Penn & Teller Take On Boy Scouts

courant.com ^ | April 3 06 | Hartford Courant

[churchillbuff]

On premium cable, "Penn & Teller" (Showtime, 10 p.m.) starts a fourth season by taking on the Boy Scouts of America, charging their anti-gay bias came after the Mormons hijacked the organization in the '70s. Brash humor keeps this lively series from becoming too strident

[RonF]

The BSA's ban on "avowed" gays did not come about in the 1970's. It has been it's policy from the beginning. It's just that until recently, no one with any common sense considered that it was necessary to actually put it in writing, any more than you would need to write down that felons should be banned from leadership. Once lawsuits were brought, the BSA wrote down what everyone already knew. The BSA's Federal charter states that it is to operate by the principles and rules in effect on it's Federal incorporation date (2/8/1916, IIRC). Openly professing homosexuals surely weren't allowed to be Scout leaders in 1916.

The Mormons joined the BSA because of it's policies; the BSA didn't form those policies to attract the Mormons.

[Join Or Die]

As I've said 2 or 3 times already, PRIVATE organizations are welcome to discriminate however they please. The BSA is NOT a private organization, they've been taking government handouts since the early 1900's and continue to do so today.

[TheForceOfOne]

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Jim Robinson

[mad_as_he$$]

Are you saying the Mormons still operate their private Army? They were quit active in the late 1800's.

[TChris]

The BSA is NOT a private organization, they've been taking government handouts since the early 1900's and continue to do so today.

The Boy Scouts of America most certainly is a private organization. Your ranting against that fact does not change it.

If taking government handouts stripped a private entity of its rights, then every person who has ever received a tax refund while making less than $60,000 a year would have no individual rights remaining. "Government Handouts" is the way the IRS does business.

Oh, and where's the evidence of your assertion that the BSA has "been taking government handouts" in the first place? Am I to believe that just because you say so?

[jimfree]

I don't always like what Penn and Teller have to say, but I thought the show debunking 9/11 conspiracies was outstanding. WARNING!!! The video at the following link has very bad language.

DO NOT GO TO THE LINK if you are offended by bad language.

http://luckydawgnews.com/911conspiracybs.html

Wow! Very impressive.

[Join Or Die]

I call 'em as I see 'em, and on this site I see lots and lots of hateful Christians.

I'm on this site because I am a very conservative person on almost every issue, I am not however religious, and I find many ideas expressed by Christians on this site to be antithical to what I consider freedom and liberty and I have no problem saying it out loud, it just happens I'm a minority here.

[FreedomSurge]

The one who talks is a militant atheist.

[TheForceOfOne]

You don't have a problem with me, you have a problem with the objective of the website which is pro-God.

[Myrddin]

I think Penn and Teller have chosen to attack the Mormons because LDS troops are sponsored exclusively by the church. Most troops are very small as they are drawn from a single ward of nominally 500 people. Leadership positions are drawn from ward members called by the Bishop. The scout organization is entirely private, screened by the Bishop and inaccessible to outside homosexuals that desire positions of leadership. Meetings occur in the ward building, so they can't attack the meeting place as being financed with "public" money.

I've never found their brand of "humor" particularly funny. They can pound sand.

[Junior_G]

For the most part, I like what Penn and Teller have done with their show; but when their irrational hatred of Christianity comes to the fore, I tune out.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.
"An Eagle Scout who completes Basic Training is made an E-3, not an E-1, upon completion."

That must be something new. How on earth did it slip by the PC DOD people?

Back in the day the platoon's highest scoring recruit after Basic made PFC while everyone else made E-2. I didn't make E-3 until after jump school, though I did make E-6 under three years. Promotion after E-2 was by time in grade and merit.

I got kicked out of the scouts in my first year for disobeying an order from the scoutmaster to stay in the shallow end of the pool when I already swam like a fish. I've always thought that the fact that my single mother refused to go out with the ex Marine scoutmaster had something to do with it.

Michael Frazier

[madconservative]

"even though experts say that homosexuals are no more likely to be pedophiles than heterosexuals"

A.) one can find an expert to say anything.

B.) even if it is true that homosexuals are not any more likely to be pedophiles (and I have my doubts), it is not relevant. I assure you that the same people who advocate the ban on homosexual scout leaders would also ban adult straight men being in charge of groups of young girls.

[Skooz]

I call 'em as I see 'em, and on this site I see lots and lots of hateful Christians.

Hateful = Has the audacity to disagree with me.

That's the same critera liberals use for "hate."

[madconservative]

I, as a conservative Christian, am glad you expressed your opinion. It will keep us mindful of how we choose our words. I would ask that you try to keep in mind that even the most ardent follower of Christ slips evry now and then.

Often, hateful speech is the most seemingly cathardic response to an attack (whether real or merely perceived). I have been guilty of this, as I am sure you have.

All that having been said, disagreement over morality in and of itself is not hateful.

[Myrddin]

Uh, Penn was a Scout. He is crticizing the change the BSA has undergone since the Mormon takeover.

I became an Eagle Scout in April 1972. My troop was sponsored by PTA at an elementary school. The only difference I could see between my troop and the ones sponsored by LDS wards is a higher percentage of Eagle Scouts from the LDS wards. A smaller troop allows the leaders more time for guidance. The downside is that the smaller troop misses out on leadership skills and a breadth of age/skill that comes with a larger organization.

My dad was an Eagle Scout. My nephew in San Diego just passed his board of review last month.

[madconservative]

Arrrgghhh! What horrible spelling in that last post. Sorry for not proofreading first.

[Myrddin]

My sons have been members of both the LDS ward sponsored troop and an RCC sponsored troop. I encouraged my son to join the RCC troop to improve the breadth of age/experience within the troop membership and to seek leadership opportunities that simply weren't available in the LDS troop. My patrol at the PTA sponsored troop was larger than the whole troop at the LDS ward.

I was a member of a troop sponsored by a Methodist church in Springfield, VA. Our troop members included a wide variety of protestant denominations, Catholic and Jewish. The scout summer camp provided services for each and every faith present at the camp.

[Robwin]

***Penn & Teller are libertarians, hence why they go after the lunatic left and the lunatic right*** I see. And just where in that does the BSA fall?

[mugs99]

I assure you that the same people who advocate the ban on homosexual scout leaders would also ban adult straight men being in charge of groups of young girls.

Good point.
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