Posted on 01/02/2019 8:54:39 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Sad.
you are correct.
Excellent article. Orthodox author.
Great timeline. I see Scouting started to collapse precisely when I aged out and went to college. Coincidence? I think not.
Morally straight, my ass!
It was a murder not a suicide
my dad’s occupation was professional scout executive, and has undoubtedly been turning in his grave for over a decade due to his organization’s moral failures.
Be thankful that he’s not around to see the unchecked perversion that has flooded into Scouting.
And no, I don’t think we’ve seen the bottom yet.
You bet. I was a scout and Explorer back in the 1970’s.
I was a scout leader while my son worked his way through the Scouts.
We had to go through Virtus training and two deep leadership training. Then they allowed gays into the organization.
The BSA threw all that out the window along with the oath.
They deserve their fate.
Well, yeah. Thanks Albion Wilde.
That must not be true for every troop - unless things changed in the 2000's. In the troop my sons belonged to, up to around 4 years ago, their summer camp had archery and rifle ranges. They were encouraged to have pocketknives. (One of my sons brought home a large folding knife from camp once.) And we mothers (mostly) weren't allowed to be as involved as the fathers.
Dr. Alfred Kentigern Siewers is the William E. Simon visiting fellow in religion and public life (2018-2019) at the James Madison Program, Princeton University, and associate professor of English at Bucknell University. He is also reader and warden at Holy Protection Russian Orthodox Mission Church in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. He teaches and writes on Christian literature and ideas of nature, and on public rhetoric related to secularism and faith. His views are his own.
I don't doubt Dr. Siewers' bona fides aside from Princeton, but anyone who lays in to the Scouts for moral failings while he fiddles from Central NJ's Ivy League HQ seems to have an agenda.
The irony of this situation is that the boys and young men that could benefit MOST from Scouting, i.e., those from single-parent homes, will not "benefit" from Dr. Siewers' alleged wisdom since he's checked out. How sad, in this time and age, when Deplorablism is on the ascent, when we have more in common with a billionaire President from Queens than with the educators down the street, that men of good character are trashing and abandoning perhaps THE single best youth organization when it comes to proper male formation.
Let us not be Pollyanna. There ARE problems with BSA, no doubt about it. And yes, there are other competing clubs that MAY have a thing or two over BSA. But a century of a program that has given us millions of Eagles and even more well-developed males shoulnd't be disposed of because senior management took their eye off the ball and/or demographic changes. Indeed, the BSA attendees to whom Trump spoke in the summer of 2017 totally ATE UP his speech and his message. But then again, the Boy Scouts have been a pernicious antidote to secular modernity for those of us in the know.
What more of a vote of confidence does one need?
Rank | Merit Badge | 2017 earned |
1 | First Aid | 69,563 |
2 | Swimming | 62,057 |
3 | Citizenship in the World | 55,917 |
4 | Environmental Science | 55,703 |
5 | Citizenship in the Nation | 52,949 |
6 | Cooking | 51,004 |
7 | Camping | 50,871 |
8 | Communication | 50,503 |
9 | Personal Fitness | 50,428 |
10 | Personal Management | 49,287 |
11 | Family Life | 48,774 |
12 | Citizenship in the Community | 48,736 |
13 | Emergency Preparedness | 43,351 |
14 | Fingerprinting | 38,989 |
15 | Rifle Shooting | 37,796 |
16 | Leatherwork | 35,490 |
17 | Archery | 35,301 |
18 | Wood Carving | 32,943 |
19 | Wilderness Survival | 30,814 |
20 | Kayaking | 30,466 |
21 | Chess | 26,919 |
22 | Canoeing | 26,052 |
23 | Fishing | 24,343 |
24 | Art | 21,567 |
25 | Lifesaving | 20,748 |
26 | Shotgun Shooting | 19,703 |
27 | Space Exploration | 18,994 |
28 | Mammal Study | 18,715 |
29 | Geology | 18,674 |
30 | Climbing | 18,356 |
31 | Indian Lore | 17,003 |
32 | Astronomy | 15,702 |
33 | Basketry | 15,406 |
34 | Robotics | 15,031 |
35 | Aviation | 14,347 |
36 | Small Boat Sailing | 14,182 |
37 | Pioneering | 13,870 |
38 | Game Design | 13,810 |
39 | Photography | 13,550 |
40 | Metalwork | 12,990 |
41 | Weather | 12,690 |
42 | Geocaching | 12,604 |
43 | Engineering | 11,773 |
44 | Fire Safety | 11,746 |
45 | Orienteering | 11,742 |
46 | Fish & Wildlife Management | 11,615 |
47 | Nature | 11,586 |
48 | Forestry | 11,456 |
