Red Crescent?
I know I shoudn’t be quibbling over differences in light of the tsunami disaster (after all, Mother Nature didn’t discriminate, She spared no one – regardless of caste, color, age, or faith). But let’s not get blind-sighted, let’s put aside the tsunami, and take a look at something independently. I’d like to bring up the name change of the Red Cross to the “Red Cross and Red Crescent Society” and their new logo which now consists of a red cross and a red crescent. See http://www.ifrc.org. Until, now I was under the impression that the Red Cross was an organization with no religious denomination.
The Red Crescent Society is the name for the Red Cross in 28 Muslim countries. The point is not why I am bringing religion into the picture buy why are they? Why can’t Muslims be open enough to accept the Red Cross as an open symbol, instead of being so hell bent on introducing religion into the picture. The Red Cross was a pretty neutral symbol, but now it has become religionized by simply placing the contrasting symbol of the Crescent next to it (the Cross being the prime symbol of Christianity, and Crescent the prime symbol of Islam). By doing so they just opened up a whole can of worms.
The hypocrisy is (from their website): “All our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.” That’s true, I don’t question their work, but clearly that’s not what their logo reflects; their logo projects a powerful image in the media – that Christianity and Islam are the compassionate saviors. In other words Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, etc. can also contribute to the Red Cross and Red Crescent as long as they hide their face. If the Red Cross were true to themselves, they’d adopt symbols from every faith -or- stick with some neutral symbol (like the United Nations logo, or the Greenpeace logo)? Once that image of the “all compassionate savior” is created, it sets the stage for their missionaries soon to follow.
“When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible”
“You don’t belong to a country club that excludes blacks or Jews”
Former president of the American Red Cross, Bernadine Healy (also former Director of the National Institutes of Health), said that when she resigned from the Red Cross (November 2001) [ref: 1, 2]
I would boycott supporting the Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. There are plenty of other good organizations (Hindu organizations by the very definition of Hindu is trans-secular – encompassing hundreds of belief systems within India alone) that you can help support. Maybe that will help the Red Cross change its mind.