Has it come to this in America? A humanitarian organisation that has the Christian cross in its name and symbol is apparently now shunning Christian prayers and Bibles in its shelters for flood victims in Louisiana.

Clay Higgins, a reserve city marshal, was asked to leave a Red Cross shelter in Lafayette, Louisiana, after he prayed with several flood victims on Aug. 19, Charisma News reports.

Wearing a uniform and carrying a Bible, Higgins was approached by a Red Cross supervisor who told him that the Red Cross does not allow spiritual counselling in their shelters.

"The supervisor told me the Red Cross is not a religious-based organisation and they don't allow religious interaction with the residents," Higgins told Charisma News.

He said he was told to leave even though he was not proselytising. "I was just there to thank volunteers and offer prayers and encouragement," he said.

"Christian compassion was not welcomed there in the manner I had provided," Higgins said.

Meanwhile, a pastor in the town of Albany reported that four families left a Red Cross shelter after they were told they could not pray or read their Bibles at their cots.

"They got upset and literally packed up their stuff and came right here," said the pastor, who asked not to be identified. "A Red Cross worker told them they could not pray or read their Bible in public."

The pastor said he drove to the shelter to inquire but was immediately met by Red Cross workers who told him that people in the shelter are not allowed to pray or read Bibles.

Charisma News asked the American Red Cross if it's true that they are banning religious activity in their shelters.

"This is simply not true," spokesperson Elizabeth Penniman said in a statement.

"Those in our shelters are always welcome to pray and gather among themselves," she said.

But then she came up with this qualifying statement: "However, we recognise and are sensitive to the fact that hundreds of people from different backgrounds are often sharing a large space with limited privacy."