Boy Scouts' Woes Continue With Assault by Atheists

The New American ^ | 27 May 2013 | Dave Bohon

[VitacoreVision]

The Boy Scouts’ woes continue as two atheist organizations have attacked their policy of requiring participants and leaders to acknowledge faith in God.

Boy Scouts' Woes Continue With Assault by Atheists

The New American
27 May 2013

On the heels of the news that they caved in to pressure from the homosexual lobby and will allow participation by boys who identify as “gay,” the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) are facing a new assault, this time from the nation's organized atheists. On May 24 the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) fired a warning shot over the bow of the BSA concerning the group's requirement that both participants and leaders express faith in God. The godless group applauded the BSA's initial surrender to the demands of homosexual activists, but challenged the scouting organization on its decision to retain a policy that “bars atheist and freethinking members.”

The BSA's stated policy concerning faith comes in the form of a declaration that the “recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship.”

Claiming that one in three teens identifies as non-religious, the FFRF complained that “there’s a long trail of boys and leaders who have been kicked out [of the Boy Scouts] simply because they don’t believe in a God. They range from a six-year-old in suburban Chicago whose nonreligious father, Elliott Welsh, lost a suit against the BSA for violating the Civil Rights Act, to exemplary Eagle Scout Darrell Lambert, expelled from a Washington troop in a high-profile case.”

The FFRF claimed that the Boy Scout ranks “have always been full of nonbelievers,” and chided the BSA for lagging “20 years behind the Girl Scouts of America, which announced in 1993 that it would protect the freedom of conscience of all members.” The atheist complainers recalled that the Girl Scouts “adopted a resolution that any of its members may substitute another word or phrase for 'God' in its official pledge, a measure enacted to show ‘strength in diversity and that we are an inclusive organization.’ ”

Charging that “no one can grow into the best citizen who discriminates against the nonreligious,” the FFRF encouraged its members to hector the BSA with phone calls demanding that it cave in on its foundational conviction that connects faith in God with its mission of raising up boys into responsible men.

The FFRF was apparently riding the coattails of another atheist group, the Secular Coalition for America, which released its own statement affirming the Boy Scouts for their moral collapse, while criticizing them for retaining faith in God as a key value for participation in their ranks. Edwina Rogers, a spokesperson for the secular group, said she was pleased with the BSA's cave-in on the issue of homosexuality, but considered it insufficient. “Discrimination is wrong — whether it’s directed at children or adults, atheists or the religious,” Rogers said.

She noted that the while the BSA is a private organization, it receives federal funding through the use of supplies, space, and equipment. “No organization that discriminates on the basis of religion or religious beliefs should receive federal support,” Rogers said, adding in a tone suggestive of ramped up legal pressure: “We look forward to a time when the Boy Scouts will be a completely inclusive organization that does not discriminate at all based on religious belief or sexual orientation.”

Meanwhile, homosexual activist groups reacted to the Boy Scouts' announcement that they would open their doors to gay-identifying boys, while continuing their ban on homosexual Scout leaders. “They're not on our good list yet,” said the Human Rights Campaign's Paul Guequierre of the BSA's partial policy change on gays, adding that “the new policy doesn’t go far enough. Parents and adults of good moral character, regardless of sexual orientation, should be able to volunteer their time to mentor the next generation of Americans.”

Zach Wahls of the pro-homosexual Scouts for Equality, said that his group would continue to pressure the Boy Scouts to allow homosexual adults access to vulnerable boys, while also looking for opportunities to target the Boy Scouts for discrimination against supposedly gay youth. “We'll act as a watchdog,” Wahls warned. “If any gay youth feel they're experiencing harassment or discrimination, we want to be there for them.”

Rich Ferraro of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said his group would continue to pressure corporate donors to stop giving to the Boy Scouts, and predicted that homosexual teens participating in the Boy Scouts would help to undermine the BSA's remaining moral barriers to homosexuality. “The BSA now will have to look gay teens in the eye,” he said, “boys who've been involved in Scouting for years, and tell them they're not going to be able to grow into adult leaders.”

Christian leaders and organizations continue to express their sorrow over the BSA's decision to allow participation by boys who identify as homosexual. In a statement, the Assemblies of God denomination noted that a majority of scout groups throughout the nation “are sponsored by churches or other religious entities, which have as their foundation a belief in biblical teachings that identify homosexual behavior as outside of God's plan for sexuality. While we agree that youths who experience confusion or same-sex attraction need to be welcomed, in our churches they are confronted with this biblical teaching and will be counseled and prayed with that God will help them to align their lives in conformity to that teaching. We agree with the BSA that we need to demonstrate compassion and welcome those who are struggling with sexuality issues, but not in a way that condones such behavior, which is what the new BSA policy does.”

