Posted on 11/18/2002 7:33:17 AM PST by 2banana
No atheists, no homosexuals, no merit for the Boy Scouts
By Larry Atkins
The Boy Scouts are at it again.
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.
This atheist agrees with you; Lambert gives atheists a bad name.
This is the most common tactic of the pro-perversion crowd, because the by-laws dont specifically exclude murderers they too must be welcome in the Scouts, a point Justice Scalia made in Dale v. BSA. The truth is if National or Council got wind of avowed or closeted crack smokers, Al-Quaeda or wife beaters unrepentant of their behaviors they too would be expelled. The problem is, those things are kept secret and therefor some pseudo-intellectuals demagogue that the BSA accepts crack smokers, Al-Quaeda, wife beaters and of course homosexuals. Isnt moral relativism fun?
I would never dream of suggesting that this writer should be banned from HIS constitutional rights because he is stupid. I will defend to the death his right to be stupid. And every step of the way I will point out that he is dumb as a bag of hammers and shifty as a snake in bacon grease.
I speak as an Eagle Scout with two palms, Order of the Arrow, and Junior Assistant Scoutmaster, who has the greatest respect for the program of Scouting, exactly as it has always been conducted. A Scout is: "Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, thifty, obedient, cheerful, brave, clean and reverent."
I point out in passing that it's pretty hard for a lawyer, or a politician, to live up to that list of 12 characteristics. Maybe the writer would be more content with: "Dishonest, disloyal, harmful, hostile, unfriendly, discourteous, unkind, profligate, disobedient, morose, cowardly, dirty, and profane." He could form his own organization; I even have a name for it: "The Democrat Scouts of America."
Congressman Billybob
Yep, those are definately the sort of roll models I would pick for my kids < / sarcasm off >
This is one of the more damaging aspects of left-wing ideology. What makes this statement particularly idiotic is that it sees the "end-products" of a private organization (access to scouting programs, access to volunteers who serve as mentors, role models, etc.) and automatically assumes that there is a vital public interest at stake that requires an adversarial response.
Also, these people will never accept the notion that it is entirely possible that the "exclusion of atheists and homosexuals" is precisely what makes scouting such an effective means of providing leadership, mentoring, etc. to young people.
What point are the libs trying to make when they openly advocate discriminating against the boy scouts because they feel the boy scouts discriminate against gays and atheists? The lack of logic in this "discriminate against the discriminators" argument is self evident. What astounds is the disconnect in the liberals who fail to see the contradiction here. Sometimes the BS gets so deep you need wings to stay above it.
Not exactly. With this last comment he should lose all credibility, but he won't.
Bad on the scouts.
Meanwhile, this battle will continue on a local level
Where it belongs.
Meanwhile, another good Scout leader is lost.
While this may be true, the BSA has every right to set their own membership criteria.
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
Note that the Boy Scout Oath has traditionally been considered to have three promises. Those three promises are delineated by the semicolons in the Oath, which divide it into three clauses. The three promises of the Scout Oath are, therefore:
DUTY TO GOD AND COUNTRY: Your FAMILY and religious leaders teach you to know and serve God. By following these teachings, you do your duty to God.
Men and women of the past worked to make America great, and many gave their lives for their country. By being a good family member and a good citizen, by working for your country's good and obeying its laws, you do your duty to your country. Obeying the Scout Law means living by its 12 points.
DUTY TO OTHER PEOPLE: Many people need help. A cheery smile and a helping hand make life easier for others. By doing a Good Turn daily and helping when you're neded, you prove yourself a Scout and do your part to make this a better world.
DUTY TO SELF: Keeping yourself physically strong means taking care of your body. Eat the right foods and build your strength. Staying mentally awake means learn all you can, be curious, and ask questions. Being morally straight means to live your life with honesty, to be clean in your speech and actions, and to be a person of strong character.
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