The Red Cross - a Christian organisation??????

Odd - but to my knowledge the Red Cross is not a Christian organization. They adopted their symbol as a modification of the Swiss Flag - an emblem of neutrality.

Joshua

 

Hi, Gwyneth. Perhaps you are thinking of the Salvation Army.

 

No, the Red Cross is not a Christian organization. They're a secular organization. And a mighty fine one, as well. The hard work they do is incredibly noble.

 

Except when they infect you with bad blood.

Hot off the press:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/08/22/eveningnews/main519527.shtml

Suggestion if you are having upcoming elective surgery: Donate units of your own (autologous) blood to the blood bank to send to the hospital for your surgery date. That's what I did, just to be safe, assuming of course, that it was correctly labeled by the Red Cross.

 

This topic concerning the position of Christmas in the red cross has been raised already, but I cant remember which forum I posted it.

Irrespective of whether it is a christian organisation or not, this is part of a political drive in this country(so called political correctness) to ensure that christianity is not promoted too much in case it causes offence to immigrants of other religions. two things worth considering:

1) In this same news item, a politician who is also a muslim denounced the decision as ridiculous, claiming it was not offensive for him to here other religions celebrating their faith!

2) In my travels to other countries I have not seen much evidence for reciprocal arrangements. Indeed we were always encouraged to be respectful of the feelings of the local people in their belief's.

yours, Jon.

[ December 23, 2002, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: jonmagee ]

 

further to my last post can I say this has been raised in general baptist discussion

yours, Jon.

 

amen

yours, Jon.

 

I was always led to believe they were a Christian Organisation when they were founded.

I would say to the Red Cross, that what they are doing regarding Christianity offends me very much. I would also let them know that there are many organisations that are happy to be accepting of Christians and their beliefs. And I would use that as a basis on which to decide donations.

Compassion are a great Christian Organisation that are feeding the Hungry with both food and Gods Word. They are good stewardship for a donation.

 

In the Middle-East they have the Red Crescent, which is I beleive the Islamic world's counterpart to the Red Cross. Do you think if we, Christians, traveled to an Islamic nation that they would remove the crescent symbol so as not to hurt our feelings?

 

The story about the founding of the Red Cross orgainization may be found here:

http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/DAILYF/2001/10/daily-10-29-2001.shtml

Swiss-born Henry Dunant needed water rights for a business venture in French-controlled Algeria. The person who could get him those rights was Napoleon III. The only problem was, Napoleon III was on the battlefield in Italy. Dunant did not let that deter him, but set out for Napoleon's headquarters at Solferino in Northern Italy. Thanks to that bold venture, this Christian businessman became the first person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

He arrived in Solferino in time to witness one of the bloodiest battles of the 19th century. About 40,000 men died in the fighting on June 24, 1859, and another 40,000 perished afterwards because of inadequate medical care.

Henri Dunant had been reared in active Christian faith. His father was involved in social work and Dunant himself had labored for the Swiss arm of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He was a man of action. Appalled by the suffering he witnessed at Solferino, he immediately organized the local peasants to gather the wounded and care for them in homes and churches. Had he not done so, even more may have died. He persuaded Napoleon III to issue an order freeing doctors and surgeons attached to the Austrian armies. But more was needed.

Dunant saw that modern weapons would kill increasing numbers of men. Something had to be done. He wrote a book titled A Memory of Solferino. In it he called all nations to set up commissions to deal with war casualties. Everyone who could should be trained to care for the wounded. His idea sparked interest. In 1863 a committee of five, including Dunant, met in Geneva to see if his plan could be implemented. It called for a conference. This was also held in Geneva. On this day, October 29, 1863, the International Red Cross (not yet called by that name) was founded at that conference. The following year, the Geneva Convention was drawn up.

Dunant never got his water rights. As a consequence, his business failed. Geneva lost money through him and shunned him. He died obscure and in poverty in a hospice, refusing to spend the international awards that showered upon him.


============

Here is another interesting note:

"The original founders had a grand vision to make war less barbaric through a display of Christian charity by neutral volunteer nurses who would assist and aid wounded and dying soldiers," reports Hutchinson.

"However, within decades, Red Cross societies had become wartime propagandists who issued military-style uniforms to members," he says. "They were used to efficiently recycle wounded soldiers back into the front lines and raise funds which enabled governments to spend more on war."

Hutchinson was surprised to discover that one early critic of the idea of the Red Cross was Florence Nightingale, who feared that it "would render war more easy." She refused an invitation to help found a society in England.

Hutchinson uncovered a prominent American who was sentenced to 30 months in jail for criticizing the organization. The sanctity of the Red Cross is driven home in one poster of the Stars and Stripes and the Red Cross flag with the caption, "Loyalty to One Means Loyalty to Both."

from http://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/sfnews/1996/May9/redcross.html

==========

Fundamental Principles
The Principles of the Red Cross are:

Humanity:
The international Red Cross and Red The Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavors, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering whenever it may be found . Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding friendship cooperation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.

Impartiality:
It makes no discrimination as to the nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavors to relieve the suffering of individuals. Being guided solely by their needs, and give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.

Neutrality:
In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.

Independence:
The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the Humanitarian services of their Governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so they can act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.

Universality:
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other is World wide.

Unity:
There can be only one Red Cross or Red Crescent Movement in any one Country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its Humanitarian throughout its territory.
Voluntary Service:
It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by the desire for gain.

from
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~blanchredcross/History.html

=================

The Red Cross is a symbol which under the Geneva conventions is to be placed on humanitarian and medical vehicles and buildings to protect them from military attack. Originally only the Red Cross was to be used, but Muslim nations (primarily the Ottoman Empire, later Turkey) objected to this, and as a result an additional symbol (the Red Crescent) was to be provided for. Later Persia (now Iran) managed to have a red lion and sun (the lion and sun being the symbol of Persia) added to the list of available symbols; though the symbol no longer being used by Iran has fallen into disuse in favour of the Red Crescent, Iran has in the past reserved the right to take it up again at any time.

Israel then requested the addition of a Red Star of David, arguing that since Christian and Muslim symbols were recognized their symbol should be as well. This symbol is the one currently used by the Israeli Red Cross, but it is not recognized under international humanitarian law. The Red Cross movement has rejected this Israeli request, since if the Jews were to be given another symbol, there would be no end to the number of religious or other groups claiming a symbol for themselves. That would detract from the original intention of the Red Cross symbol, which was to be a single symbol to mark vehicles and buildings protected on humanitarian grounds. In response, the Red Cross movement is in the process of developing a new symbol, which will be without any religious connontations and also easily recognizable on the battlefield; once the Red Cross movement has adopted the symbol it will then be presented to the State Parties to the Geneva Conventions for amendment of the treaties.


from
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Cross

===============

The words I entered on www.google.com for this information were

"Red Cross" history Christian