Comedian, Frank Skinner has a piece in The Times today saying he wants Christians to be persecuted – he’s a weekly Mass-goer himself – because he reckons Christians thrive when’re they’re a persecuted and despised minority.

He’s referring to the growing number of legal actions being taken against Christians in the UK, from nurses being suspended for offering to pray for patients, to investigations for ‘hate crimes’ for opposing gay pride parades and what have you.

The piece is more or less tongue-in-cheek. Here’s a flavour of it:

“That’s why I think Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is wrong to get his cassock in a twist about changing attitudes to Christianity in this country. He speaks of a “strident and bullying campaign” to marginalise Christianity. But that’s great news. “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”

“We’re going to have Brownie points coming out of our ears. The evidence of such bullying, many Christians would argue, was evident in two recent incidents when a teacher was sacked and a nurse suspended — both because they offered to pray for sick people. I agree that those punishments seem wrong-headed but both women will receive huge blessings for enduring such injustice. Surely their mistake was up-fronting their intentions.”