Posted on 03/15/2005 10:22:16 AM PST by TheEaglehasLanded
ACLU threat causes Boy Scouts to drop public school ties Mar 9, 2005 By Jeff Robinson
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--The Boy Scouts of America is removing the charters of thousands of scouting units from public schools after an American Civil Liberties Union threat to sue taxpayer-funded institutions that charter BSA units.
The ACLU sent a letter to the Boy Scouts of America in February threatening legal action against public schools and other governmental agencies that charter Boy Scout groups on grounds that their sponsorship amounts to religious discrimination and violates the separation of church and state.
Boy Scouts open their meetings by holding three fingers aloft and repeating an oath in which members vow their allegiance to God and country, resolve to help others and commit to keeping themselves morally straight. Central to the BSA's stated mission is character development and values-based leadership training.
ACLU leaders view these conservative emphases as warrant for legal action, according to documents on the ACLU website.
While BSA is continuing to assess the number of Boy Scout and Cub Scout units that will be affected, BSA national spokesman Gregg Shields said units whose charters will be pulled from public schools would number in the thousands. BSA is America's largest youth organization that includes thousands of units and 1.3 million adult volunteers.
Defending against a wave of ACLU lawsuits would cost schools untold thousands of dollars, Shields said. Instead of risking financially draining litigation, the BSA is pulling scout units from schools as a matter of stewardship, he said.
"We obviously don't want that [expensive lawsuits against schools] to happen," Shields said. "Instead, the Boy Scouts have tried to protect the resources of our education partners by moving our charter from public schools to other community-based organizations such as parent-teacher organizations or Salvation Army units or nearby religious organizations."
Shields said the Boy Scouts of America is counting on community organizations such as churches to take up the charters of scouting units that have been removed from public schools and other governmental organizations.
Removal of a scouting unit's charter from a school will not necessarily remove its presence from the school, Shields said, noting that groups will still have access to public school facilities; they just won't be chartered by the schools.
"Boy Scout troops will still have the same rights as any other community-based group to meet in school buildings, but the charter will not be held by the school administration," he said.
"We hope to make this a seamless transition that won't even be noticed by the youth and barely noticed by our 1.3 million generous volunteers who give their time to help American youth," Shields said.
Shields said community groups already have begun to fill the void left by the shift from public school charters. While many churches already sponsor Cub Scout packs, Shields urges many others to get involved in all levels of scouting, an institution whose core values can fit well within the standards of most conservative evangelical congregations.
Churches can help in two ways, he said: by seeking to pick up a scout unit charter from a local school or by starting a new scout troop. He pointed out that charters involve very little money and merely provide individual units with an official place to meet and organize their activities.
"[Chartering a scouting unit] is not a complicated process," Shields said. "Many churches find scouting so in line with the mission of the church that they'll use Boy Scouting as an auxiliary to their youth program.... The values of the Boy Scouts certainly fit well with my church and I think they would most others."
The ACLU's threat also precludes other government organizations such as police, fire and recreation departments from holding charters for scouting units. BSA will seek groups such as fire and police department auxiliaries to pick up these charters, Shields said. But far more scout units are chartered by public schools than other governmental agencies, he said.
The latest threat of litigation is the latest chapter in a 25-year assault the ACLU has waged against the Boy Scouts. The ACLU has sued BSA 14 times over the past 25 years using similar accusations, Shields said.
The most widely publicized case involved a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 upholding a New Jersey troop's removal of an assistant scoutmaster after it became known that the man was an avowed homosexual. Despite the legal victory, the ACLU and other scouting opponents have continued their efforts across the country.
Last fall, the ACLU threatened to sue the U.S. Department of Defense for chartering BSA units, causing the Pentagon to drop its BSA sponsorships.
By attempting to remove Boy Scouts from public schools, the ACLU is attempting to undermine an organization that has exerted an overwhelmingly positive influence on millions of school-aged children, Shields said.
"For decades, many, many school administrators, teachers and parents have recognized the benefits of having a scouting program in their institutions," he said. "Those involved in scouting have become better citizens and students because of the opportunity.
