The UUA and the Boy Scouts of America: A Continuing Struggle for Inclusiveness

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[JCG]

	The UUA and the Boy Scouts of America: A Continuing Struggle for Inclusiveness
For more than sixteen years, the Unitarian Universalist Association has voiced its opposition to the discriminatory practices of the Boy Scouts of America. Based upon the principles which guide the Association, the UUA first protested against the BSA's discrimination against agnostic and atheist scouts, and then protested against discrimination aimed at gay scouts and scout leaders. In 1992, the UUA board of Trustees passed a resolution opposing these discriminatory practices, and in 1993 the UUA revised its Religion in Life award manual to include information on the Association's stance on these issues. The dispute with the BSA entered a new phase in May, 1998, when the BSA withdrew its authorization of the UUA's Religion in Life award because of the information in the Religion in Life manual. After a series of meetings, the Association agreed to revise its manual to remove the language the BSA found offensive and instead to inform UU scouts of its opposition to religious and sexual discrimination through other means. The BSA at first restored authorization for the award, but then rescinded its reauthorization. The UUA continues to encourage UU scouts to work for the Religion in Life emblem, to have it presented to them by their congregations, and to wear it with pride on the appropriate place on their uniforms. In June, 2000, the United States Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote overturned a unanimous ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court in the James Dale case and upheld the right of the BSA to bar from its ranks gay scouts and scout leaders. In the wake of the Dale decision, the Association has called for a halt to public funding for the BSA and a revocation of its Congressional charter. Many UU churches which have either sponsored or hosted scout troops are currently reviewing their relationships with the BSA. The links which follow will take you to an extensive collection of UUA-BSA correspondence, a selection of media coverage of this issue, and texts of legal briefs and court decisions. If you are interested in discussing UU involvement in scouting, you are invited to subscribe to the UUA-sponsored electronic mailing list "UU-Scouting." To subscribe to this list (or to any other UUA-sponsored list), please go to the UU mailing lists subscription page. Additional information will be added to this site as it becomes available. For futher information, please contact UUA Director of Information John Hurley at jhurley@uua.org or (617) 742-2100 x131. UUA Resolutions and Principles Correspondence, 1985-2000 Debates, Public Discussions, Opinions Court Cases & Briefs Media Coverage Public Actions and Witness Affiliated Organizations

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[JCG]

Welcome to what used to be called a church.

There's no need to believe in God here.

However, you must believe homosexuality's ok.

And, the last thing we want is anybody who believes in that "morally straight" bunkola.

The Slouching Toward Gomorrah continues.

America's Fifth Column ... watch PBS documentary JIHAD! In America
Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

[stands2reason]

They hated the orthodoxy: "Who're you to tell us what's right and wrong?" Yet, they create one of their own. The New Orthodoxy.

[detsaoT]

(Actually, I think calling the Unitarian Church a "Christian" organization has always been a stretch. As far back as I can tell historically, they've rejected pretty much every core Christian doctrine. The tri-une God, Christ's physical resurrection, you name it, they've rejected it.)

Their stance here is neither a surprise, nor a concern. There are so few of them that they do not matter. The BSA certainly and clearly has much more support than these people can muster.

FReegards, and Eagle Scout bump!

:) ttt

[Congressman Billybob]

Have the Universalists noticed that there is a sexual abuse problem in the Catholic Church due to the presence of homosexuals in the ranks of its leaders? It was in all the papers.

Apparently the Universalists don't think the Boy Scouts of America are holding up their end of the bargain. The BSA is shockingly behind other groups, such as public school teachers, in their rate of sexual abuse of children.

So, I'm with the Universalists. Get those homosexuals into leadership positions. Sacrifice those boys to the "god" of political correctness. (And justto be "fair," shouldn't the Catholics keep all those homosexual priests?)

,/sarcasm>

Congressman Billybob

Click here to fight Campaign Finance "Reform/".

Click here for latest: "Memo to Yasser from Irv on Career Choices."

[Irene Adler]

I was raised in the UUA. My mother's people were Universalists who had split off from the Puritans in Colonial times. Her ancestors homesteaded Illinois in the 1820s from New York State and set up a Universalist church in the Illinois town they founded. Universalists weren't always nuts. Once they affiliated with the Unitarians, all was lost. When I was grown, I couldn't get away from the UUA fast enough. What a bunch of sorry loonies.

[Loyalist]

The Unitarians are a perfect example of what Hannah Arendt called 'the banality of evil.' For all their talk of inclusiveness and inoffensiveness, they are actually quite capable of enforcing the nastiest bigoted orthodoxies on their adherents and others.

But as a group, they are still preferable to Muslims.

Unitarians have never hijacked planes and flown them into skyscrapers screaming "There may or may not be a God and all opinions about Him are equally valid!"

[EdReform]

BTTT

[Fethiye]

Oddly enough, there has been no news of (homo)sexual abuse of minors in the Unitarian/Universalist Church. Maybe, just maybe, the UUA's openness about homosexuality (unlike some other Churches we know) has something to do with that. Just a thought.