GernBlansten

Norther Tiers runs two "national" high adventure bases in Canada. SeaBase runs one "national" base out of the Bahamas. Our scouts earned 50 miler and Duty to God at NTiers. My son has had his passport stamped as many times on Boy Scout trips than on our own family vacations.

Count me in as a bad parent. But my kids are well adjusted, do very well in school, get along with others, my son is an Eagle scout and still active as a JASM. I guess that is the cost of being a bad parent.

I think he is referring to when one finds they have a homosexual in their family, they have no choice but to shun them. That destroys the structure of the family.

And potentially declining. http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20090310/cm_csm/yspencer

"There are some ten thousand extant religious sects - each with its own cosmology, each with its own answer for the meaning of life and death. Most assert that the other 9,999 not only have it completely wrong but are instruments of evil, besides. None of the ten thousand has yet persuaded me to make the requisite leap of faith. In the absence of conviction, I've come to terms with the fact that uncertainty is an inescapable corollary of life. An abundance of mystery is simply a part of the essential inscrutability of existance, in any case, is surely preferable to its opposite: capitulating to the tyranny of intransigent belief." Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven. Pretty much sums it up for me.

I can't believe some of you are trusted with other peoples children. Really.

BSA is inconsistant on the gay issue too. You must be avowed. They never say you can't be gay. So all the closeted or celebate homosexuals are just fine, just don't come out and be avowed. So to say the BSA excludes homosexuals is not accurate. They walk amounst us. Camp with us. SR540beaver, do you also support banning women from BSA since they would have the same issues a homosexual male might? Of course I'm not saying all women are pedophiles, but the news if full of stories of female school teachers molesting young men.

On my honor, I will do my best... That there is the key. In regards to Duty to God, there is no try, only do, or do not. You can't just do your best. As for duty to self, there is only try. Just look at all the obese scouts and scouters that are still allowed to be members. The hypocrisy is not that BSA has membership restrictions based on the oath, its that the components of the oath are not equally applied.

Religious indoctrination is most effective when started at a very young age. It is essential to maintain membership roles. My brother, when getting his Masters in Theology, was amazed at many of his classmates who never were exposed to other theologies than that of their parents. They had a very hard time when the coursework required they study religions counter to their own beliefs.

So if a child believes in Santa Clause, I guess we need to take that as fact too.

Gotta give it to ya JKC. I had to look up pedanticism myself. If that don't hit the nail on the head!

But nonetheless, they have revised their position recently, hence the term revisionist.

Seems like they are revisionists.

Life's too short to be in the party of Nope.

Travel is not restricted to the rich or elite. The military frequently are stationed in foriegn lands. My sister, who couldn't rub two nickels together, has travel the world as a Christian missionary.

We have an Eagle who probably won't have an ECOH. Its up to him and his parents. We already presented him his award at a troop meeting. He aged out last fall and signed up as an adult. Still active in the troop. Just doesn't care about the COH thing I guess.

Books are wonderful. Especially if you read ones that challenge your viewpoint not the ones that just confirm it. International travel will open your eyes and opinions. Too often, Americans formulate them from too narrow a vista. Sometimes you have to leave the trees to get a good view of the forest.

My bad, I do recall now the girl wasn't excommunicated but her mother was. But for a heathen like me, it seems like a screwed up value system. Do me a favor, next time you see your priest, ask him. I am really curious. I get a burning sensation on my forehead every time I get near a Catholic Church. I think it has something to do with being raised Lutheran.

TheScout, have you ever traveled overseas? You sound like someone who's entire opinion on the world is from books and not real experiences.

I don't have a priest. I'll have to rely on you. If they don't excommunicate a fellow for raping his step daughter, but excommunicate the daughter for aborting the result of that rape, that is one messed up value system in my opinion. But its only my opinion.

So rape is not worthy of excommunication but abortion is? How about murder?

"People often say the youth are liberal and get more conservative in time . . . I doubt I will embrace socialism and immorality in time. " Certainly you can't equate socialism with immorality can you? Actually, I'm the exact opposite. Coming out of college, I was filled with spit and vinegar like you. Very conservative. A real ideologue. But as life unfolded, reality set it. The world isn't black and white. Its a blend of all colors. The choice of your mate will influence you beyond your comprehesion. Mix in having a child who has special needs. Talk about a dose of reality. Suddenly, that ideology doesn't fit anymore. You start looking outside the box for answers. As I aged, I realized this existance isn't just about me, but about my fellow man. E pluribus unum. We are all in this together. That isn't socialism, its just being a good person.

Curious, did the step father also get excommunicated or is that not a crime worthy of losing your church?

Give TheScout a break. He's viewing the world through an academic prism. Another 20 years or so of having to face life's daily challenges will season him well. Reality has that effect on people. Especially after he has kids.

OGE, that is covered in Gern's Axiom #6. If a scouter.com thread approaches the topic homosexuality in the slightest, it is impossible to alter its path and will be sucked into a shout-fest of biblical proportions.