Is this the straw?
Several years ago, the Girl Scouts of America sold out its values in exchange for United Way cash. The Boy Scouts of America held firm, IN SPITE of losing money from the United Way. What were a couple of the things they wanted them to do?
Remove God from the Oath. (By the way, it is the FIRST duty)
To allow gay men to serve as adult leaders.
What was the result of these?
The Supreme Court has held that the BSA is a private organization and can set its rules of admission.
In 2013, the BSA began the process to allow gay scouts into the BSA, leaving it to the local Council, or Chartering Organizations (CO) to decide. This was finalized in 2015. (After all, the CO has to approve each application, accepting responsibility for them.)
The walls are crumbling.
Now, the BSA has announced that it will allow transgender boys to join, with the caveat that a CO can choose to do so, or not.
For those that don't know. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) is the largest national CO of the BSA. Besides them, the United Methodist Church, the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, and numerous other churches. Out of 2.6 million boys in BSA, the LDS church accounts for over 400,000. President Monson, who is the President of the LDS Church, has sat on the National Board. The BSA has named a Training Center after him. LDS leaders still sit on the National Board.
The BSA is losing membership. Between groups leaving due to the changes in who is accepted, and the generational change where kids are so busy with extracurricular activities that there is no time for scouts, the numbers are dropping. Even those organizations that have stood with the BSA (for now) are struggling to keep their youth in Scouts. Combine that with new organizations popping up for those congregations who left with the changes, and there are big problems.
The BSA can ill afford a national sponsor, like any of the above, to bail. And I suspect that if one of the big three (LDS, Methodist, or Catholic) were to go, that it could cause a cascade, leaving BSA broke with no membership, and essentially ceasing to exist. This would be a tragedy on so many levels.
I have been involved with the Boy Scouts of America since I was 8 years old (minus an 18 month hiatus while serving a mission for my church in Spain) I have served in just about every unit position, (not Varsity, or Venture, but yes to Explorer) I can count the years that I have missed Scout Camp on one hand. I love the Scouting program. It provides a venue to reach kids that is hard to miss. Using God's canvas (nature) as a back drop, it is easy to, if nothing else, help kids develop that reverence toward their Creator. And a desire to help those around them.
I do understand the need to not exclude people, regardless of what you think. I just worry that at some point, people are going to say "too much" and walk away. Especially if they have a ready made program that could be adapted to fill the same role.
Remove God from the Oath. (By the way, it is the FIRST duty)
To allow gay men to serve as adult leaders.
What was the result of these?
The Supreme Court has held that the BSA is a private organization and can set its rules of admission.
In 2013, the BSA began the process to allow gay scouts into the BSA, leaving it to the local Council, or Chartering Organizations (CO) to decide. This was finalized in 2015. (After all, the CO has to approve each application, accepting responsibility for them.)
The walls are crumbling.
Now, the BSA has announced that it will allow transgender boys to join, with the caveat that a CO can choose to do so, or not.
For those that don't know. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) is the largest national CO of the BSA. Besides them, the United Methodist Church, the Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, and numerous other churches. Out of 2.6 million boys in BSA, the LDS church accounts for over 400,000. President Monson, who is the President of the LDS Church, has sat on the National Board. The BSA has named a Training Center after him. LDS leaders still sit on the National Board.
The BSA is losing membership. Between groups leaving due to the changes in who is accepted, and the generational change where kids are so busy with extracurricular activities that there is no time for scouts, the numbers are dropping. Even those organizations that have stood with the BSA (for now) are struggling to keep their youth in Scouts. Combine that with new organizations popping up for those congregations who left with the changes, and there are big problems.
The BSA can ill afford a national sponsor, like any of the above, to bail. And I suspect that if one of the big three (LDS, Methodist, or Catholic) were to go, that it could cause a cascade, leaving BSA broke with no membership, and essentially ceasing to exist. This would be a tragedy on so many levels.
I have been involved with the Boy Scouts of America since I was 8 years old (minus an 18 month hiatus while serving a mission for my church in Spain) I have served in just about every unit position, (not Varsity, or Venture, but yes to Explorer) I can count the years that I have missed Scout Camp on one hand. I love the Scouting program. It provides a venue to reach kids that is hard to miss. Using God's canvas (nature) as a back drop, it is easy to, if nothing else, help kids develop that reverence toward their Creator. And a desire to help those around them.
I do understand the need to not exclude people, regardless of what you think. I just worry that at some point, people are going to say "too much" and walk away. Especially if they have a ready made program that could be adapted to fill the same role.
Duty to God. something the lds church already has in place and utilized everywhere besides US. IT wouldn't be hard to switch but i know the outdoors aspect of scouts would be missed
ReplyDeleteThanks for replying. You are right, except that Duty to God is utilized in the US as well, or rather, should be, along with Scouting.
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