Recently, in November last year the removal of 'In this sign conquer' from the hats of army chaplains was approved by the religious advisory committee of the army in Australia. It was after the appointment of Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed to the committee in June of last year. Our nation is at war with Muslims in Iraq, Syria and previously in Afghanistan. Yet the service endowed with our nations protection is now taking orders from a Muslim. There are generations of army personnel past as well as presently serving who upheld and continue to uphold the military's symbols with pride. They believe our christian and military heritage is to be valued and esteemed, not shut out of the spotlight. Join with us to show them that this issue has not gone away and we in the civilian community support them in their continued successful service of our nation.
Lieutenant General Angus J. Campbell
Dear sir,
We are writing to you to show you our disgust with the recent decision by the army's religious advisory committee to remove the sign 'In this sign we conquer' from all army personell chaplains. We believe that there is much pride within the Australian community with regard to all army traditions and symbols. We also believe this pride is self evident within military ranks both past and present as well.
Aside from this, we want to point out to you sir, that there is a blatant hypocracy in this new policy. We are at war with all be it 'extremist' muslims on a number of fronts and yet, we are aghast that the service endowed to protect the nation is now aparently taking orders from a controversial figure as the Grand Mufti Dr Ibrahim Abu Mohamed.
We believe that simply put, anyone who is offended by this symbol is not a true patriot. May we suggest that anyone serving within the army who is offended and wants to change such symbols is not only offended but also disloyal.
We ask you sir, if these changes are to remain in place what will be next? Are we to remove the Victorian cross from the honors system because it offends a muslim as well?
We ask therefore that the aforementioned sign be re-instated forthwith.
Thank you for your time.