"However, the ACLU has ignored the schools' and the parents' rights to choose to participate or not in Boy Scouts. No one is forced to join Boy Scouts. Let's say a child has parents who are atheists. Nobody will force that child to join the Boy Scouts. Most Americans and the vast majority of parents value their freedom to choose [to participate in] the Boy Scouts and [support] the values they stand for." --30--
What is the difference between what the ACLU is doing and extorsion?
I don't know about where you live, but here in PA the Girl Scouts is being infiltrated by femi-Nazis and lesbians.
I don't think they get money directly from the government, but there is a policy that the government has where it is required to pay legal fees in court cases it loses. The ACLU uses this provision to file ridiculous lawsuits against the government and, when they win a case, the government pays their legal fees.
Municipalities, like San Diego, also settle suits with the ACLU where they pay legal fees and usually a lot more. I was wrong in my figures before. San Diego paid the ACLU over $900,000 to settle their suit!
I have been researching and have found very little information on who contributes to the ACLU (predictable!). What I did find was an article from 2000 on Worldnet Daily that shed some light on the farce that is the "backlash" against the BSA over the SCOTUS decision. Basically, it said Levi Strauss was the ONLY major company that came out against the BSA. Even the majority of the United Way chapters had publicly stateed they still supported the BSA and would continue to do so.
BUT, I think more has to be done. Obviously, the ACLU isn't going to stop unless they get pimp-slapped in the courts or in the wallets. Since they don't actually HAVE wallets, but depend on others' wallets to keep them up, I want to know who gives money to them regularly (companies) so I can stop supporting them.
If anyone can find out who supprts the ACLU and wants to put together a list, I would appreciate it.
I don't have any ideas for you, but count me in on the thread for activisim.
ACLU = left wing socialist scum
Info on Boy Scouts Chartering. Illustrates ACLU objective of destroying traditional American strengths and values
http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-507.html
You're only partly right: yes, the ACLU has plenty of money to finance their suits, but did you ever wonder why that is?
It's because there's a law out there that automatically awards them all legal costs when they win!
But of course doesn't pay their opponents costs if (as sometimes happens) the ACLU loses.
Therefore, it's a win-win for the ACLU: if they win, the action costs them nothing, but even if they lose, their opponent has suffered through costly litigation.
THIS law needs to be changed!
The ACLU gang hates the BSA for three reasons:
They support God
They support Country, and
They support morality.
All three are anathema to liberal left.
I suppose there would have to be the usual plug for calling our respective Senators and Congresscritters. We should be on the lookout for organizations that need donations to fight ACLU actions against the Scouts. Donate and publish for those findings. Encourage other organizations to sponsor Scouting, like churches and businesses. Mouthing off to newspapers might have limited affect, but still be useful.
An organization to counter-sue the ACLU on the grounds of religious persecution would be interesting.
OK, where are your ideas?
Millions of Americans have pulled their children out of the government educational welfare distribution and indoctrination centers (aka. public schools). It only makes sense that the BSA severe their connections. Sure, I hate it that it was the ACLU that prompted this, but the BSA needs to remain independant from such things to retain their autonomy and their credibility.
Depends on how you define "caved in". Has the GSUSA ever not allowed homosexual leaders? Understand that the two organizations that oversee just about all the Scouting in the world (WOSM, of which the BSA is a member, and WAGGGS, of which the GSUSA is a member) require their member organizations to require their individual members to have a spiritual belief, but they are completely silent on homosexuality.
Call 972-580-2000 to contact Boy Scouts and tell them your outrage. Also we need Congress to defund the ACLU by having their legal fees paid by taxpayers in so called Civil Rights cases.
So they get funded by Soros and Move On, they get our money too, money to intimidate others into caving in like the boy scouts.
Actually, this should bring Scouts closer to God, because many BSA units will now be chartered by churches instead of public schools. They'll meet at a church, instead of a school. Many Scouts will now regularly enter a church building who otherwise might not have.
Again, the left's actions are self-defeating.
Two steps ahead of you. I contacted my congressman the day I heard about the case. I'm lucky because he so happens to be a visiting professor at my university, and I took his class so he knows me.
Welcome to FR. You must be involved in scouting, with a freeper name like that.
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