As have many other Christian and conservative leaders, Randy Sharp of the American Family Association said that the decision made by a vote of 61 percent of the BSA's voting leaders does not bode well for the future of the storied organization. “I think what we're going to see in the next year or so is a mass exodus of adults and boys from the Boy Scouts of America program,” Sharp told OneNewsNow.com. “Some of the estimates that I've heard are up to 400,000 to 500,000 boys and adults will resign their positions with the Boy Scouts of America.”

Rob Schwarzwalder of the Family Research Council pointed out that such a mass exodus will not be based on a personal hatred or animosity toward people who identify as homosexuals. This isn't about fear or homophobia, and this isn't about bigotry,” he said. “This is about the moral values of our Judeo-Christian heritage, which teaches that the only appropriate sexually intimate activity that exists [is] between a man and a woman within marriage. That's always been the affirmation of Scouts. It is no longer.”

David Cortman of Alliance Defending Freedom emphasized that “those promoting the agenda to change what the Boy Scouts have always been won't rest until there is complete acceptance of any sexual preference for both leaders and members. With its decision the BSA has rejected its freedom to promote and practice the values that have served to shape our nation's boys into leaders for the last century.”


Related Articles:

Pro-Family Groups Warn of Mass Exodus If Boy Scouts Cave to Homosexuals

Strong Reaction Follows Boy Scouts' Decision to Allow Homosexual Members

[PapaBear3625]

This illustrates the futility of conservative groups giving an inch to the Left. They WILL NOT go away and leave you alone. They will, instead, double their efforts once they see that you are weak enough to give in to one demand, until you submit to their entire agenda.

[Delta Dawn]

This is what transformational change looks like.

[dagogo redux]

Not only by caving, but by even considering these as confrontations to consider, the Scouts have betrayed those young boys who look to them for moral guidance.

And such, I am sure, was the exact plan of those who infiltrated them.

[PapaBear3625]

I.e. while it’s fine to punch back, don’t let that dominate the spiritual conversation. Satan can punch too, and a philosophy of nothing but destructive punches will not (of itself) achieve the Lord’s goal.

Consider Sodom and Gomorrah, and the treatment of the Canaanites. The example of God, is that when dealing with evil, half-measures are inappropriate.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This was a pre-gospel era. A little thought in the Holy Spirit should tell us we don’t haul what was permitted by the Lord early in bible history into human mandates of a gospel era, except as cautionary examples of how the Lord deals directly with evildoers. We are not talking about half measures, we are talking about splitting the sin from sinners. It’s a whole new dimension and one that got little attention early in bible history. God did not make that the time for it. Now is the time for it.

[WVNan]

Could be, which makes it all the more reason to be supported by the church and the parents.

[RobinOfKingston]

The organization caved. It will be just a matter of time before there are queers in “leadership” positions. Of course, the atheists want a piece of the action. It won’t be too long before the final indignity ... girls.

Keep in mind, though, not the scouts nor scout masters nor parents voted. Their voting will be done via feet, wallets and law suits.

There still appears to be no bottom in sight for our “culture.” The long, gradual descent continues, unimpeded.

[MacNaughton]

16 I hate to say this, but is seems to be in part, the Mormons who are responsible for this.

Please explain why you think this.

The LDS Church took a beating, from the inside and outside, for aggressively supporting Proposition 8 in CA during 2008. Since then, the Church has moved on to other battles in the cultural wars rather than to continue to take on the homosexual-rights activists for several reasons.

 Church leadership felt like it was left holding the financial bag after other evangelical denominations failed to come through with promised aid in the fight against Proposition 8. Top church officials were heavily involved in the creation of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), the primary player over the last decade in the fight to outlaw gay unions.

 Church leadership feared that continued support of anti-homosexualsexual marriage measures would continue to generate negative publicity which in turn would limit the ability of its farflung missionaries to engage potential converts.

 The Church wanted to be more welcoming to its members who are afflicted with same-sex attraction.

 There are 5 nationally prominent Mormons in the U.S. today.

1. Mitt Romney had advocated for homosexual membership in the BSA since 1994 when he was a member of the BSA National Executive Board. When he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate, he went to the left of Kennedy on homosexual issues. On his watch as governor of MA, it became the 1st state to legalize homosexual marriage. When he took over the business leadership of the SLC 2002 Winter Olympic Committee, he would not allow Boy Scouts to volunteer at Olympic venues. Boy Scouts volunteered in droves for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics. LDS Church leadership did not want to harm Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign.

