Some American Christians are claiming that they are persecuted by 'the secular left' and other 'self-described' Christians, writes Martin Marty. There are real issues about how particular faiths should relate in a crowded and tense world; but they will not be resolved by over-heated rhetoric, or by confusing disagreements in plural societies with the suffering and even death faced by minorities in other parts of the world.

Half a million Catholics have joined street protests over attempts to stop a parish holding services in the grounds of a church bombed in the Vietnam war and confiscated by the government.

Constant Christian claims of discrimination don't hold water, says Jonathan Bartley. They are used to excuse privilege, and evade the more demanding self-giving dynamic of the Gospel.

In the Indian State of Orissa's Kandhamal district, residents say it is hard not to be afraid. The ash heaps and metal frames are all that remain of the contents of the two-storied office of World Vision, a Christian development organization.