Perhaps some readers might be interested to know that January 28 is considered a feast day among Catholics – actually 2 feast days are celebrated on the same day – one is of ST Thomas Aquinas, the great medieval theologian and philosopher who adapted Aristotle to the western Judeo-Christian worldview. . It is also the feast day of a lesser known person – St Peter Nolasco, the great ransomer of captives from the Muslims.
Peter Nolasco was born of a noble family in 1189 at Recaudun, near Carcassonne, in France, and lost his parents while still young. From his youth was noted for his piety, almsgiving, and charity. He he decided to live the life of a monk. He lived at the time of the growth of the Albigensian heresy –like the Manicheans it held that there was a good principle and evil principle pervading the universe and that the human body for example was created by the evil one. Judaism and Christianity on the contrary always held to the goodness of all created existence and saw evil as the lack of a due good. Big difference. In any caase, St Peter tried to avoid the Albigensians and moved to Spain.
In the early 13th century the Moors still held much of Spain, and in sudden raids from the sea they carried off thousands of Christians, holding them as slaves in Granada and in their citadels along the Africa
n coast. He was so affected by the miserable state of the Christians who were in slavery to the Moors, that he expended his whole fortune in ransoming as many of them as possible, and used to say that he wished he could be sold himself to ransom more, or could himself change places with them.
Peter went at once to St Raymond Peñafort, his confessor who used his influence with King James I of Aragon and with Berengarius, Archbishop of Barcelona, to obtain approbation and support for a new community which Peter Noalosco wanted to establish. And so, he founded the Order of the Blessed Mary of Ransom for the Redemption of Captives – the Mercedarian Order of monks. There are also Mercedarian sisters as well.
The Order spread rapidly and was solemnly approved by Gregory IX in 1230. Peter and his companions travelled throughout Christian Spain, recruiting new members and collecting funds to purchase the captives. Then they began negotiations with the slave-owners. They penetrated Andalusia, crossed the sea to Tunis and Morocco, and brought home cargo after cargo of Christians which they paid for by ransom. The order still exists today and does work mainly in hospitals but there is just as much need to liberate slaves from Muslim captives.
Australians celebrate and revere Anzac Day on April 25th each year in remembrance of our brave soldiers who fought in two great world wars to secure our freedom. Every Australian identifies with the slogan “lest we forget” and in services held around the country people reflect on the battles and men who died to secure our freedom. Yet across the world in France, there is one remarkable battle which helped form the Europe we know today and allowed the development of civilization based on Judeo Christian principles. This one famous battle has become known as the battle of Tours and effectively stopped the Muslim advance into Europe. After the death of Mohammed in 632AD, Muslim armies exploded out of the Arabian peninsula to conquer much of the Middle East, expanding across north Africa. From there they crossed into Spain in 711AD and eventually controlled much of al-Andalus by 715AD. It was the victory at Tours by Charles Martel that stemmed the tide and eventually the Muslim marauders were expelled from Spain in 1492 when the last outpost at Granada fell to King Ferdinand of Spain. 
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was born, lived, fought and won battles against religious and social oppression in the 17th century Bharat or India. He was a shining star in the Indian firmament and is renowned as a champion of the downtrodden and depressed masses. He was and continues to be an icon for the classes and masses alike and is seen as a rallying point for peasants oppressed by foreign rulers, Pathans and Moghuls alike. Sexually exploited women found in Shivaji Raje a protector, a benefactor and flocked to his Hindavi Swaraj to find solace and feel liberated under his saffron flag. 
How often in conversation with a Muslim, do they quote Spain as the crowning achievement of Islam, where Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in harmony for about 800 years?
Why do Muslims insist that Jerusalem is their Holy City?
There is a very strongly entrenched view among majority of Westerners today that the three main monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam share one common God and therefore despite the obvious differences, the core foundation of these three religions is the same. 
