jjansson

When we started our AHG unit (we converted the entire GS group), we did not do it in conjunction with our Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts. They are thrilled to have us (and have told us many times!) but we run things ourselves. AHG can send you a starter packet of information on how to start a troop. They are pretty structured, i'm not sure how you could do it with BSA but I may be wrong. We knew nothing about how to run an AHG group but we had a group of moms and we got through it together. Going into our second year we feel very confident. I would recommend talking to AHG for direction. You may have already done that, and if so sorry for being redundant. Good luck. I would be happy to answer any questions you have since we just started ours a year ago.

Lisabob - I stand corrected - thank you. What I meant to say (and did not do a good job of it!) was that BS is based on God and traditional moral values. "On my honor, I will do my best To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight." These are typical of Christian values but by no means limited to Christianity. Thank you for the clarification. I also like the focus of both BS and AHG on loyalty to country. I recognize that AHG is specifically talking about the United States though.

BadenP, i'm sorry you have such a big chip on your shoulders. AHG IS a scouting program. It's not the only one, by far. They make no apologies on being Christ-based. Girl Scouts was too, by the way, until the 1970s. Boy Scouts still is. Not sure what your hangup is on religion, but nobody forces anything on anyone. Geez. If you have a girl that wants to do scouting, choose AHG, Girl Scouts, CampFire Girls, etc. etc. whatever meets your needs. Nobody cares. But to say a scouting organization is not a scouting organization because religion doesn't work for you is a shame. To each her own. Do what works for you. I hope you find some inner peace. Clearly you have a very large axe to grind, but it will no longer be with me. Hopefully other less biased readers will have gotten some useful information from my posts.

As long as the girls are open to Christianity (who knows, maybe they will convert someday) and understand that all of our principles are Christian in nature, there is no problem. We are open to them. We pray, they pray.

I realize this is an older thread, but I must say AHG is ABSOLUTELY a scouting program, actually more than GS. We converted our Girls Scout troop to AHG as we were disappointed in the way GS has been hijacked into a feminist "it's all about me" program. We love the Boy Scouts program, and several of the leaders in Boy Scouts recommended we look into AHG as a better option for our girls. We love it. We get calls regularly from GS troops wanting to make the switch as well. Nationally, GS membership is rapidly declining, while AHG is rapidly increasing. As as far as AHG being exlusive, 10% of our membership is Muslim. Go figure!