2. Harry Reed is a U.S. Senator (D-NV) and current Senate Majority Leader.

3. Glenn Beck is a libertarian/conservative talk radio host and media mogul. He announced his support for homosexual marriage in 2013.

4. Jon Huntsman Jr. is a past progressive governor (R-UT) and former ambassador to Red China under POTUS #44 BHO. In FEB 2013 he (1) announced his support of homosexual marriage and (2) signed the amicus brief of the plaintiff to oppose California’s Proposition 8.

5. Wayne Perry is the current BSA National President and co-owner of the Seattle Mariners. He personally pleaded the case with the Prophet of the LDS Church to support a change in BSA’s membership policy to accept homosexuals.

[MacNaughton]

6 This will only end when the Boy Scouts is a NAMBLA bastion. The BSA leadership proved how stupid and naive they were when they voted to allow homosexual scouts in. This is just the first step in the agenda.

I pulled the letter below from The Pink Swastika.
http://www.defendthefamily.com/pfrc/books/pinkswastika/html/the_pinkswastika_4th_edition_-_final.htm

NOV 1992 – NAMBLA sent a letter to BSA Chief Scout Executive Ben Love in which NAMBLA predicted that BSA would eventually succumb to homosexual demands. The letter was also published in the NOV, 1992 NAMBLA Bulletin.

Dear Mr. Love, (Chief Scout Executive, BSA)

At its 16th membership conference, held in Chicago, August 7-9-1992, the North American Man/Boy Love Association unanimously adopted the following resolution:

“NAMBLA calls on the Boy Scouts of America to cease its discrimination against openly gay or lesbian persons in the appointment of its scout masters. This will permit scouts to be exposed to a variety of lifestyles and will permit more of those individuals who genuinely wish to serve boys to do so.”

I feel especially honored to have been asked to alert you of this resolution. I have also been a scout and a scout leader and share with so many in NAMBLA affection for the movement.

We recognize, of course, that the action for which we call is inevitable. What a great added contribution your organization will make possible to all the boys and girls who participate in it when you take this step. May it be taken in the near future.

We share a common mission — to bring greater understanding and light and purpose to the young as they grow. We invite you to join with us in cherishing individual integrity, and in seeking the opportunity for every boy and girl in our country to find their own truth. We encourage you to help every person associated with your organization to be able to express those values from themselves which to them represent for themselves the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. As we work together toward these ends Light will guide our way.

We express these sentiments most respectfully,
Very Cordially,
Leland Stevenson
Co-Recording Secretary, NAMBLA

[MacNaughton]

3 What’s next? The Girl Scouts ...

OCT 1991 – GS-USA national stated in a letter:

“As a private organization, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. respects the values and beliefs of each of its members and does not intrude into personal matters. Therefore, there are no membership policies on sexual preference. However, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. has firm standards relating to the appropriate conduct of adult volunteers and staff. The Girl Scout organization does not condone or permit sexual displays of any sort by its members during Girl Scout activities, nor does it permit the advocacy or promotion of a personal lifestyle or sexual preference. These are private matters for girls and their families to address.”

2/09/1993 – In Lansing, MI, the GS-USA fired heterosexual employee Brenda Mailand after she refused to sign the following pledge: “As an employee of the Michigan Capitol Girl Scout Council, you may not proactively inform members, parents of members, prospective members or parents of prospective members, or members of the general public (including media) of the Council’s and GSUSA’s position on sexual orientation.”

10/23/1993 – Delegates at the GS-USA national convention in Minneapolis, MN, voted 1,560 to 375 to allow girls to change their pledge of service to the spiritual power of their conscience - or none at all.

1997 - Nancy Manahan’s book, On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experiences, was published. On My Honor included an essay titled “All I Really Need to Know About Being a Lesbian I Learned at Girl Scout Camp.” In a 2000 “National Review Online” editorial (10/23/2000, National Review magazine) titled “The Cookie Crumbles,” author Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote that the book was “filled with coming-of-age stories sparked by gay encounters in the Girl Scouts.” Lopez further reported that “staffers contributing stories to the book claim that roughly 1 in 3 of the Girls Scouts’ paid professional staff is lesbian.”

2009 – GS-USA radically overhauled its program. Their older youth manuals were re-written to include environmental and feminist doctrines and proclaimed some historical female role models who were communists and/or lesbians. Religion and patriotism were de-emphasized. Planned Parenthood materials were also included.