49 | Welding | 10,656 |
50 | Music | 10,592 |
51 | Chemistry | 10,248 |
52 | Automotive Maintenance | 10,205 |
53 | Search and Rescue | 10,107 |
54 | Motor Boating | 9,517 |
55 | Soil and Water Conservation | 9,484 |
56 | Moviemaking | 9,262 |
57 | Electricity | 9,245 |
58 | Digital Technology | 8,768 |
59 | Sculpture | 8,715 |
60 | Horsemanship | 8,641 |
61 | Rowing | 8,239 |
62 | Pottery | 7,940 |
63 | Oceanography | 7,763 |
64 | Electronics | 7,524 |
65 | Signs, Signals and Codes | 7,364 |
66 | Sustainability | 7,295 |
67 | Snow Sports | 7,267 |
68 | Hiking | 7,084 |
69 | Public Speaking | 7,035 |
70 | Pulp and Paper | 6,879 |
71 | Archaeology | 6,876 |
72 | Crime Prevention | 6,721 |
73 | Nuclear Science | 6,702 |
74 | Railroading | 6,663 |
75 | Sports | 6,556 |
76 | Reptile and Amphibian Study | 6,053 |
77 | Scouting Heritage | 5,916 |
78 | Salesmanship | 5,908 |
79 | Radio | 5,840 |
80 | Cycling | 5,742 |
81 | Traffic Safety | 5,689 |
82 | American Heritage | 5,496 |
83 | Animation | 5,462 |
84 | Law | 5,402 |
85 | Disabilities Awareness | 5,239 |
86 | Genealogy | 5,213 |
87 | Woodwork | 5,212 |
88 | Bird Study | 4,965 |
89 | Mining in Society | 4,673 |
90 | Fly Fishing | 4,597 |
91 | Plumbing | 4,398 |
92 | Pets | 4,289 |
93 | Scholarship | 4,171 |
94 | Collections | 4,140 |
95 | Programming | 4,138 |
96 | Coin Collecting | 3,930 |
97 | Animal Science | 3,848 |
98 | Architecture | 3,654 |
99 | Medicine | 3,561 |
100 | Reading | 3,524 |
101 | Backpacking | 3,498 |
102 | Entrepreneurship | 3,473 |
103 | Home Repairs | 3,432 |
104 | Inventing | 3,296 |
105 | Safety | 3,280 |
106 | Golf | 3,248 |
107 | Painting | 3,222 |
108 | Dentistry | 3,135 |
109 | Graphic Arts | 3,066 |
110 | Water Sports | 2,966 |
111 | Whitewater | 2,832 |
112 | Athletics | 2,754 |
113 | Energy | 2,749 |
114 | Dog Care | 2,661 |
115 | Insect Study | 2,644 |
116 | Model Design and Building | 2,564 |
117 | Truck Transportation | 2,466 |
118 | Veterinary Medicine | 2,451 |
119 | Theater | 2,332 |
120 | Farm Mechanics | 2,307 |
121 | American Cultures | 2,298 |
122 | Textile | 2,205 |
123 | Plant Science | 2,107 |
124 | Exploration | 2,090 |
125 | Scuba Diving | 1,842 |
126 | Public Health | 1,798 |
127 | Skating | 1,785 |
128 | Landscape Architecture | 1,483 |
129 | Gardening | 1,450 |
130 | Composite Materials | 1,407 |
131 | Journalism | 1,127 |
132 | Drafting | 1,119 |
133 | Stamp Collecting | 954 |
134 | American Labor | 901 |
135 | Surveying | 863 |
136 | American Business | 613 |
137 | Bugling | 454 |
138 | Cinematography | 231 |
139 | Computers | 207 |
How the BSA benefits every time you hear God Bless America 2/03/2016
Berlin released God Bless America in 1938 (though he had written it two decades earlier). In 1940, he established the God Bless America Fund, setting aside the songs royalties for the benefit of the youth of America, according to this story in The New York Times. The funds two major beneficiaries: Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in New York.
And so, for the past 75 years, every time God Bless America has been performed, a portion of the royalties have gone to the Greater New York Councils (which covers the 5 boroughs of NYC) of the Boy Scouts of America.
During the last 5 years of the Cultural Marxism takeover of the BSA I recall reading an article that said that the GBA Fund board of directors were threatening to withhold its customary funding of the BSA if it didn't change its membership rules to permit openly homosexual youths and adults.
The Head of the Boy Scouts Just Apologized After Trump's National Jamboree Speech
"... I want to extend my sincere apologies to those in our Scouting family who were offended by the political rhetoric that was inserted into the jamboree. That was never our intent. The invitation for the sitting U.S. President to visit the National Jamboree is a long-standing tradition that has been extended to the leader of our nation that has had a Jamboree during his term since 1937. It is in no way an endorsement of any person, party or policies. For years, people have called upon us to take a position on political issues, and we have steadfastly remained non-partisan and refused to comment on political matters. We sincerely regret that politics were inserted into the Scouting program."
Many of us regarded that “apology” as we regarded Obama’s 8-year apology/Presidency.
Boys need action and adventure (and so do some of us girls).
If boys don’t experience action and adventure through something like scouting, they might look for it somewhere else, sometimes in the wrong places.
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