Posted on 11/19/2004 12:03:05 AM PST by churchillbuff
(CNSNews.com) - The Pentagon's decision to stop U.S. military bases from sponsoring Boy Scout troops is another example of political correctness, according to the leader of a military watchdog group, and will hurt the Defense Department's recruitment efforts in the long run.
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, told CNSNews.com Wednesday that with the Pentagon's new edict to military bases, a condition of settling a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the military is sending the wrong kind of message.
"I don't think the Department of Defense should endorse that mindset (of the ACLU) by making a deal or capitulating prior to litigation or taking a step that really would be, I think, very disturbing to the people who are the primary constituency of the military in terms of recruiting," Donnelly said.
The Boy Scouts are an independent organization that requires its members to take an oath of "duty to God." The Scouts also exclude homosexuals from leadership posts, a policy that was validated by the U.S. Supreme Court several years ago, but which sparked liberal efforts across the country to ban government support of the Scouts, both in terms of funding and access to public buildings for meetings.
The Boy Scouts also have deep historical ties to soldiering. The concept of the Boy Scouts was devised by a British general late in the 19th century as a means of relieving combat troops of the task of having to deliver messages from one fort to another.
However, the Scouting oath violates "the religious liberty of youth who wish to participate but not ... swear a religious oath," and should not be funded by the federal government or "taxpayers' dollars," an ACLU press release from Monday stated.
Donnelly suggested that the Pentagon's decision to settle won't be popular because "people don't support the ACLU" and its attempt to "eliminate ... expressions of religion by independent organizations" such as the Boy Scouts.
A backlash is sure to happen, she said, from "the people who support their sons and daughters in the decision to volunteer for the armed forces. The same type of families ... would be very disturbed to see the Department of Defense cowed by the ACLU," Donnelly said.
"Is the Department of Defense now going to treat the Boy Scouts as some kind of a pariah organization, not worthy of any kind of support?" she asked.
Damaging the link between the Boy Scouts and the military will eventually hurt the Pentagon's recruiting efforts, Donnelly said.
"Being a part of a group, wearing a uniform, accomplishing tasks ... all of these things are conducive to the kind of culture that is endemic in the military," she added. "And for a young man to go from Cub Scout to Boy Scout to Eagle Scout to the armed forces, that's a kind of lifetime progression that ... I suspect is very prevalent."
According to a Washington Times report Tuesday, however, several spokesmen for the Boy Scouts are more optimistic.
Dave McChesney, a Boy Scout executive in the San Fransisco Bay Area, reportedly said that he doubted relations between the Boy Scouts and the U.S. military would be jeopardized. "Our relations with the federal government ... [have] been fantastic. I'm sure they will remain that way," McChesney said.
In the same report, Larry Abbott, a Boy Scout official from Arizona's Grand Canyon region, also suggested that the military would remain an ally of Scouting. "We've had really good support from the military, and we're positive that will continue," Abbott said.
In a Monday press release, Adam Schwartz of the Illinois ACLU said the most important issue surrounding this latest Boy Scout-related controversy involves religious liberty.
"If our Constitution's promise of religious liberty is to be a reality, the government should not be administering religious oaths or discriminating based upon religious beliefs," Schwartz stated.
He also claimed that the American military has sponsored hundreds of Boy Scout units across the country and that the Pentagon had singled out the Boy Scouts of America and the national Boy Scout Jamboree for a $2 million federal expenditure. A settlement on the funding for the Jamboree, which was also addressed in the ACLU lawsuit, is still pending.
Members of the military may still lead Scout troops on their own time, according to the ruling, and the Boy Scouts are still permitted to meet on areas of military bases used by other civilian organizations.
God, I hope the admninistration shows more courage on that front.
If the Pentegon don't believe in Mom, apple pie, baseball, the BSA, the Flag,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Reckon an E.O. can be used to correct this nonsense?
"The settlement does not prohibit the Department of Defense from supporting the Boy Scouts of America. Boy Scout units are permitted to meet on military bases, and military personnel are allowed to remain active in Boy Scout programs," Col. Richards said.
"Under the very limited settlement applying existing DoD policy, DoD may not officially sponsor Boy Scout units and DoD personnel may not sponsor Boy Scout units in an official capacity," he said, referring to the Department of Defense. "We are still going to support the Boy Scouts of America."
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Spokespersons at Washington-area military bases said Boy Scout troops, often composed mostly of boys from military families, meet on their bases but that the troops are run by parents.
"We have a troop at Bolling, but they are not called the Bolling Boy Scouts. Parents are involved. They meet at Bolling," said Capt. Elizabeth Ortiz, spokesman for Bolling Air Force Base in the District, adding that Bolling does not sponsor the troop.
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The Boy Scouts Jamboree, which draws tens of thousands of Scouts and their leaders to Virginia's Fort A.P. Hill Army base every four years, will go on as planned this summer, despite a court settlement announced Monday that requires military bases and units to withhold official support from the Boy Scouts.
"There will be no effect on the Jamboree," said Bob Bork, national spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. "We don't anticipate any problem with that."
5
For your reading pleasure...number five in two days.
And we STILL haven't impeached Bush?!
/sarcasm
The ACLU is an evil, anti-freedom organization. Supporting them or encouraging their jihad is despicable.
Dear LTC Richards: Ever heard of the "death of a thousand cuts" concept? They (the ACLU) know it well. With respect to the BSA and ACLU, we're well into the hundreds. Every time we make a deal with the ACLU, we suffer another self-inflicted wound and the bleeding increases just a little more.
Well and truly put. The ACLU is anti-America and anti-God. The Pentagon shouldn't be giving them any victories - at least not without a fight.
My sentiments precisely.
That's right. I "keep on going" -- in opposition to the ACLU and in defense of the Boy Scouts!
Too bad shill...you're not doing very well with your mission.
Yes it's disturbing that there are a lot of people who, like you, don't care that much about the depradations of the ACLU. Our freedoms are at stake, but a lot of people don't give a d-mn.
They've only just begun. They hate America. They hate Christianity. They hate God. The Pentagon shouldn't have given them an inch - without a knock-down fight.
So why have you stopped posting your lies about the draft? You did if for a whole year. Don't you care about our kids being drafted for the President illegal war any longer?
No, there simply isn't the outrage, because this is coming from the Bush Administration. The American Legion president also asked, "where's the outrage," Joe Farah asked the same thing. As Farah pointed out, when wrong-headed policies come out of a Republican adminsitration, a lot Republicans will keep quiet instead of protest - - even though they'd be loud in protesting the very same policies if it was a Democrat who was doing it. I suspect you might be protesting this kowtow to the ACLU, if Kerry's administration were doing it. I know I would.
Close, there simply isn't the outrage because it's coming from "you". People caught on to you with your unending threads against the war and your year long campaign insisting the President was secretly bringing the draft back.
You didn't care about the kids then, you still don't.
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