a matter of any significance.