Free Republic

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...

... And here in Georgia, for example, I’ll just give you one issue that became prominent in this campaign, Max Cleland had voted against the right of the Boy Scouts to meet in public schools. This is a state, most people don't know this, that has one of the largest Boy Scout councils in the country — over 80,000 Scouts in the metro Atlanta council alone. That’s 160,000 parents, and most are registered to vote. And Max Cleland voting against the Boy Scouts, along with Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, and by the way against Zell Miller, our other senator,...

SEATTLE (AP) — An Eagle Scout who has earned 37 merit badges said Monday he has been kicked out of the Boy Scouts for refusing to declare a belief in a higher power. Darrell Lambert said he was told of the decision earlier in the day by the Chief Seattle Council, the Scouts' regional governing body. "Am I bitter? No. Disappointed? Yeah," he said. "We're in the 21st century. Our country was founded on religious freedom, and the Boy Scouts of America are still discriminating." Lambert said he plans to appeal the decision within the Scouting council within the...

(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...

The Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts has given Eagle Scout Darrell Lambert about a week to decide "in his heart" if he's truly an atheist. If he insists on sticking to his belief that there is no God, the Council will terminate his membership. "No way" is he going to change his beliefs, says Lambert, who has been in scouting since he was 9 years old. "It'd be like me asking them to change their belief. It's not going to happen." His beliefs, if unchanged, give the Scouts no choice, says Brad Farmer, council's Scout executive in Seattle....

STEVEN SPIELBERG was in the nation's capital Sunday as he was honored at the Human Rights Campaign's annual dinner for his commitment to equal rights, PEOPLE reports. Singer Melissa Etheridge, 41, presented him HRC's 2002 National Equality Award and called him "a man with a heart and soul like I have never known -- one of the greatest artistic and altruistic men in America." Also on hand for the event: Tipper Gore, Betty DeGeneres (mother of Ellen), House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.), Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe and Judy Shepard, the mother of Matthew Shepard. In regard to...

School Board Yields to Federal Legislation By EMMA SCHWARTZ Contributing Writer Friday, September 27, 2002 Berkeley school board members agreed Wednesday night to follow a federal law even though the board had previously passed two resolutions that contradict it. The Berkeley Unified School District must immediately comply with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sets standards for educational policy, to receive federal funds for the current school year. Two of the act's clauses require the school district to open its facilities to Boy Scouts of America and provide military recruiters with information about students, both of...

(CNSNews.com) - The Boy Scouts of America is seeking to overturn a decision by the District of Columbia Human Rights Commission that the scouts unlawfully discriminated against two Washington area scout leaders because they were homosexual. A three-member panel of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the District's highest court, is considering the case after listening to arguments Sept. 10 by representatives for the Boy Scouts and by lawyers for Michael Geller, 40, and Roland Pool, 41, whose membership in the scouts was revoked in 1992 because of their homosexuality. In a ruling in June 2001, the D.C....

A Washington, D.C. court hearing last Tuesday — 9/10 — offered a sobering reminder that 9/11 did not, in fact, change "everything." The proceedings, at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, dealt with a government rebuke of the Boy Scouts of America last year for dismissing two Washington-area Scout leaders because they're gay. The Scouts asked the court to overturn the June 2001 command by the District of Columbia Human Rights Commission that Michael Geller, 39, and Ronald Pool, 40, be readmitted as adult members and receive $100,000 in damages. Although the Commission submitted no briefs of its own...

<p>August 26, 2002 -- EVERY year, I tell myself I can't afford to spend a week at Boy Scout camp. And every year, after 15 minutes, I am once again mesmerized by the never-ending drama of watching older scout leaders turn boys into men.</p>

Submit your vote by clicking on the green, blue or orange line ... it will register in a second or two ... Click here for poll

SAN FRANCISCO - Don't try to be a judge in San Francisco if you work with the Boy Scouts. Judges in San Francisco are being barred from associating with the Boy Scouts because of the Scouts' opposition to homosexuals being in leadership positions. The new policy, adopted by the city's Superior Court, prohibits the court's judges and commissioners from participating in any organization that excludes members "... on the grounds that their sexual orientation renders them 'unclean,' 'immoral' or 'unfit.' " Bob Knight, director of the Washington, D.C.-based Culture and Family Institute, said the policy is ludicrous and offensive. "In...

