No atheists, no homosexuals, no merit for the Boy Scouts

Last week, Darrell Lambert, an Eagle Scout in Washington state, was expelled by the Scouts because he failed to declare belief in a supreme being in accordance with Boy Scout policy. Lambert had earned 37 merit badges, worked more than 1,000 hours of community service, and helped lead a Boy Scout troop in his hometown.

The Boy Scouts of America serve a valuable purpose in shaping the lives of young people. But its continued policy of discriminating against atheists and homosexuals diminishes the organization's value and reputation. And it could - and should - cost it funding down the line.

On membership applications, Boy Scouts and adult leaders must say that they recognize a higher power, not necessarily religious. Lambert had disclosed his atheism to Scout leaders last year in his Eagle Scout application, but he still received the award. The current dispute arose last month, when Lambert got into an argument with a Scout leader at a Scout training seminar as to whether the Scouts should expel atheists.

As a private organization, the group can set its own membership criteria and exclude certain groups from membership. It does exclude gays and atheists. In 2000, the United States Supreme Court in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale confirmed that the BSA is a private organization that could exclude homosexuals pursuant to its First Amendment right of expressive association.

In response, many cities and towns withdrew public funds from Scout troops and barred them from using publicly owned spaces for their meetings. More than 300 school districts nationwide, including New York, Oakland, and San Francisco, dropped sponsorships of the Scouts and no longer provided Scout advisers and organizational help.

In response, Congress passed the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, which mandated that local school authorities must grant access to the Scouts despite local policies banning discriminatory groups from meeting on school grounds. While schools must give access, however, they are not required to sponsor Scout activities.

Many angry Eagle Scouts, both gay and straight, sent their merit badges back to BSA headquarters to protest the Supreme Court decision. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg resigned from the BSA advisory board to protest the group's discrimination against gays.

Last month, protesters in Savannah, Ga., called for a repeal of the Scouts' anti-gay policy and called on the group to stop accepting United Way funds. Also, the faculty at Hamilton College in New York passed a motion encouraging the college to stop giving institutional support to the Utica United Way, which funds the local BSA chapter.

Exclusion of atheists and homosexuals has denied many kids and teenagers access to scouting programs. It also has led to the loss of many volunteers who would be terrific mentors, role models, and leaders of young people.

Meanwhile, this battle will continue on a local level. Religious leaders, community leaders, politicians, and the media must have the courage to take an unpopular stand and speak out against the Boy Scouts on this issue. Businesses and organizations that fund BSA, such as the United Way (which has an anti-discrimination policy) should stop contributing funds to the BSA as long as it keeps current discriminatory policies intact. Several United Way chapters across the country have done so already.

If the Boy Scouts had a policy excluding, say, African Americans, Jews, Muslims, or Hispanics, you could bet there'd be a huge outcry. Organizations representing these and other racial, religious and ethnic minorities should speak out loud and clear against the Boy Scouts.

Meanwhile, another good Scout leader is lost. Darrell Lambert, with an exemplary record of scouting and community service, reportedly doesn't smoke, drink alcohol, or take drugs. He has been a quartermaster and three-time senior patrol leader, an assistant scoutmaster, and a field leader in training as part of the Search and Rescue Program. Under current Boy Scout rules, a crack-smoking, al-Qaeda-supporting, wife-beating member of the Ku Klux Klan would be fine as a scoutmaster, but Lambert isn't.

The Boy Scouts achieves much good - but its policies of intolerance and discrimination deserve no merit badge.

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Larry Atkins (larryLTatkins@aol.com) is a lawyer and writer who lives in Philadelphia.

>>Tell you what. After 10 years as a Scouter, I'll say that although you may not like Hillary's tone, her facts are on target. Scouting is especially hit with this by female single parents who are looking for a good male role model for their sons, so they put them in Scouting.<<

If you heard me arguing against those facts, you read things I NEVER SAID.

I never argued against that, and you have missed my point entirely.

My point was that Hillary and the left RIDICULE the nuclear family and advocate gay adoption and same-sex marriage. Of that there is no doubt.

Please re-read my post. Sheeeesh.

Actually, I've known a number of single guys in Scouting, and know a bunch still. They're all guys who were heavily involved in Scouting as youth and just stayed in once they aged out of the youth side of the program. And I assure you that none of them are gay. Let's just say that I've been involved with some off-the-reservation-and-out-of-uniform outings with them....

You are quite right in your description of the Buddhists' doctrine. But his simply makes my point: reverence in the BSA oath is not necessarily "reverence toward God."

You are quite right in your description of the Buddhists' doctrine. But his simply makes my point: reverence in the BSA oath is not necessarily "reverence toward God."

True enough. In the context of the Scout Oath you are required to say "God", but it is understood (and stated explicitly in BSA literature) that this doesn't mean you are pledging that you recognize any particular deity or deities, as long as you follow some kind of religious creed. It doesn't even have to be a recognized or organized religion.

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