North Carolina Megachurch Cuts Ties With Boy Scouts Over Transgender Policy

The Christian Post ^ | 2/22/2017 | Michael Gryboski

[Gamecock]

A multi-site megachurch based in North Carolina has decided to sever its ties with the Boy Scouts of America over the youth group's new transgender policy.

Manna Church of Fayetteville is planning to stop sponsoring Boy Scout Troop 957 sometime this summer, according to local media outlet WNCN CBS North Carolina.

"Church officials at Manna Church have been very tight-lipped about this decision. However, a Cub Scout leader told CBS North Carolina that Manna Church participation with Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts would end this coming summer," reported WNCN.

A spokesperson for Manna Church told The Christian Post on Wednesday they had no further comment at this time.

Last month, the Boy Scouts of America announced they were going to allow girls who self-identified as boys to become members of their organization.

image: http://d.christianpost.com/full/104383/295-126/manna-church.png

(Photo: Screengrab/YouTube/CBS North Carolina)Manna Church campus in Fayetteville, North Carolina, seen in this undated photo.

"For more than 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America, along with schools, youth sports and other youth organizations, have ultimately deferred to the information on an individual's birth certificate to determine eligibility for our single-gender programs," stated the Scouts.

"However, that approach is no longer sufficient as communities and state laws are interpreting gender identity differently, and these laws vary widely from state to state."

As with the Scouts' recent decisions on allowing openly gay members and scout leaders, the move did provide exemptions for religious groups opposed to transgenderism.

In a statement emailed to CP, Effie Delimarkos, director of communications for the Boy Scouts of America, stressed this point of religious exemption for the church-sponsored troops.

"Our religious chartered organizations continue to have the right to make decisions based on religious beliefs and we will work with families to find local scouting units that are the best fit for their children," stated Delimarkos.

"If a religious organization declines to accept a youth or adult application based on their religious beliefs, we ask that they please notify their local council so that a unit open to accepting the individual can be offered as an option."

Another spokesman for the BSA told CP that the youth organization was unaware of any other churches that had decided to sever ties since the announcement of the new transgender policy.

"Over the past few weeks, a variety of religious institutions, including The United Methodist Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Union for Reform Judaism, Catholic Committee on Scouting, and the Association of Baptist Scouters, have shared letters of support acknowledging this decision does not impact how their organizations deliver Scouting," explained the spokesman.

[Gamecock]

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[Quality_Not_Quantity]

Good for them. It’s about time we quit kowtowing to the World in the name of ‘evangelization.’

[grania]

I hope sanity returns. As I stated on another thread: If these people can’t or won’t accept the body they were born with, why should we accept them?

[Hyman Roth]

My sons were in this pack when they were in scouts. Glad to see they told them to shove it.

[Hyman Roth]

Clarification: I am glad the Church told them to shove it.

[stylin19a]

I wonder why they didn’t cut ties when BSA went gay ?

[onedoug]

Thank Rex.
I wouldn’t have done it.

[bigbob]

Sounds like an opportunity knocking...

Who will start the “MAGA Scouts”?

The template exists,it only worked for the Boy Scouts for about 90years. God and Country-centric, respectful of tradional values, patriotic.

Proposed new motto: “Be Prepared to Win”

[relictele]

"Effie Delimarkos has been named Communications Director for the Boy Scouts of America’s National Service Center, effective April 25. She joins the BSA after spending the previous 14 years in a number of public relations and marketing communication roles, including at Ketchum Public Relations; Johnson & Johnson; Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide; and, most recently, as director – corporate reputation at Golin. Over the years, her clients have included a range of corporate, food, sustainability, and retail brands. Effie has extensive experience in developing integrated marketing communications that increase brand awareness and reputation, as well as in executing communications strategies to support business objectives. In her role at the National Service Center, she will lead a team of communications professionals and external agencies charged with telling the Scouting story, managing crisis communications, and driving awareness of Scouting programs amongst employees, volunteers, the media, and families of current and potential Scouts. (For all crisis communications assistance, please continue to submit your requests to PR@scouting.org) Effie is a graduate of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and International Business. She and her husband, David Fletcher, live in Frisco, Texas, with their son, John."

I'm guessing this corporate shill's politics are at odds with what BSA USED to represent but is happy to steer them down the path of PC ruin now.

[GCC Catholic]

Sounds like an opportunity knocking...

Who will start the “MAGA Scouts”?

The template exists,it only worked for the Boy Scouts for about 90years. God and Country-centric, respectful of tradional values, patriotic.

Proposed new motto: “Be Prepared to Win”

You pretty much described Trail Life USA, one of the groups that arose out of the BSA's previous membership standard decisions. Many of its leaders are former Scouters (and some are former professional Scouters). TLUSA is both unabashedly Christian and patriotic.

Check it out: Trail Life USA

[PCPOET7]

parents need to organize locally and start there own children groups modeled on what the boy scouts and girl scouts were fifty years ago. the organizations claiming they are the boy scouts and girl scouts would not be recognizable to those who started the organizations.

[AnalogReigns]

I wonder why they didn’t cut ties when BSA went gay ? Posting HTML

The official BSA acceptance of gays as scouts and scoutmaster was worded in a kind of "local option" way, which allowed Church-based troups to set their own standards...so while it changed the national organization BSA's standards, it didn't necessarily effect your local troup.

