In my series of Insight posts, Re-Christianising the West, I argued that, beyond mere secularisation, there is a vocal and influential segment of Australian society that is not just non-Christian, but implacably, aggressively anti-Christian. As if to prove my point, the Australia Defence Association has publicly stated that Australian soldiers displaying Christian symbols are “wrong morally”.
Leftist media are also clutching their pearls over a photo of Australia’s most decorated serving soldier – who is currently suing them for defamation – that showed him wearing a patch with a Christian cross. Australia’s military brass are so averse to Christian symbols that they digitally removed the cross from the image.
That’s right: the symbol revered by 7.5 billion Christians around the world, the symbol of the God invoked at every opening of Australia’s Parliament, is “wrong morally” and “at odds with Defence values”.
Former special forces soldier Ben Roberts-Smith displayed a contentious Crusader’s cross on his uniform while on duty in Afghanistan, with the symbol later digitally removed by the Department of Defence in a widely distributed photo of the decorated war veteran.
Firstly, it’s not a “Crusader’s Cross”, it’s a Christian Cross. The real Crusader’s Cross, or Jerusalem Cross, is a very different symbol. The media are simply lying – or, more likely, they’re too ignorant to understand what they’re blithering about.
The photo released by Defence at some time near January 2011 shows Mr Roberts-Smith wearing a blank patch on the front of his uniform after exiting a helicopter.
But The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age has obtained the original photo, which was taken on April 6, 2010, revealing Mr Roberts-Smith was in fact bearing the Crusader’s Cross.
Australia Defence Association executive director Neil James said displaying the symbol was “wrong morally” and “counterproductive”.
The symbol dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries when the Crusaders captured parts of the Middle East from Muslim control. Many Muslims find the cross to be offensive, particularly when displayed by western soldiers in their country.
It should be remembered that the Crusades were the response to four centuries of unparalleled Muslim aggression which had steadily and bloodily subjugated former Christian lands and threatened the very existence of Christian Europe. If anyone has the right to be offended by a religious symbol, Westerners should be offended by the Muslim crescent.
Australian Federation of Islamic Councils executive member Mohammed Berjauoi said Western forces should not invoke the Crusades when conducting military activity in the Middle East.
“Whoever uses that symbol provokes Muslims and increases anger against the West. It is the wrong thing to do,” he said.
What doesn’t “provoke Muslims”? It was only days ago that a Christian woman at Speaker’s Corner, supposedly the bastion of Free Speech, was brutally stabbed in the face.
Western culture has become so degraded that the symbol of its foundational values is despised and denigrated by the very institutions supposed to defend it.
A spokesperson for Defence said it “does not condone or permit the use, display or adoption of symbols, emblems and iconography that are at odds with Defence values”.
Mr James said wearing a Crusader’s cross was “simply unprofessional” and part of the poor cultural standards that were unearthed by the long-running Brereton inquiry.
“We know from the Brereton report that a lot of the things that were allegedly done were due to unprofessional actions,” he said.
The Age
No, we don’t know that. The Brereton report is a compilation of allegations cobbled together by a desk jockey “REMF”, many of them frankly implausible, and none of which have been tested in a court. The report, and especially its public release before any of its allegations were substantiated, has infuriated many of Australia’s serving and veteran soldiers.
That the Christian cross is regarded as “morally wrong”, “offensive” and “at odds with Defence values” ought to infuriate all Australians.
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