Patients at an Australian hospital are outraged after learning it banned crucifixes, Bibles and other religious symbols — from its chapel.
Managers at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney told worshippers they were allowed to display symbols during services but had to store them out of sight afterwards because the chapel was increasingly being used by people of a variety of faiths, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Some patients and families who've sought comfort from the chapel in the past said stripping it of its symbols strips it of its meaning, the Daily Telegraph reported.
"I used to sit there and pray when my wife was dying of breast cancer and look at that cross," Mosman Mayor Dominic Lopez told the Telegraph. "Now it is just a hall …You either have a chapel or you don't. It's offensive to have a church or chapel and not have a cross in it."
The hospital however said the decision was appropriate to appease all religions, the Telegraph reported.
Click here to read more on this story from the Daily Telegraph.
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