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[Catholic League Cancels Boycott] AMERICAN RED CROSS APOLOGIZES FOR CENSORING RELIGIOUS SPEECH
www.CatholicLeague.org ^ | 3-12-2002 | William Donohue

Posted on 03/12/2002 8:55:35 AM PST by Notwithstanding

March 12, 2002

AMERICAN RED CROSS APOLOGIZES FOR CENSORING RELIGIOUS SPEECH

In a news release March 11, the Catholic League pledged to contact the leaders of over 100 organizations asking them to join us in dropping all support for the American Red Cross. We did just that—we faxed all of the organizations on our list. And also we contacted the Red Cross.

Our complaint centered on the decision of the headquarters of the American Red Cross to defend its Orange County (CA) chapter in prohibiting students from Orange County High School of the Arts from singing “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” at a Red Cross luncheon this past Sunday. The Red Cross opposed the songs citing its “sensitivity to religious diversity” and its “preference for a music program that would be inclusive and not offend different populations participating in this particular event.”

Yesterday evening, the American Red Cross issued a statement saying “the judgements we made in this case in applying our principles clearly offended some in our community.” It mentioned that “it is important to use reasonable judgement in applying principles to the everyday circumstances we confront.” The news release continued saying “the judgement we made to exclude certain songs from the Sunday program was a mistake.” It then apologized for its decision.

Catholic League president William Donohue remarked as follows:

“We are delighted that reasonableness prevailed at the American Red Cross and we have no interest in continuing our campaign to discredit the organization. While we accept the apology we do not buy the line that this was a ‘mistake.’ No, it was a calculated decision designed to punish religious speech. The statement, therefore, is intellectually dishonest. But the bottom line is they got the message. One more point. We expect the organization will soon change its name: any group that has ‘Cross’ in its name is clearly being insensitive to religious diversity.”


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KEYWORDS: bloodhounds; christianpersecutio; redcross; sasu
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To: Notwithstanding
Statement from the Orange County Chapter of the American Red Cross On The Music Program for the March 10 Recognition Event

Contact: American Red Cross National Headquarters.
Phone: (202) 639-3500

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., March 11, 2002 — The Fundamental Principles that guide the American Red Cross — Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntarism, Unity and Universality — are more important today than ever before. We have used these principles time and time again to govern our work here in Orange County and around the world.

We used these same principles to develop the program to honor our volunteers this past Sunday who provide vital services to our community throughout the year. We certainly did not intend to hurt or offend anyone.

But the judgments we made in this case in applying our principles clearly offended some in our community. Principles should remain inviolate. But like many things in life, it is important to use reasonable judgement in applying principles to the everyday circumstances we confront. So, while our principles remain sound, the judgement we made to exclude certain songs from the Sunday program was a mistake.

We want to apologize to the community and to any people who were hurt or disappointed by our actions.

21 posted on 03/12/2002 9:13:39 AM PST by rface
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To: Notwithstanding
I stopped supporting the Red Cross long ago and will continue that tradition until further notice.
22 posted on 03/12/2002 9:13:56 AM PST by pt17
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To: rface
to the Red Cross,

Eat $h!t

23 posted on 03/12/2002 9:15:27 AM PST by rface
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To: Notwithstanding
The American Red Cross is at it again.....

Pledge of Allegiance?
God Bless America?
VERBOTEN!

:

Don't forget the whole name of the organization:
RED CROSS/RED CRESCENT

Donations help fund organizations like the Palestinian Red Crescent Society,
which cranks out propaganda like this:

Israeli Army Shoots at Innocent Civilains & Pregnant Women

Isn't it comforting to know that the selfless contributions
of well-meaning Americans are going to support these "Red Crescent Societies"?







:


24 posted on 03/12/2002 9:16:39 AM PST by ppaul
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To: Notwithstanding
Bravo and a big Thank You to the Catholic League!

I am wondering if I can find out what organizations were contacted by the league concerning its boycott. Does anyone know? Thanks

25 posted on 03/12/2002 9:19:10 AM PST by eleni121
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To: patent
I intend to continue my personal boycott for numerous reasons.

I'll just keep donating at the hospital.

26 posted on 03/12/2002 9:19:32 AM PST by Bikers4Bush
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To: Notwithstanding
A meaningless non-apology. I'll continue to send my dimes to the Salvation Army.
27 posted on 03/12/2002 9:19:52 AM PST by Think free or die
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To: Notwithstanding;*SASU

To find all articles tagged or indexed using
Straight Americans Speaking up (SASU™),
click below:

  click here >>>

SASU

<<< click here

Master Bump List
(To view all FR Bump Lists, click here)

Damage is going to be hard to reverse now that we know how they really feel.

28 posted on 03/12/2002 9:20:12 AM PST by Khepera
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To: evad
And we would want to do that because......???

To drive the point home.

Organizations like these along with some religious organizations, because they are desperate for volunteers, are easily infiltrated by people with an anit-American agenda. They occasionally try to test their strength and get shot down. Over a period of time these people gain leadership positions and take control. It is easy to see if you are lookin for it.

29 posted on 03/12/2002 9:20:15 AM PST by BaylorDad
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To: Notwithstanding
The kids still did not get to sing their songs. The Red Cross won by successfully banning them. Are we supposed to give them a pass?
30 posted on 03/12/2002 9:23:18 AM PST by JoeGar
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To: Cleburne
"We expect the organization will soon change its name: any group that has ‘Cross’ in its name is clearly being insensitive to religious diversity."

