Spielberg Blasts Scouts Again over New Religious Rules

Internet Movie Database ^ | December 26, 2002

[chiefqc]

"Hey Steve, You're good at Lets Pretend so stick ith that".

[RonF]

The BSA has always banned atheists. The BSA has always banned "avowed" homosexuals. Why does Mr. Speilberg think that all this is new?

[RonF]

I sent the author of this column the following e-mail:

Your column on December 26th had a segment regarding recent remarks that Stephen Speilberg made about the Boy Scouts of America. It started:

"Moviemaker Steven Spielberg has further distanced himself from America's Boy Scouts because the organization has started banning atheists. The director used to be a leading scout celebrity advocate until new anti-gay laws turned him against the organization, and now he's furious with scouting leaders for adding more red tape."

Now, everything after that was quotes from Mr. Speilberg himself. He's certainly entitled to his own opinion, and I'll grant that they're newsworthy. However, the remarks above appear to be your own opinion, and they are in error.

Simply put, the BSA has not started banning atheists recently, nor are it's policies banning gays who are public about their orientation (to the point that the Scouts themselves are aware of it) new. Atheists and open homosexuals have been banned from the BSA for its entire 92-year history. However, your remarks read as if the BSA just came up with these policies in the last year or so. Such may be Mr. Speilberg's opinion, but it's not fact. In fact, the BSA's policies haven't changed since it was founded in 1910. What has changed is that society's acceptance of open homosexuality and atheism has increased to the point that 1) people have decided to challenge the BSA's polciies, and 2) such people have gained legal support from various advocacy groups. Regardless of your positions one way or another on these issues (and I make no representation that I know what they are), you should research them and represent them fairly when writing about them.