6/03/2012 – A Catholic News Agency article accused the GS-USA of having filled their National Leadership Team and Board of Directors with unwavering ideologues whose careers, non-profit work and philanthropic choices reflect a hefty commitment to liberal causes – same-sex marriage, gay and lesbian rights, abortion rights, comprehensive sex education and ‘girl power’ feminism.

[Bryanw92]

>> There are 5 nationally prominent Mormons in the U.S. today.

Famous people become famous because they always put #1 first. I agree that the Mormons caved on this, but so did everyone else. The gay propaganda machine was just too powerful as it placed gay characters in every TV show, had popular singers come out, and flooded the news with pro-gay news (usually featuring “intolerant” religious people).

The bottom line now is, how many people will pull their son out of scouting and how many will just “accept” it so he can put Eagle Scout on his college application?

[berdie]

It's been a while since I read that oath. First let me say that I think it is unbelievably sad that the BSA caved in the openly gay issue and probably will to the atheists as well.

What has crossed my mind is this. Given the relatively low population of gays, and atheists for that matter, how many of them will actually join the Scouts? I would suspect not many.

So let's say for the sake of conjecture..maybe one or two per troop join. I actually think that would be a high estimate. And the Scouts stick to their original oath with no change. How would a young “afflicted” person hold up against the teachings and thoughts involved. Probably not many. Especially since a lot of them really don't deep down believe this tripe. It's just fashionable to do so in today's time.

If there are lawsuits...sorry guys...you knew what we were about. We allowed you membership..sorry you don't like it.

I don't think many really want to be scouts. Their parental units want lawsuits and to destroy an establishment that has done a lot of good in the past.

They need to cut off all federal funding as well. But with the lack of private funding and future participation that probably won't happen.

I guess I'm having an idealistic moment. The Gay Mafia and the Madelyn Murray O’Hare Coalition have won...yet again. Or maybe I'm just having a tantrum because this is so wrong.

[LibLieSlayer]

It IS sooooo wrong.

LLS

[HiTech RedNeck]

At the risk of being a broken record I will repeat myself again.

This is God’s way of saying “THIS PROBLEM IS TOO BIG FOR YOUR HUMAN EFFORTS!!”

The homos (face mask of Hell) have sunk their teeth into what is almost their antithesis, a straight male Scouts that at least on paper is reverent to Judeo-Christianity, though technically allowing for Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims etc.

Now what will follow? A circular firing squad among conservatives with blame after blame about “who failed”? Various vengeful wishes on the homos which of course will never be realized or will land you in death row if they are? Or a renewed call on God the Father... “THIS TIME LORD WE REALLY MEAN IT!”

[Dartman]

Slightly off-topic, but why do I see “God” as “G-d” around here so much?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Some followings of Christians follow after a Jewish custom which expanded upon reverence for the original Hebrew covenant name of the Lord, the one which is sometimes rendered Jehovah after the changed vowel points that Jewish scholars used to prevent its being accidentally read out loud. It was an extreme effort to prevent taking the Lord’s name in vain, basically. Some Jews carried this over to references to Deity in other languages than Hebrew. I believe it unnecessary to say “G-d” in contexts where the reference is seriously and thoughtfully intended, and in other contexts one shouldn’t refer to God anyhow, but as long as it isn’t being done sanctimoniously and pretentiously let’s be considerate to the consciences of those who do it.

[berdie]

“This is too big for your human efforts”

As usual, I agree wth God. And feel that more and more about many different things in these times.

Man can’t fix this...only He can.

[HiTech RedNeck]

And here’s a secret. We don’t have to wait for a time that God’s roulette wheel hits the lucky 7, to speak metaphorically about an idea some people may have in the back of their heads. We can start digging in RIGHT NOW. The first problem that the Lord wants to start getting solved is US. We’re sinners. We can only progress against sin if we get Godly power of righteousness, otherwise we only manage to make a big sin tangle and everyone loses. So we must dig in to Him. Maybe it seems more like crockpot than microwave oven sometimes, but nothing at all will happen without Him.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Last time there was a great awakening, it was because people became worried about going to hell.

This time, instead of worrying about going to hell, hell has come to us. Shall we take a warning and awaken again? I hope we will!

[Dartman]

Thank you for your reply, but honestly, you lost me with your first sentence. If this has something to do with ancient Jewish traditions, fine, but I don’t see how it pertains to references to God in the context of a modern day discussion of something like Boy Scouts.