Someone once told me that the Red Star of David, the emergency health service of Israel, wasn’t part of the Red Cross Red Crescent Federation. Is this true? If so, why? Also, will whoever controls the Red Cross make it non-denominational eventually?
They are, and they aren’t. They have a problem with using either a cross or a crescent, so they use a star, but they’re still a National Society.
http://www.ifrc.org/who/emblem.asp
AFAIK, the Red Cross already is non-denominational. Do you have information to the contrary?
Ok thanks a lot. When I meant non-denominational I meant symbol-wise. Wouldn’t it be easier if it was just like the Red Triangle? That way all countries can have one unifed humanitarian service. Second, how come the federation is only Red Cross and Red Crescent and not Red Star of David and Red Crescent/Cross?
Well, they are apparently working on the emblem issue.
The reason it’s “Red Cross Red Crescent” and not “Red Cross Red Crescent Red Star” is because out of 178 National Societies, only one–Israel–isn’t using either the cross or the crescent. So why should they change the name just for one member?
Doesn’t Iran’s national society use a lion or some other critter?
From Duck Duck Goose’s cited site:
Which means, if you read between the lines, “No, it’s never going to change.”
Thanks, waterj.
I don’t know about the Geneva officiating stuff, but the Red Cross was “invented” by Clara Barton, a woman who nursed the wounded at the battle fields of the Civil War. She eventually went overseas and nursed the wounded at THEIR various conflicts, and chose the inverse of the Swiss Flag as the emblem. By showing this emblem, ambulance and hospital personnel could pass unmolested through any battle line, and neither the vehicles nor the buildings used as hospitals were to be attacked.
She is credited with founding the Red Cross in the United States, and she is also the one who took the cause overseas, to eventually become the International Red Cross.
~VOW
Horsecrap. Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881, and modeled it on the International Red Cross, which, as I said, was founded in 1863.
To Nametag:
Gotcha. It’s been a year or more (HAH!) since I read her biography. I do know she did nursing overseas as well as in the United States. And the Red Cross emblem had nothing to do with religious affiliation, it was modeled upon the Swiss flag.
~VOW
I’m going to assume, though, that the Red Crescent is based on the Islamic Crescent Moon because there is no red and white flag with a Crescent Moon on it, that I know of.
To DDG, I completely understand why they would be reluctant to add a new symbol just for one member but the minority still deserves a voice.
Yeah, but then what happens when the other 177 members hear about it? Next thing you know, everybody will want their own symbol, and it’ll be the “Red Cross Red Crescent Red Star Red Arrow Red Heart Red Triangle Red Pentacle Red Circle Red Yin-Yang Red Southern Cross Red Maple Leaf”. And on and on…
There’s the Turkish flag, although it has a star as well as a crescent.