Merlyn_LeRoy

Well, besides this rock-worshipper and Christians (Jesus = Jewish zombie), which other religious beliefs do you equate with mental disorders? Even I don't go quite that far.

"The BSA is in the business of teaching young men and women to be responsible, moral members of society. 95% of Americans believe something. That's why the religious component of scouting is so important." So if 95% of Americans were Christian, should the BSA exclude all non-Christians? That may have been true when they started. Christopher Hitchens: Name one ethical statement made, or one ethical action performed, by a believer that could not have been uttered or done by a nonbeliever. The second challenge. Can anyone think of a wicked statement made, or an evil action performed, precisely because of religious faith? The second question is easy to answer, is it not? The first awaits a convincing reply.

"I agree with you jrush, but I wonder if we have come to a place in our pop culture where it is more politcally correct to contribute to the degrading mental health of a boy who worships a rock than take some responsibility to point out the obvious." Is the mental health of someone who worships a rock worse than someone who worships a Jewish zombie?

qwazse: The sad part about this is if a kid thinks a particular stone is his salvation and is not disparaging his buddy's devotion to Allah, I'd count it as reverent. Why is that "sad"?

Now we can debate if BSA should change that, but it's not discrimination any more than my neighbor discriminating against me when he doesn't want me entering his house without permission. True. They are both discrimination. Whether it's legal or not, or whether various people consider it moral or not, is a separate issue.

From the BSA's June 7, 1991 "questions and answers" from the scouts-l listserv: http://listserv.tcu.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind9711&L=scouts-l&D=0&P=34070&F=P ... Q. Some people maintain that God is a tree, a rock or a stream. Would a person believing such be eligible to be a member of Scouting? A. The BSA does not seek to interpret God or religion. The Scout Oath states a requirement for a Scout to observe a duty to God, and the Scout Law requires a Scout to be reverent. Again, interpretation is the responsibility of the Scout, his parents and religious leaders. ... The Pagan religious award was rejected because, after meeting the old requirements, the requirements were changed. I've heard that the BSA will not charter to any pagan organizations to prevent them from ever getting the required minimum of 25 units chartered to get a religious award recognized.

They seem pretty unambiguous to me: "God" being a surrogate for the wordy "prime mover, who may be known or unknown to us mere mortals" or whatever the missionaries to the Celts were trying to use to communicate what they were trying to say about the Semitic deity adopted by the Roman empire. Seems pretty ambiguous to me. Here's an exact quote: "The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary to the best type of citizenship and are wholesome precepts in the education of the growing members." Now, from the above quote, it would seem to me that polytheists are not acceptable, as it clearly indicates one god, goddess worshippers are out, as it clearly indicates a male god, some Deists and others are out if they believe in a non-involved god as it clearly indicates this god gives favors and blessings, and it would seem people who worship damager-gods are also out. But since most, if not all of the above really ARE acceptable gods, it seems the BSA's description is utterly wrong and misleading.

As far as I can tell, the bill has only passed the senate, not the house (which would take a 2/3 vote, but not require the governor's signature (Prop 13)). However, I think it would be legal going by Bob Jones University vs. US. California already has its own tax exempt status (23701d) , and if you don't get it or apply for it, you pay $800/year franchise tax, churches included. Of course, the BSA would only have to pay CA state taxes, not federal taxes.

That's what different topics are for, yes. We've only been piling into a few threads recently because of software glitches, but normally every new topic gets a new thread.

The Greater New York Councils of Boy Scouts of America lost a major longtime financial backer because of the organization’s discriminatory, anti-gay policies. The God Bless America fund, which makes royalties from the song, withheld funding in December, according to newly released documents. The fund, which makes around $100,000 to $200,000 a year is to be split between NYC Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of Greater New York. The fund, though, couldn’t get an answer as to whether the New York–area councils were discriminating. ... http://www.passportmagazine.com/blog...r-sponsor.html

"May you live in interesting times" Purported Chinese curse.

To me, this comment is rather obnoxious; for comparison, supposed the BSA excluded black kids, and just changed it to admit them, but added a memo reminding everyone that stealing is contrary to the virtues of scouting. Hey, no thanks for the implication....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/boy-scouts-to-admit-openly-gay-youths-as-members.html?_r=0

Yep. "Subjectively right" while pretending it's objective.

By the way AZMike, how does the "natural law: argument against homosexuality work against, say, whiptail lizards?

Peregrinator, did you somehow miss Jeffrey H's original comment, which had the exact same link? My response was just to refuse his post hoc fallacy that the decline in Canada was caused by allowing gays, by showing that the UK hasn't suffered in a similar fashion. Do keep up.

Meanwhile in the UK, they've also allowed gays and their membership is growing so fast they have to limit membership due to a shortage of adult leaders. Post hoc.

They used to, but according to wiki they had a falling out in the 1980s and the SBC is not listed as a current supporting organization. The SBC has had its own "Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission" since then.

http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/54356-philadelphia-cuts-deal-with-boy-scouts-over-disputed-building Basically, the city pays the CoL $825,000 which the city pretends is to pay for building improvements and the CoL pretends is really $877,000 in legal fees awarded, and the CoL vacates the building by the end of October.

"The Supreme Court has busily vacuumed religion out of the public square" Really??!! No churches allowed anywhere? Strange, I can still see them in the public square. Illegal to pray in public? Not true at all. What bizarro world do you live in? What, exactly, is prohibited or restricted in your world? "but leaves atheism, environmentalism, socialism, science and other philosophical schools free reign in the public square." Yeah, baloney again. Name me any situation where atheism is permitted that Christianity isn't allowed. "THAT is abusive. The Supreme Court and all the littler courts have written their own political biases into the constitution." That's your bizarro-world, where atheism, somehow, has "free reign" in the public square while Christianity has been vacuumed out. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!