<p>Public school teachers across the country are gearing up to make Sept. 11 and the war on terror part of their lesson plans this fall. A number of groups have rushed forward with politically correct curricula to fill the void, reports the San Jose Mercury News.</p>

This links directly to a .pdf file that includes the nugget in the headline. It's a site/report based on financial disclosure forms submitted by Federal Reserve officials.

At first blush, the San Francisco Superior Court judges' unanimous vote last month to require judges to swear not to associate with the Boy Scouts seems absurdly heavy-handed. It is nasty, but it's not as outlandish as you might think. For one thing, Angela Bradstreet, the president of the Bar Association of San Francisco, who pushed the measure, admits the resolution is not enforceable. (Only the California Supreme Court can change the Code of Judicial Ethics, the rules that dictate judges' conduct.) Bradstreet also agrees that the San Francisco judges' measure singled out the Boy Scouts (because the group...

At first blush, the San Francisco Superior Court judges' unanimous vote last month to require judges to swear not to associate with the Boy Scouts seems absurdly heavy-handed. It is nasty, but it's not as outlandish as you might think. For one thing, Angela Bradstreet, the president of the Bar Association of San Francisco who pushed the measure, admits the resolution is not enforceable. (Only the California Supreme Court can change the Code of Judicial Ethics, the rules that dictate judges' conduct.) Bradstreet also agrees that the San Francisco judges' measure singled out the Boy Scouts (because the group refuses...

Clifton Scout, 16, killed by lightning EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - Lightning struck and killed a 16-year-old at a Boy Scout Camp on Friday night, police said.Matthew Tresca of Clifton was sitting at a picnic table under a dining tarp with 11 other members of his troop at about 7 p.m. Lightning struck a tent about 10 feet away, knocking Tresca to the ground.Camp personnel tried to revive him before emergency crews arrived. Tresca, a member of Boy Scout Troop 21, was pronounced dead at the Pocono Medical Center.He had spent the last week at the Resica Falls Boy Scout Camp...

The largest Boy Scout chapter in Massachusetts this week took more steps to distance itself from the national scouting policy that prohibits homosexuals from serving in leadership positions. The Boston Minuteman Council introduced a new merit badge for "diversity" and asked an openly homosexual Boston radio personality to emcee its annual fundraiser. Last year, the same chapter adopted a "nondiscrimination" policy, a slap at the long held practice by the national organization, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), to ban homosexual scout leaders. The U.S. Supreme Court two years ago declared the BSA ban on homosexuals to be legal, however,...

Homosexual Emcees Boston Boy Scout Fundraiser By Matt Pyeatt CNSNews.com Staff Writer June 12, 2002 (CNSNews.com) - The largest Boy Scout chapter in Massachusetts this week took more steps to distance itself from the national scouting policy that prohibits homosexuals from serving in leadership positions. The Boston Minuteman Council introduced a new merit badge for "diversity" and asked an openly homosexual Boston radio personality to emcee its annual fundraiser. Last year, the same chapter adopted a "nondiscrimination" policy, a slap at the long held practice by the national organization, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), to ban homosexual scout leaders....

<p>August 8, 2002 -- A pervert ex-cop admitted he slept over at a Boy Scout camp while out on bail on kiddie-porn charges - but that wasn't enough to convince a federal judge to keep him locked up.</p> <p>Brian Mathews, 40, was forbidden from being alone with children when he pleaded guilty to perusing a sexually explicit picture of a baby in May.</p>