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.
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Eagle scout - September 1975
United Way supporter: NEVER
That argument would look like:
Which God is it (in Pascal's wager) anyway? The one in the Bible? The one that looks like a spider that the inhabitants of a different galaxy pray to- which? Zeus? Pascal's Wager is an interesting talking point, but it has inherent flaws in the logic. It relies upon a couple of assumptions that would never fly if you were to apply them to real science or a logical problem. One is it seems to assume that a God would be the one in Bible, when there are literally infinite variations on what the term God could cover. I don't think God would be too happy if people relied upon it (Pascal's wager) for proof of his existence because the logic is too flimsy and he makes himself known in myriad tangible ways.
The original point had to do with atheists. The atheists using the sweeping judgement- "there is no God". The logic in that statement is just as flawed as Pascal's argument. The safer bet for the non-believer is to say "If there is a God, I don't know of him and have no evidence to this point". This way he is not claiming knowledge of all the nooks and crannies of the universe where God might be hiding. He is also saying that if God presented himself to the agnostic- he would then be a believer.
Actually, only about 2% of United Way chapters across the country have chosen to not fund their local BSA Council. My Council receives over $111,000 from 10 different United Way chapters. OTOH, there's an 11th one that used to give us money that cut us off because of the BSA's membership policies. Now, I personally don't contribute to the United Way, but I give directly to my unit and the local Council (which benefits both more directly than filtering it through the United Way).
Unless those young men were 16 or older, what you had was kids whose parents were willing to drive them 5 miles or more to come to your meetings. Congratulations! But many kids don't have such parents.
My estimation of the quality of Scouting program received by Scouts in units with female Scoutmasters is based not on personal conjecture, but on personal observation of said Scouts and of their Scoutmasters. I must say, though, that it is refreshing to hear someone describe the BSA, however indirectly, as "PC". Not much of that being said these days, that's for sure.
The purpose of the BSA is to teach young men and women (starting at ages 8 and 14, respectively, and ending at age 21 for both) citizenship, character, and fitness. The fact that women are now, in a minority of cases, involved as unit leaders does not keep the BSA from accomplishing this purpose. It also does not make the BSA "gender-neutral". The preponderance of male Scouters involved in the BSA's leadership in their traditional programs (at least at the Boy Scout and Venturing levels, I'm not so sure about the Cub Scout level) fulfills the need that young men have for adult association with good male role models.
You, and those like you, have little regard for the intent, tradition, meaning, ideology and purposes of Scouting. By ignoring the fixed and inseparable gulf of sexual identity from the role of Scoutmaster, you contribute to the direct dilution and perversion of the meaning of 'Boy Scouts.'
My family has been involved in the BSA's programs as youth, adult volunteer, and adult professional since 1930. I think I've got a pretty good idea what the "intent, tradition, meaning, ideology and purposes of Scouting" are. I also think I've got a pretty good idea as to what benefits kids in America these days, and how, and what, they learn. And, frankly, if you think that a community should have no Scouting, rather than Scouting with a female Scoutmaster, I don't think you understand how Scouting works or how kids work in 21st century America. Or what communities need.
Do I think that Scoutmasters and other adult Scouters should be male? Yes. But the presence of a female Scoutmaster, to my observation, doesn't necessarily degrade a unit to the extent that the program no longer meets it's aims and that it shouldn't exist. It is necessary, in such a case, to make sure that the Scoutmaster understands her job and doesn't become Troop Mom. But then, I've seen some men that have the same problem, or other problems that make them unsuitable. It's a managable issue.
The rabbi listens and after some thought, tells the man: "When you go home, place a Torah on the table, place a hundred dollar bill on the table, and place a bottle of whiskey on the table. Wait for your son to come home. If he picks up the Torah, he will become a noted rabbi. If he picks up the hundred dollar bill, he will become a successful financier. If he picks up the bottle of whiskey, he will become a drunken bum."
Now, the man was very happy. He had a way to determine what his son was going to become.
About a week latter, he comes back to see the rabbi, even more frantic than the first time. He starts talking, "Rabbi! Rabbi! I don't know what I am going to do! My son came home and picked up the Torah, he picked up the hundred dollar bill, and he picked up the bottle of whiskey. What does that mean?
The rabbi gets a really sad look on his face and says, "My son, I really hate to tell you this, but your son is going to become a television evangelist."
I'm not arguing against the existence of God- that has never been my point. I'm simply pointing out that Pascal's logic is incorrect- it has nothing to do with religion- the mathematics part of the logic is incorrect. He could be talking about cats and dogs for all I care. This is an important point- if you're going to use logic to prove the existence of something, the logic should make sense. If it doesn't, it harms the position you were trying to prove.
Atheists, as you have noted, base their beliefs on just as big a leap of faith as Believers. It is not logical to state that it is a certainty that God doesn't exist when the universe is so big and our knowledge of it so small. If you believe you believe- that is not at issue. The issue I brought up was about non-believers: between Agnosticism and Atheism- Agnosticism has the better logical foundation.
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