skeptic

My interest was simply peeked by the stats on which religions were most heavily represented. Granted, in our country, Christianity is the number one; but the other religious groups are fully represented, it appears, world wide. Really does not matter. Most units are pretty flexible in this regard, even though a few would say otherwise. We generally only hear from a very small percentage of people in regard to these subjects. And far too often, the ones from whom we hear are skewed in one direction or another and tend to display obvious inflexibility and bias; and they also seem to be overly zealous in their approach. JMO of course.

His Scouter's pages; Historical perspectives; Scouting

http://www.rhodyman.net/home.html Okay, I think I found the proper link. The original one came through Stevenson's page, "Collectors' References" link on the left. It is called Hennings Home Page. Give it a try; a lot of interesting stuff.

http://www.thestevensons.com/ As of 9/31/05 there were more than 28 million Scouts, young people and adults, male and female, in 216 countries and territories. There are 155 countries with internationally recognized national Scout Organizations. There are 26 territories where Scouting exists as overseas branches of member Scout Organizations. There are 35 countries where Scouting exists but where there is no National Scout Organization which is yet a member of WOSM. There are 6 countries where Scouting does not exist. (Andorra, People's Republic of China, Cuba, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar) The top 10 countries in number of Scouts are: Indonesia 8,909,435 88% Muslim United States 6,239,435 78% Christian India 2,138,015 81% Hindu Philippines 1,956,131 92% Christian Thailand 1,305,027 95% