Red Cross Insults Islam

Via this posting at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

Calls for Red Cross symbol to be axed over links to the Crusades

A Labour minister has sparked controversy by claiming that an alternative symbol is needed for the Red Cross because of the logo's supposed links to the Crusades.

Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant said that the historic emblem risked undermining the work of the humanitarian organisation.

His intervention came as MPs debated the adoption of the 'red crystal' - a diamond-shaped badge - to avoid the religious connotations of the cross and crescent symbols currently used by the international body.

The article in Mail Online continues:

The founding Conference of the Red Cross Movement in 1863 adopted a red cross on a white background – the reverse of the Swiss flag – as the emblem of the voluntary medical personnel who assisted the wounded on the battlefield.

It was never intended to have any religious meaning and is thought to have been intended as a tribute to traditionally neutral Switzerland, which hosted the conference.

However, the symbol unintentionally raised suggestions that it was somehow linked to the Hospitallers, a military order which took part in the Crusades, the centuries long series of military campaigns waged by Christians from Europe.

Subsequently, a red crescent emblem was adopted in tandem.

Mr Bryant told the Commons: 'The reference to the Crusades is... not lost to some people which, of course, anybody involved in the Red Cross would wholly deprecate.

'The truth of the matter is that it has been difficult in some places for us to ensure that these connotations of a religious war or a religious crusade don't undermine the work that the Red Cross or Red Crescent is able to do.'

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement hope that the neutrality of the red crystal will help improve protection for casualties, military medical services and humanitarian workers....

Read the entire article HERE.

Political correctness gone mad.

The Red Cross may be replaced by the crystal. Will the same standard apply to replacing the Red Crescent. We note that the Red Crescent has already replaced the Red Cross in Islamic nations.

Is the West so very afraid of offending Moslems? This is a no-end game! Take a look at The List of Things That Offend Muslims. What's next to be added to that list?