Posted on 10/30/2002 3:39:31 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - The assistant Scoutmaster of a Pacific Northwest Boy Scout troop is currently faced with the decision of professing his belief in a "supreme being" or facing banishment from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). However, 19-year-old Darrel Lambert said he's been an atheist since the ninth grade and he's sticking to his convictions.
Lambert's track record with the Seattle-based Troop 1531 is impressive. Throughout his 10-year scouting career he earned 37 merit badges to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout; served as a quartermaster and three-time senior patrol leader; and has dedicated himself to more than 1,000 hours of community service.
But Lambert is also passionate in his rejection of the existence of any supreme being, even though the BSA's regional Chief Seattle Council informed him that expressing a reverence for Mother Earth would be an acceptable form of worship.
Although Lambert admitted to his scout troop's review board that, for years, he had intentionally neglected to demonstrate the principles of faith and reverence to God contained within the Scout Oath and Law, he was awarded the BSA's highest honor last year - Eagle Scout. Coincidentally, his mom is the Scoutmaster of that troop.
Mark Hunter, spokesman for the BSA's regional Chief Seattle Council, said he could not comment or speculate whether Trish Lambert influenced members of the Eagle Scout review board that approved her son's Eagle Scout application, which mandates all applicants must: "Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life."
Ironically, Lambert addressed parents Monday night in the basement of a chapel at a retirement home, the Seattle Times reported. He urged those in attendance to look beyond the issue of his atheism and support his proven dedication to the Boy Scouts.
"I think the only power higher than myself is the power of all of us combined," Lambert said.
Additionally, Lambert said he wants to see the 92-year-old BSA repeal its national membership requirements, which includes on its application a Declaration of Religious Principle. He proposed that individual troops be given the right to devise the standards by which they extend their membership to Scouts and adult leaders.
Hunter said Lambert would be permitted to continue his leadership role and interact with members of Troop 1531 while he takes some time to "search out his feelings on this."
"If they're truly what they are," Hunter said, "his membership will be terminated."
Atheism rejected in court
A similar battle erupted in 1991 when twins, Michael and William Randall, refused to recite the Boy Scout Oath's reference to God and faced expulsion from the Orange County, Calif., Boy Scouts Council, said BSA spokesman Gregg Shields.
"At the time, they were eight-years-old ... and they said they were agnostics," Shields noted. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary defines an agnostic as "a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable."
The Randall twins' father, an attorney, argued a successful seven-year case in an Orange County district court only to have it overturned by the Calif. State Supreme Court in 1998.
Shields said the twins fulfilled all of the requirements to become Eagle Scouts, but since the Calif. Supreme Court ruled that the BSA could legally refuse to accept them as members, they were never awarded with the BSA's highest honor.
Teenage rebellion normal
"We recognize that in your early teenage years you go through a formative period where you question and you prod beliefs and you think about and you explore ideas," Shields said. "That's natural and to be expected."
But Shields said Lambert is now an adult who has chosen to lead a group that requires its young members and adult leaders to believe in a supreme being. He stressed that the organization places a high importance on the spiritual development of scouts to recognize a being greater than themselves.
"We expect an adult has the ability to make their own mind up about a belief," Shields said. "If one doesn't agree with the Boy Scout belief system, then perhaps boy scouting is not for that person."
E-mail a news tip to Michael L. Betsch.
Send a Letter to the Editor about this article.
2. I never said non-believers would be cast into a lake of fire - God did.
3. Your assumption that I would kill others for my Christian belief is irrational and indicates a clear midunderstanding of the faith. There is a greater likelihood that I would be killed for my faith.
4. You're right, it's not worth fighting over since no one comes to the Father except the Spirit draws him.
I don't see from your reasoning why the BSA is being dishonest. I can see where you say that they are not being Christian, but then the BSA is not a Christian organization, so I don't see where that's a criticism.
So, the surest bet is to choose the religion that has the WORST hell. At least if your wrong, you won't go to the worst one :)
Perhaps, but that's beside the point I made, isn't it?
One of my favorite jokes, but when I tell it he's gonna be a Jesuit.
Zon: Arcane comment about date of birth, but so be it. Not every person grow wiser with age. Bill Gates, Ray Kroc, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison etc. are a few examples you may have heard of before -- there's several magnitudes more little-known self-leaders. You're welcome to think of self-leaders as hermits if that's all your age allows, since apparently according to you, you're limited by your age -- as best as I can decipher. 51
If Bill Gates is your idol, you GOTTA be young (and dare I say shallow?).
I have no idols. Followers have idols. I do know people older than myself and older than you that respect Bill Gates as a self-leader. BTW, how many jobs have you created? How much have your efforts increased the prosperity of others and society?
Laugh out loud! That's one approach.
Kind of like a story I read once about a bag that contained 100 beans- 50 lucky/50 unlucky. The poor sap reasoned that if he could determine when he had eaten one extra unlucky bean than lucky ones, he could then eat the whole bag and have one sure fire lucky day. The first bean he eats, he gets into an accident and breaks his leg. He figures that must have been an unlucky bean so he then eats the whole bag. Wakes up months later in the hospital after being in a calamitous accident. Turns out the original accident was a stroke of good fortune that prevented him from being killed in his place of employment so when he ate the whole bag of beans he was setting himself up for failure. D'oh!
So, am a I Christian or not? And is this really for you to decide? I was Baptised because I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal saviour.
2. I never said non-believers would be cast into a lake of fire - God did.
I never said you did say this did I? Why are you taking my general observations and statements so personally?
3. Your assumption that I would kill others for my Christian belief is irrational and indicates a clear midunderstanding of the faith. There is a greater likelihood that I would be killed for my faith.
Whoa lady! When did I ever say that? Don't put words in my mouth. There are many muslims out there that are fanatical in their desire to kill for their religion- true or not? Why did you assume I meant you?
Also, to touch on this point again, I never stated my personal beliefs in this thread. The fact is you don't know whether I am a Christian or not, but you are all too ready to assume I've "rejected" something. Just because I'm arguing from a non-believer's viewpoint doesn't mean anything. It is an acceptable (and healthy too) practice to take the Devil's Advocate position in a discussion. Examining only one side of the argument is a flawed technique. I was trying to point out the flaw in Pascal's wager and you seem to take it personal for some reason. To a non-believer (especially one who had never been a believer) all religions must seem equally bewildering- particularly because they all claim to be the one true religion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.