Thread: Boy Scouts Tp (Possibly) End Homosexual Ban

And here is a much less biased article about membership numbers and problems in Canadian scouting.

It's not your Leave it to Beaver Scouts any more - The Globe and Mail

The Boy Scouts won it's Supreme Court case because homosexual conduct is inconsistent with their values. If they allow local troops to make their own decision about this, they won't be able to make that argument anymore. If 70% of Scouts are sponsored by churches and 70% of those who attend church think that homosexuality is wrong, you can bet that more than half of the Boy Scouts membership will be gone and the organization will be destroyed if this rule is changed. It's like a little kid saying if you don't let me in I am going to destroy your club so you can't have it either.

In 2000, the BSA won a Supreme Court case upholding its national ban on gays, the organization’s reason for exclusion being that “homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the values it seeks to instill.” And instilling values, the court confirmed, is the BSA’s main mission. That is what binds a troop in Indiana with a troop in Hawaii. That is what it means to be a Boy Scout.

By decentralizing the decision about gays, the BSA would dismantle the idea that values—whether of inclusion or exclusion—are a central and unifying part of the organization. If the BSA wishes to hold onto its core mission, which is precisely to instill common values, then it needs to decide on those values at a national level. Right now, what it is actually debating is whether to abdicate that responsibility.

Boy Scouts of America and the dismantling of core values - The Washington Post

Originally Posted by freddieflounder101

And here is a much less biased article about membership numbers and problems in Canadian scouting.

It's not your Leave it to Beaver Scouts any more - The Globe and Mail

Or maybe just biased the other way, since it doesn't even mention the change in membership rules.

Originally Posted by GloriaInTX

Or maybe just biased the other way, since it doesn't even mention the change in membership rules.

It's actually known as a pretty conservative newspaper. Canadians, is that right? It has been a while since I lived there.

Originally Posted by GloriaInTX

The Boy Scouts won it's Supreme Court case because homosexual conduct is inconsistent with their values.

A lot of things have changed in the past 13 years, including 4 SCOTUS justices, and the view that homosexuality is a "conduct" or "lifestyle." I doubt this change is going to "destroy" the Boy Scouts; if it does, then I'd say it probably needed destroying because it wasn't as wonderful as we all thought.

Gloria - Here (In the heart of the Bible Belt), I know no one that has their children in boy scouts or girl scouts. (I am sure there are some, I just do not know them) The Conservative Christians have created their own thriving separate group that does not have to worry about following the rules of the parent organisation. This is what I would suspect would happen if the rules changed to not fit the values of the people who wanted to come.

Originally Posted by AlyssaEimers

Gloria - Here (In the heart of the Bible Belt), I know no one that has their children in boy scouts or girl scouts. (I am sure there are some, I just do not know them) The Conservative Christians have created their own thriving separate group that does not have to worry about following the rules of the parent organisation. This is what I would suspect would happen if the rules changed to not fit the values of the people who wanted to come.

Texas is in the Bible belt too. And I know a lot of people that have their kids in boy scouts. My own boys have been in scouts. My stepson has been in the scouts for the last 3 years. Our church and many churches in the area sponsor scout troops. In fact this past Sunday was Scout Sunday and the Scouts led the church services for our evening service. In fact there are a whole group of special awards that can be earned based on religious values. The majority of these troops will not stay in the scouts if this rule changes, just as they didn't in Canada.

Religious Emblems Programs

Originally Posted by GloriaInTX

Texas is in the Bible belt too. And I know a lot of people that have their kids in boy scouts. Our church and many churches in the area sponsor scout troops. In fact this past Sunday was Scout Sunday and the Scouts led the church services for our evening service. If fact there are a whole group of special awards that can be earned based on religious values. The majority of these troops will not stay in the scouts if this rule changes, just as they didn't in Canada.

Religious Emblems Programs

Scouts are pretty different here. They wouldn't do a church service although they do encourage faith, people belong to different denotations even among the Christians so it woudn't be appropriate to choose one church. None of the scouting groups here are sponsored by churches. And lots of scouting groups are quite liberal, you know.

I was going to say what Laurie did. While our local troop is at the Catholic church it is not a promotion of Catholic values. Plenty of non Catholic kids are still in the scouts there.

So...to try to tie up this debate and the gun/imaginary play debate. The morality you want to display, in what you view is the way of God, is to stop people who live a gay lifestyle...but not talking about it in front of children to volunteer as a Scout leader but kids running around pretending to play war and shooting at each other is okay?

Did I make up the "Jesus is the Prince of Peace" thing in my head?

Originally Posted by Jessica80

I was going to say what Laurie did. While our local troop is at the Catholic church it is not a promotion of Catholic values. Plenty of non Catholic kids are still in the scouts there.

So...to try to tie up this debate and the gun/imaginary play debate. The morality you want to display, in what you view is the way of God, is to stop people who live a gay lifestyle...but not talking about it in front of children to volunteer as a Scout leader but kids running around pretending to play war and shooting at each other is okay?

Did I make up the "Jesus is the Prince of Peace" thing in my head?

OMG, it's the Bigfoot of the Debate Board -- the elusive reference-three-debates-in-one reply!