Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Boy Scouts: A Disheartening Betrayal
Townhall.com ^ | June 3, 2013 | Rebecca Hagelin

Posted on 06/03/2013 7:29:38 AM PDT by Kaslin

This past week has been pretty devastating for me as a long-time supporter of the Boy Scouts. My own two sons grew up in Scouting, and, with their hard work and encouragement from my wonderful husband who was a Scout Master, they both achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.

I treasure the time our family spent involved in Scouting - and always will. My heart is broken to realize that the finest institution for young men our country has ever known has grown cowardly, and has disappeared into the great vast wasteland that is modern popular culture.

The recent decision by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America to allow “openly gay” youth to become members of the Boy Scouts was nothing short of a betrayal—a betrayal not only of the values scouting has represented for decades but also of the families whose support for the Scouts has spanned generations.

The roughly 1200 delegates who voted on the proposal represent but a fraction of the Boy Scouts’ membership. Their decision was not motivated by a strong and insistent clamor from their membership to change things. It was brought about by the strong-arm pressure tactics of the homosexual lobby, using the contrived protests of a few members for symbolic effect.

Council members assert the fiction that their decision is not a statement about the morality of homosexuality, but merely a compassionate decision to open wide the doors of scouting to even boys that reject scouting's core values.

The blunt reality is that young boys who “come out” are implicitly, and perhaps explicitly, embracing a whole set of “givens” that conflict with the Scouts’ promise of being morally straight. And the moral standards the scouts proclaim on paper will be drowned out by the homosexual advocacy that comes with being “out.”

Does anyone really think that the homosexual pressure groups are going to stop with the admission of kids who declare their homosexuality? Of course not.

Contrary to public perception, the proposal to admit adult homosexuals into leadership was not voted down, it was simply not voted upon. It’s just been taken off the table for now, in a nod to the incremental approach.

The Scouts have lost any coherence in their original mission and message. It’s worth noting that the law does NOT require the change in Scouts’ policy: the ban on homosexual members was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court, which affirmed the right of the Boy Scouts to remain true to their mission and decide, on a principled basis, who may become a member of their group.

How ironic: After years of successful battles to maintain timeless principles, the BSA has fallen by their own hand.

How to Save Your Family: Embrace Courage, not Appeasement

Some argue that the Boy Scouts’ decision was inevitable, a reality-driven move in light of declining corporate contributions (again, because of pressure tactics), shrinking membership numbers, and changing public positions on homosexuality.

Those are weak, unprincipled positions not worthy of the Boy Scouts I knew. Just when our culture needs courageous voices to uphold traditional standards of morality, the Boy Scouts have chosen instead to appease the insatiable demands of homosexual pressure groups. They have decided to teach our children that political expediency matters more than principle.

So what to do?

Scouts and scouting families must search their hearts and find the courage of their convictions to decide if they are going to stay and fight to try and resurrect the BSA - or if it's time to take a hike from scouting for good. No amount of political pressure or million dollar publicity campaigns can change the fact that homosexual behavior is neither "morally straight" nor personally liberating, and we need to continue to make that case whether in or out of the organization.

And all parents should use this sad moment to explain to young people, in particular, that the freedoms we hold dear will not survive if the moral fabric of our country continues to crumble.

As those of us who have left scouting and now mourn the death of the BSA, let's bind up our broken hearts and resolve to continue to honor the many leaders, families and churches who worked so hard over the years to build the character of young men through scouting.

And to all former scouts - especially the Eagles - I urge you to write down your own treasured scouting memories so that you can share with your own kids one day what it was like when the Boy Scouts of America stood for principle and truth.

RIP, BSA.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: betrayals; boyscouts; familyvalues; gays
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 next last
To: treetopsandroofs

They should just change their name to the Sandusky Scouts because that’s where they’re headed.


21 posted on 06/03/2013 8:30:00 AM PDT by Antoninus (Sorry, gone rogue.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: camle
"no room"

That's just it. Most scouts join around the age when you don't know much about anything sexual. At least we didn't fifty years ago when I joined the Scouts at age eleven. Why should anyone want to announce their sexuality anyway? I had a cousin who many years after scouting came out as a homosexual. Nobody at the time knew he was one, and maybe even he didn't know it himself. At any rate, what importance would it have been for him to announce he was a homosexual? None whatsoever.

22 posted on 06/03/2013 8:30:30 AM PDT by driftless2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: lost in the snow
The only way to stay true to the Scout Oath and Law is to leave BSA.

Your history certainly qualifies you and your family to make such a difficult decision, and we shouldn't second-guess your choice.

However, our culture should recognize this as one of the methods "they" employ to transform an organization. It is similar to what we have seen with various major Christian churches, our military, our schools and many other organizations upon which we rely on a daily basis.

Such transformations ultimately render an organization no longer able to satisfy the standards by which this nation became the role model for the world.

One would hope this condition provides a model that was examined and resolved by one or more of the ancient philosophers.

If anyone knows, I would be very interested.

23 posted on 06/03/2013 8:30:51 AM PDT by frog in a pot ("To each according to his need..." This from a guy who never had a real job and his family starved.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: alloysteel
There does exist a parallel organization, called “Camp Fire”, a co-ed organization of youth, which was once known as “Camp Fire Girls”.

The Camp Fire Girls' original mission was to promote feminine values--something that it can no longer do, now that it's coed.

