November 25.  Start of 16 days of activism.   We live in very troubled times all over the world.  Many people in war zones lose everything and are killed for their beliefs, often as Muslims and Christians.  Many escape from violence and risk their lives becoming refugees.  Sadly war and conflict has been happening for many centuries.   During this month we can be conscious of the millions of women and men, martyrs, who did not or were not able to defend themselves or resist the violence they suffered.  We have to believe in life after death for their sakes.

You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends and some of you they will put to death, for my name’s sake, but not a hair of your head will perish.  By your endurance you will gain your lives. Luke 21: 12-19. 

Pope  Francis: In my fraternal meeting in 2019, which I gladly recall, with the Grand Imam Ahmad Al-Tayyeb, “we resolutely [declared] that religions must never incite war, hateful attitudes, hostility and extremism, nor must they incite violence or the shedding of blood. These tragic realities are the consequence of a deviation from religious teachings. They result from a political manipulation of religions and from interpretations made by religious groups who, in the course of history, have taken advantage of the power of religious sentiment in the hearts of men and women. God, the Almighty, has no need to be defended by anyone and does not want his name to be used to terrorize people.”  FT285