The wording on transgenderism though is broad--and seems to require all troups to agree.

Of course I agree with you--why would a church want to be connected to a larger organization which accepts and "celebrates" sexual perverts at all? I think it's mainly because the BSA is old, with a great reputation--and inertia kept people from leaving.

That's probably why they so quickly adobted the trany thing too.....BSA figured there'd be no mass exodus. They would be wrong though--parents will not let their sons participate in group that celebrates perversion, I predict a certain--even if slow--death for the BSA.

[stylin19a]

thanks. I didn’t know none of that. It now makes sense.
amazing what i don’t learn when i only scan headlines.

[MarchonDC09122009]

Yet again another pathetic example of red-blooded Americans tolerating the eff’ing tyranny of the sick, miniscule minority.
0.3 % of population rules our lives these days...

Estimate of US Transgender Population Doubles to 1.4 Million Adults

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/health/transgender... Proxy Highlight

Jun 30, 2016 ... As the national debate escalates over accommodations for transgender people, the new figure, though still just 0.6 percent of the adult ...
LGBT demographics of the United States - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_demographics_of_th... Proxy Highlight

The demographics of sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States have been ... estimated that 3.8 percent of Americans identified as gay/lesbian, bisexual, or transgender: 1.7 percent as lesbian or gay, 1.8 percent as bisexual, ...

Exactly Zero Point Three Percent Of Americans Are Transgender

www.dailycaller.com/2016/05/24/exactly-zero-point-thr... Proxy Highlight

May 24, 2016 ... Exactly zero point three percent of Americans are transgender, according to a 2011 report from the Williams Institute.

[Mamzelle]

The Boy Scouts need to DISBAND. Give the excellent institution s decent and honorable burial.

[Magnum44]

Boy Scouts need to DISBAND

As an Eagle Scout (1976) and life member of NESA, I would rather see the BSA leadership overthrown by its constituency, in the same manner that the election threw out the democrat sicko's, and the policies reversed back to what they once were, based on the Christian faith.

[wbill]

BSA figured there'd be no mass exodus

WBill Jr. is in Cub Scouts. The Community that we're in is *very* conservative, and thus untouched by all of this homosexual/transgender nonsense - but that doesn't stop me from keeping a close eye on things by volunteering and making sure it stays that way....

When he started a few years ago, the pack was around 40 kids. Now, it's 13. We've stopped recruiting at the schools this year, because in the two prior years, we had a total of one (1) kid show up to all of the events. I was in charge of recruiting, and believe me, it wasn't for lack of effort. There's just no interest.

All of the other cub scout packs in the area report similar issues.

I've heard a litany of excuses from various local leaders as to why the drop off... "Video Games" "Afterschool Sports" "Karate Classes" ....yeah, like none of those existed 6-7 years ago. Nope, the only thing that's changed are these new policies. Upper leadership are fools not to recognize it.

I've not pulled WBill Jr. out, because he really enjoys scouting and would look at my actions as a punishment. Additionally, we're really helping the kids who participate - the ones who don't have a Dad in the picture are especially receptive...one kid's Mom was "terrified of guns", so with her permission I taught him how to shoot. Just BB's at the camp range, and archery which I'm abysmal at, but we needed to start somewhere. Once he got over his initial fear - precipitated by his Mom, I'm sure - he had a blast. It was one of the more fun things I've done over the past year.

So - I volunteer, and work my butt off to be sure that all this homo/gender nonsense is kept at arm's length. But at this rate, there won't be any Scouting by the time my grandkid's generation comes along

[YogicCowboy]

Yes, evangelization has become deangelization.

[MacNaughton]

13 ... That's probably why they so quickly adobted the trany thing too.....BSA figured there'd be no mass exodus. They would be wrong though--parents will not let their sons participate in group that celebrates perversion, I predict a certain--even if slow--death for the BSA.

BSA's flagship program, troops for boys 11-17 years of age, has been in a constant decline since membership peaked in 1973. It has been analyzed to exhaustion, and they are well aware of it. The big bolt from BSA over homosexuality occurred during 2013-14. The National Executive Committee, i.e., ~27 volunteer national officers (virtually all executives from Fortune 500 companies), commissioned a study which predicted the worse case scenario would be a decline in overall membership (all age groups, including adults) would be ~12%. And they were fine with that. Since 2013 when BSA voted at its annual business meeting to amend the membership standard to include open homosexual youth, they went on in 2015 to vote for inclusion of open homosexual adults. Now in 2017 the transsexual barrier has fallen - they didn't even wait to put it to a vote before the annual business meeting in May.

BSA Membership Size

Youth Membership Statistics
Year Tiger/Cub/Webelos Troop
1970 2,438,000 1,916,000
2015 1,261,340 840,654
change -48.3% -56.2%

These numbers agree with you prediction that BSA is dying, but the trend has been in place for ~42 years. What would really be interesting to compare would be the U.S. Census statistics for male youths 10-15 years of age for 1970 and 2010. BSA calls this statistic TAY (Total Available Youth, which they get from local school systems). I imagine it would paint an even grimmer picture.