24 posted on 06/03/2013 8:37:20 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: mikemoose

In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Boy Scouts: A Dishearten on the link.
ing Betrayal, mikemoose wrote: Even the National Catholic Committee on Scouting has decided to stand with the gays. (see http://www.nccs-bsa.org/index.php). The letter from its chairman is available.

What might be able to be done is that some Bishop against this disavows (fires BSA get no funds) that chairman and gets some Catholic organization like the KC’s to set up their own sponsoring council. Or organizes the CBSA Catholic Boy Scouts of America much like the late Bishop Bernard Shields did with the CYO.


25 posted on 06/03/2013 8:38:46 AM PDT by mosesdapoet (Serious contribution pause.Please continue onto meaningless venting no one reads.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: lost in the snow
Watch the video, at 3:27 the homosexual choir alter the words to the Nation anthem.

"...O'er the land of the free and the equal..."

26 posted on 06/03/2013 8:44:48 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: camle

You are right of course - just as schools should not be discussing sexual issues to elementary school children.

Any adult discussing sex with children I would put int he “pervert” category.

It is sad such a tiny minority can tell and dictate to the majority but this is where this generation is. It is all tyranny by the minority.


27 posted on 06/03/2013 8:46:58 AM PDT by edcoil (If you can't change the rules, then ignore them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: alloysteel

Young Pioneers with Joseph Stalin

28 posted on 06/03/2013 9:03:09 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Antoninus

Wonder what will happen to their liability insurance premiums....

We’ve already been subsidizing their taxes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we’re now even more on the hook for their cost of business operations.


29 posted on 06/03/2013 9:15:05 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Truth2012

I’m the founding Scoutmaster of a troop. My older son is working his Eagle project. If we really push it, my younger can be done in under a year. Troop leadership is considering sticking it out but running a hybrid scouting program. We will refuse, publicly if necessary to admit any homosexuals. (Our sponsoring church doesn’t allow it and they won’t allow it in their troop either). We are going to tighten up our membership criteria to include a letter of recommendation from a pastor. We’re also editing the letter we’re sending to our Council informing them that they just lost one of their highest selling popcorn troops and the Friends of Scouting presentations will not be allowed in our troop. We will also not be attending Council camps. Actions have consequences.


30 posted on 06/03/2013 9:15:49 AM PDT by cyclotic (In a society of wolves, you do not fight back by creating more sheep-Dan Bongino)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

History Revisionism and name hijacking: they should not be allowed this since the spirit in the name Boy Scouts definitely was meant to not include homosexuality. How can they steal words and titles and degrade the titles of previous proud generations of Scouts? There is a wiff of treachery in this. The whole thing should be disowned and stripped of its own medals. Some names have meanings, the gays should be honest and rename it the Boy Playmate Playground or something.


31 posted on 06/03/2013 9:19:00 AM PDT by lavaroise
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: alloysteel

The “NAMBLA Scouts” seems an appropriate name for them.


32 posted on 06/03/2013 9:19:15 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
This is just the opening chapter. Sooner or later a family will file the first law suit charging that their son was molested by another scout and that the BSA are RESPONSIBLE.

Obviously this could have, or already has happened prior to the current BSA edict. Now, that they have formally stated it's O.K. with the organization they've opened Pandora's box without any further doubt in regard to legal culpability.

33 posted on 06/03/2013 9:27:27 AM PDT by VideoDoctor
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: treetopsandroofs
29 Wonder what will happen to their liability insurance premiums....

An excellent question. More details sure to emerge. Before the moral collapse of 5/23/2013 by the ~1,400 voting delegates of the BSA National Council, most conservatives thought that the homosexualist strategy was to bleed the BSA to death with lawsuits. There is a real fear out there among some sponsoring religious institutions that the BSA coffers will not be in place much longer to financially protect churches if they are sued by homosexualists, or more importantly - outraged parents whose children were molested by homosexual scouts or leaders.

34 posted on 06/03/2013 9:27:48 AM PDT by MacNaughton
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: cyclotic

“We’re also editing the letter we’re sending to our Council informing them that they just lost one of their highest selling popcorn troops and the Friends of Scouting presentations will not be allowed in our troop.”

Good for you. As a scoutmaster I have, for the moment, decided to stay and fight. I have already stated (publicly) we will not be accepting homosexual members. It the council wishes to pull my charter, then so be it. As well as not selling popcorn and FOS cards will get returned with a rainbow painted on them.


35 posted on 06/03/2013 9:45:44 AM PDT by krizzy (NOT IN MY TROOP !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: lavaroise

Same way they stole the word “gay”. I refuse to use it in their context.


36 posted on 06/03/2013 9:50:00 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
How to Save Your Family: Embrace Courage, not Appeasement

You'd best worry about your SOUL!!!


Embrace JESUS - not the boy in the tent next door!


Genesis 13:13
Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and
their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men
from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them
."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.

Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Doonesbury Cartoon for Feb/08/2013

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.


Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.



2 Peter 2

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done.
Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.



But there IS hope!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.


If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
 

 
 
 
 

37 posted on 06/03/2013 10:27:50 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Truth2012
Enjoy your life and leave room for the hopeless sinners.

Indeed!

We report - they decide.

38 posted on 06/03/2013 10:28:50 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: lost in the snow; Utah Binger

Just FABULOUS!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQlWEWABDrA


39 posted on 06/03/2013 10:43:15 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Brooklyn Attitude
The United Way COERTION is WAY more accurate!
40 posted on 06/03/2013 10:44:45 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson