DAMNING THE SCOUTS

New York Post ^ | 11/18/04 | COLLIN LEVEY

[kattracks]

THE new big threat to our civil liberties is a group of 10-year-olds with walking sticks.

At least, that's the message from the American Civil Liberties Union, which just chalked up its latest knockdown of the Boy Scouts: Via a lawsuit in Illinois, the once-proud civil-liberties group has strong-armed the Department of Defense into a worldwide ban on "sponsorship" by military bases of the charity's work.

The ACLU demanded the ban because Boy Scouts take a generic oath of faith in God. The decision still lets military personnel be involved with the Scouts on their own time, but it sends a loud message to Scout leadership that sounds something like "Pblllttt."

But then, blowing raspberries at the Boy Scouts is a top priority for the modern ACLU. In 2000, it fought all the way to the Supreme Court in a failed effort to force the organization to accept openly gay scoutmasters. "The ACLU is like a rabid dog when it comes to the Boy Scouts," says Boy Scouts national spokesman Robert Bork. If this keeps up, he adds, "pretty soon they'll come after the Marines for Semper Fidelis."

[snip]

The Founding Fathers wanted to keep Americans free from religious persecution, but the ACLU has turned that impulse into an excuse to carry out its own persecutions in the name of anti-religion, regardless of the cost to schools, kids and the Boy Scouts.

[snip]

Far from inculcating one religion, the Boy Scouts offer merit badges for learning about a rainbow coalition of religions — from Mormons and Muslims to Hindus, Buddhists and Zoroastrians.

[Dec31,1999]

Funny, I was just going to post the same editorial. Thanks for beating me to it.

[sociotard]

y'know, if a military base sponsored a gay support group, the aclu would be thrilled. It's great, as far as they're concerned, for gay's to be in the closet. But believe in a higher power? oooooh, those kind of people need to keep their lifestyles where nobody can see them.

Now I'm curious about how the aclu feels about alcoholics anonymous. Isn't one of their steps belief in a a higher power?

[Ophiucus]

It is sad these attacks on the Scouts. I was a Boy Scout growing up and it was a powerful positive experience. never was a single complaint made about the reference to God in the oath and the strong values at the core of Scouting kept a couple of the boys in my troop from a future in jail. For the rest, it strengthened the appreciation of honesty, hard work, and community in life.

[MarineBrat]

It wouldn't be possible for me to have a lower opinion of the ACLU! If I had one of thier offices around here I'd probably get myself in trouble! :(

[Ophiucus]

Now I'm curious about how the aclu feels about alcoholics anonymous. Isn't one of their steps belief in a a higher power?

In a way, yes, it is.

In keeping with that point, have you noticed the constant attacks by the Left on the efficacy of AA? After all, AA commits the crimes of faith, personal responsibility, personal culpability, and the power of the individual to solve his own problems.

Can't have that, can we? Excluding the role of Big Government is shameful.

[huac]

This is not the first time that the organized Left has found the Boy Scouts offensive. The delegates booed a BSA honor guard at the 2000 Democratic Convention:

" Eagle Scouts have earned the highest rank in scouting. When a group of them took the stage at the Democratic National Convention, delegates booed."

( http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/18/81224 )

About the only "boys" group the Left supports is the child molestation organization NAMBLA:

"...Hormel Library, which contains pornographic pictures and stories, as well as material linked to the North-American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). [Source: Family Research Council’s LEGISLATIVE HOTLINE, Friday, March 13, 1998]"

( http://www.e-z.net/wtv/__bw-fed_98Hormel_Ambassadorship_Feb.htm )

Incidentally, NAMBLA has met in the very libraries where the Boy Scouts are outlawed:

“An organization dedicated to helping its members meet children and then
molest them without getting caught holds its regular monthly meetings in
a branch of the San Francisco Public Library. We're talking about children
as young as three years old.”

( http://www.qrd.org/qrd/orgs/NAMBLA/nambla-KRON.transcript )

All together now: Thank you ACLU for defending our rights (against the Boy Scouts of America).

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

effort to force the organization to accept openly gay scoutmasters

As one Freeper put it,

Just which part of "WE DON'T WANT TO SEND OUR SONS INTO THE WOODS AT NIGHT WITH HOMOSEXUALS" don't you understand??

[carumba]

They want to change the Boy Scouts to fit their agenda. If they don't get their way they still get to stir up controversy and do their thing which is run to the courts and litigate. If they get their way the sponsors that are offended will leave and organize something else. The Boy Scout camps, leases in national forests, and holdings fall to the leftest who hate the thought of anybody but themselves (tree huggers) entering into the wilderness.

[redtiecav]

My son belongs to the Young Marines. This group also includes God in their pledge and is sponsored by the Marines. They meet at the local Marine base. My son is worried that his group might be next. By the way, my older son is fighting in Iraq right now so that our kids can have the freedome to join what ever group they desire.....

[Tailgunner Joe]

"If a State refused to let religious groups use facilities open to others, then it would demonstrate not neutrality but hostility toward religion." - Board of Education v. Mergens

[OESY]

Funny, I was just going to post the same editorial. Thanks for beating me to it.

Me too. Nice job.

I would add only the following quote:

Reasonable people might wonder where the discrimination really lies. The more pressing concern for civil-rights advocates in a wealthy democracy should be for the children who aren't getting the education, support and moral training they need. But that doesn't seem to have the same frisson for the ACLU, or for congressional Democrats who've clambered onto the bandwagon against the Scouts.... Who's most at risk here? The same minority communities that have supported parochial school choice. For many underprivileged families, the Boy Scouts offers a fun and wholesome way to make friends and have experiences outside their usual neighborhoods. That's a wonderful thing for parents working two jobs and trying to do right by their kids.

[ride the whirlwind]

[A. Patriot]

Homosexual leaders in the Boy Scouts would destroy the organization. This is the intent.

[huac]

C'mon, you arent actually making the outrageous claim that the Scouts should have at least as many rights as the world renowned pedophile group NAMBLA, are you? I agree that the BSA are nothing but a front group for the Chrisitan Coalition, what with the whole G** word in their oath. And NAMBLA has to meet somewhere, right? It makes sense, the public library, where better to pick up young boys. Hanging around the playground in a trench coat with a bag of candy is so cliche, so 70's.
(On a serious note, the Left has no respect for the Constitution. I'm not surprised that they have no respect for laws which emanate from the system it created).

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Don't forget than when the NJ Supreme Court ruled that the Scouts had to accept homosexual scoutmasters, the USSC overrode them by only a 5-4 majority.

Is that scary or what? If Dubya gets bad advice (like his Dad got from his chief of staff Sununu) and "pulls another Souter" when replacing Rehnquist, the Boy Scouts will cease to exist.