Mention of the Red Cross yesterday in relation to the civil war in Syria made me think about the Red Crescent. I recall there being objections to the Red Cross working in Muslim countries last century because it was a ‘Christian organisation’ and the creation of the Red Crescent to take up the work started in the 1860s. Today the organisation is large and covers the work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent because they have wisely seen that there is only one standard of goodness. A standard that cannot be divided by religion.
It is however still sad to see this humanitarian movement which works in every country and every war zone and regularly loses members to murder, still working under the emblems of religions. Some people may argue over the colour red, I have no qualms about that at all, but the religious element to the work when we see religions cause so many of the wars seems counter-intuitive. In fact almost hypocritical.
In the modern age we are all humanitarians if we think at all, and like Gandhi more than willing to drive ambulances in crises if that will save lives but we are not all religious and the very fact that Crescent and Cross have to exist in the same name is because of religious concerns, not humanitarian ones.