Given that the red cross was derived from Christianity, and that the red crescent was derived from a moon god symbol incorporated with Islam, perhaps they should choose another symbol... perhaps a Red Star. Now there is a better match, given their socialist leanings.

31 posted on 03/12/2002 9:23:47 AM PST by Tea42
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To: Notwithstanding
Excellent work, Mr. Donahue, as usual. These people only respond to massive bad publicity. It's about time we started fighting back.
32 posted on 03/12/2002 9:24:00 AM PST by Antoninus
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To: patent
Can't we keep up the boycott anyway? ;-)

Wish they would.

33 posted on 03/12/2002 9:24:07 AM PST by Askel5
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To: Notwithstanding
The Red Cross has been infiltrated by liberal extremist(therefore are dishonest). Proof: They are using the sign of Christ to cloak their agenda, just as the ACLU is using LIBERTIES to hide their intentions. It's time to shine the lights on THEM!
34 posted on 03/12/2002 9:27:39 AM PST by desertcry
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Comment #35 Removed by Moderator

To: Notwithstanding
Why can't I shake the sneaking suspision that the Red Cross wouldn't have prevented Wiccans or Druids from singing religious songs? Or maybe the kids should have sung the Internationale. The Red Cross would have loved that.
36 posted on 03/12/2002 9:30:42 AM PST by Seruzawa
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To: Notwithstanding
There are a lot of good people doing fantastic work under the auspices of the Red Cross. The answer is to start a new organization, one that is dedicated to American principles and our Constitution. The Red Cross uses money donated by millions of Americans, and then spits on our values and traditions.

The RC has become more and more a Front Organization. I don't intend to donate to them ever again.

37 posted on 03/12/2002 9:31:31 AM PST by WaterDragon
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To: DoughtyOne
Right on!
38 posted on 03/12/2002 9:33:36 AM PST by desertcry
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To: patent
I sure will, too little too late as far as I am concerned. They are not sincere in that apology anyway. They just assumed they could stab their golden goose and have the goose not get upset about it.

The Christian community is most likely one of the largest contributors to the Red Cross. The Red Cross, along with alot of other agencies, feel free to slap our God in the face and have nothing happen because we are assumed to be humble, turn the other cheek and get over it. Well guess what world, there are some things we are just not humble about. There are some things we get real war like over, deal with it.

39 posted on 03/12/2002 9:33:48 AM PST by MissAmericanPie
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To: let freedom sing
We expect the organization will soon change its name: any group that has ‘Cross’ in its name is clearly being insensitive to religious diversity.”

Truth can indeed be stranger than fiction.....

From their website:

The emblems go back a long way. The red cross on a white background was formally adopted in the first Geneva Convention of 1864. The red crescent was adopted by the Ottoman empire in 1876 during the war with Russia. It was recognized in the 1929 Geneva Convention along with the red lion and sun of Persia.

For National Societies, the emblem serves two purposes; it is "indicative" (it is their logo or identification when undertaking their normal work) and it is "protective" (a protective device when they, and the medical services of their country's armed forces, are involved in conflict.) The rules on the use of these emblems are defined in international law under the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Under the conventions, states can only use one of the two emblems for the protection of the medical services of their armed forces. National Societies, too, can only use one emblem, that adopted by their government. Adopting one of these two recognized emblems is one of 10 conditions a National Society must fulfil in order to be officially recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and become a member of the International Federation.

The International Federation can use both emblems indicatively because it is neither a state nor a National Society.

Current problems

The emblems worked well for a long time, but in recent decades two problems have arisen. Firstly, in some conflicts the cross or the crescent have been interpreted as having a religious significance. They do not, but this fact has occasionally compromised the neutral nature of the emblems, putting lives at risk.

Secondly, some countries and their National Societies have not felt comfortable using either the red cross or red crescent. This is the case for the Israeli society which uses a red star of David, and the Kazakh society which uses both a red crescent and a red cross.

The proposed solution

The international Red Cross and Red Crescent has proposed an additional emblem to resolve these problems. This approach was agreed by a joint working group of governments and the Red Cross in April 2000. The additional emblem could be used in conflicts for protection, and, with the inclusion of a local sign, as the indicative emblem of a National Society.

This solution is not simple because it involves changing both international law and the statutes of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

The first stage is to adopt a third additional protocol to the Geneva Conventions creating an additional emblem to stand alongside the cross and crescent. This requires a diplomatic conference, convened by the Swiss government, of all 188 states which have signed the Geneva Conventions. The second stage is for a full International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (comprising the 188 governments and the 176 National Societies) to change the statutes.

When the time is right, the diplomatic conference will take place and the international conference will follow as soon as possible. These meeting will define both the use and form of the new emblem.

Once the protocol comes into force it will be possible to use the additional emblem in conflicts. And once adopted by the Israeli and Kazakh societies, they can formally be recognized by the ICRC, and then welcomed into the International Federation as full members.

Further information about the emblem issue is available on the web site of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dang! That ol' cross sure seems to be a "problem", eh?
I wonder what their proposed "additional emblem" is.


40 posted on 03/12/2002 9:34:17 AM PST by ppaul
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