Re: "Speaker: Christians often persecuted" (Nov. 14 article) -- The article expressed students' surprise at the statistics that David Silverstein presented about the persecution of the Christian population in the Middle East. I agree that these disturbing acts are not as publicly known as they should be; however, I also believe that the discriminating actions should come as no surprise.

Such acts of intolerance and hatred have been shown to most, if not all, religions throughout history. There's a long and distressing list of man's inhumanity towards fellow humans. For example, between the years 303 CE and 313 CE, before the fall of the Roman Empire, the Emperor Diocletian initiated "The Great Persecution." Churches and books were burned and Christians were tortured. From 1438 to 1834, many Jews, Protestants and people accused of heresy were investigated, forced to convert, tormented, tortured and even killed during the Spanish Inquisition. Through the times of the Crusades to Kristallnacht ("The Night of Broken Glass") and the Holocaust, Jews were persecuted mercilessly. And even more recently, the hate crimes displayed toward the Muslim and Middle Eastern religions after the attacks of Sept. 11 continue the tradition of prejudicial behavior towards minority religious groups in specific geographic locations.

As you can see, persecutions of different faiths have been a pattern throughout history. Perhaps if more people became educated and the media focused more on these matters, then something can be done to help break this cycle.