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 Alfndrate wrote:
This originally meant that yes, you had to be Christian of some sort, but they have expanded it to include all other religions.

How do you think the BSA would respond to a gay Hindu?

I agree that it no longer orients itself around Christianity, but it very definitely speaks from an Abrahamic position. I also think that the leadership is clinging to homosexuality as a bugbear because they want to maintain the identity of the BSA, and mistakenly believe it hinges on religion.

 Albatross wrote:
Never went to scouts. It just seemed like less effort to go out to my local park at night in a pair of assless chaps, and get molested that way.

Y'know, cut out the middle-man?

Have you no respect for tradition?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 dogma wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
This originally meant that yes, you had to be Christian of some sort, but they have expanded it to include all other religions.

How do you think the BSA would respond to a gay Hindu?

I agree that it no longer orients itself around Christianity, but it very definitely speaks from an Abrahamic position. I also think that the leadership is clinging to homosexuality as a bugbear because they want to maintain the identity of the BSA, and mistakenly believe it hinges on religion.

Christianity recognises the performance of homosexual acts as sinful but it does not consider a homosexual identity to be a sin per se. Even if it did, Christianity considers everyone to be in a state of sin from birth, homo- and hetero sexual, so, by the conventional interpretation, the scouts should refuse to accept anyone at all as a member.

BSA need to implement DADT

How utterly disgusting. It seems medieval attitudes and ignorance are still alive and well.

Sigh.

One of the catholic orders of nuns even accept lesbians, surely the Boy Scouts can be as progressive as nuns.

Quick question: Is this the same scout organisation we have here in the UK?

I went to an explorers group a couple of times, we just messed around a lot of the time. I had to say I was Church of England but that never really bothered me. However, I did get headbutted in the face one time (it was an accident ). Every single one of the four leaders failed to notice that one whole side of my face had swollen up.

But on topic: I don't get why people are so afraid of homosexuality. It just doesn't seem reasonable at all.

 d-usa wrote:
One of the catholic orders of nuns even accept lesbians, surely the Boy Scouts can be as progressive as nuns.

I don't know man, nuns are fairly progressive:

Huh. I missed this one. Being an Eagle Scout, I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, the BSA has, time and time again, being anti-homosex. They're a private organization, so it's their prerogative. On the other hand, I don't give a damn what you want to feth, male or female. Also, I've been an atheist for god knows how long (see what I did there) and I got in. My locals knew that at the time too. Bad on them or bad on me, hard to say.

One question I have to ask is how this even became apparent. There's no surprise test. No quiz at all. I knew gay guys in the scouts, but no one made a big deal about it, because it wasn't something THEY made a big deal about. I only knew because of some very awkward late night suggestions made in tents. My point is, I don't want to go down that "keep it to yourself, don't ask don't tell" route, but by the same token, I'm sure it wouldn't be known unless you MADE it known.

tl;dr: I might be blaming the victim.

I am an Eagle Scout and it is still one my proudest memories. Only earning the title of U.S. Marine tops it. I loved Scouting. It taught Honor, Leadership and Respect. I learned to love my Country and Family and volunteer to better my community. I was never taught to belittle or bully. We were there to lead by example. I camped alongside boys of all colors and cultural backgrounds. Christian, Muslim, Jew even Buddhist. I did not care and neither did anyone else. A Scout is reverent, not Christian. If someone was an Atheist in my Troop, i did not know or care. I respected any guy who walked with me carrying a 60 lb pack along 14 miles of the Blue Ridge Mountains or endured a foot of snow in the dark with no fire. That is the Spirit of Scouting.

Through Scouts I had many wonderful memories of spending time with my Dad and exploring nature and different historical sites. The training I received in BSA set me up for success in the Marine Corps. I am a better citizen, Marine and Man because of Scouting.

 dogma wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
One of the catholic orders of nuns even accept lesbians, surely the Boy Scouts can be as progressive as nuns.

I don't know man, nuns are fairly progressive:

Heh Sister Act.

My Great Aunt is a sister of one stripe or another and her entire group within her order (some several hundred sisters, and yes these are Catholic nuns) exist solely to protest things like sweatshop and slavery use by groups like Nike and Apple, and other more political items like the School of the Americas. I've never known her to turn up her nose or refuse to help any one regardless of faith, race, creed or orientation.

 Tusken Sith Lord wrote:
I am an Eagle Scout and it is still one my proudest memories. Only earning the title of U.S. Marine tops it. I loved Scouting. It taught Honor, Leadership and Respect. I learned to love my Country and Family and volunteer to better my community. I was never taught to belittle or bully. We were there to lead by example. I camped alongside boys of all colors and cultural backgrounds. Christian, Muslim, Jew even Buddhist. I did not care and neither did anyone else. A Scout is reverent, not Christian. If someone was an Atheist in my Troop, i did not know or care. I respected any guy who walked with me carrying a 60 lb pack along 14 miles of the Blue Ridge Mountains or endured a foot of snow in the dark with no fire. That is the Spirit of Scouting.

Through Scouts I had many wonderful memories of spending time with my Dad and exploring nature and different historical sites. The training I received in BSA set me up for success in the Marine Corps. I am a better citizen, Marine and Man because of Scouting.

I'm not an Eagle scout, I was a Star scout before I moved and decided if I couldn't be with my buddies I didn't really want to go through the trouble of joining another troop. My particular troop was based out of and sponsored by a Catholic church so most of the lads were Catholic but we had a couple Jewish guys, various stripes of Christianity, fairly diverse as all things go. Didn't really matter to us, we were a bunch of kids getting to go out and have fun in the woods. I can agree with most of the above but I gotta say I'm disappointed with the BSA on this one. The sooner everyone accepts that people can be different then them and that's okay the better.

I'll also say the Scouts didn't do gak for prepping me for the Marine Corps except for basic camping skills but different strokes for different folks.

 Tusken Sith Lord wrote:
I am an Eagle Scout and it is still one my proudest memories. Only earning the title of U.S. Marine tops it. I loved Scouting. It taught Honor, Leadership and Respect. I learned to love my Country and Family and volunteer to better my community. I was never taught to belittle or bully. We were there to lead by example. I camped alongside boys of all colors and cultural backgrounds. Christian, Muslim, Jew even Buddhist. I did not care and neither did anyone else. A Scout is reverent, not Christian. If someone was an Atheist in my Troop, i did not know or care. I respected any guy who walked with me carrying a 60 lb pack along 14 miles of the Blue Ridge Mountains or endured a foot of snow in the dark with no fire. That is the Spirit of Scouting.

Through Scouts I had many wonderful memories of spending time with my Dad and exploring nature and different historical sites. The training I received in BSA set me up for success in the Marine Corps. I am a better citizen, Marine and Man because of Scouting.

Y'know, there are ways to be taught those things that don't include a homophobic anti-intellectual organization.
And Yes, It is Private, Just like businesses are private. BUT if we dont want to support scouts then they wont get my funding, I know inever buy those popcorn tins they sell me. And I can get Thin-mint recipes online.
If you dont see, Im bitter towards scouts, I was a different religion then them, so they treated me differently.

 dogma wrote:

 d-usa wrote:
One of the catholic orders of nuns even accept lesbians, surely the Boy Scouts can be as progressive as nuns.

I don't know man, nuns are fairly progressive:

Indeed they are

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
And I can get Thin-mint recipes online.

I hate to interrupt a perfectly good rant, but the girl scouts are an entirely separate organization and do not share the bigoted policies of the boy scouts.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

Y'know, there are ways to be taught those things that don't include a homophobic anti-intellectual organization.
And Yes, It is Private, Just like businesses are private. BUT if we dont want to support scouts then they wont get my funding, I know inever buy those popcorn tins they sell me. And I can get Thin-mint recipes online.
If you dont see, Im bitter towards scouts, I was a different religion then them, so they treated me differently.

And I buy surplus of their popcorn. The scouts that sell that stuff get that money personally toward trips after all; it's not just a matter of propagating a religious machine. Further, it's the girlscouts that sell thin-mints, not the boy scouts, delicious though they might be.

I've been pretty adamant toward defending you in times past, but if even the scouts picked on you, well at this point, maybe it's you, not them.

This person should come to the UK and join one of our troops. Our Scouting Association won't stop him from getting his Queen's Scout award (the UK equivalent of being an Eagle Scout) based on his orientation.

Plus when he gets it he'll meet Bear Grylls (the current Chief Scout) and a member of the royal family.

 daedalus wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

Y'know, there are ways to be taught those things that don't include a homophobic anti-intellectual organization.
And Yes, It is Private, Just like businesses are private. BUT if we dont want to support scouts then they wont get my funding, I know inever buy those popcorn tins they sell me. And I can get Thin-mint recipes online.
If you dont see, Im bitter towards scouts, I was a different religion then them, so they treated me differently.

And I buy surplus of their popcorn. The scouts that sell that stuff get that money personally toward trips after all; it's not just a matter of propagating a religious machine. Further, it's the girlscouts that sell thin-mints, not the boy scouts, delicious though they might be.

I've been pretty adamant toward defending you in times past, but if even the scouts picked on you, well at this point, maybe it's you, not them.

Maybe it was me, Maybe it wasnt. I know i got picked on alot for my interests and hobbies. In the end, I dont really think it was the scouts that picked on me, just the people that where part of it. Kids will be kids after all. What ticks me off now is that the scout masters did nothing. It doesn't matter if i deserved, the scout masters should let that happen.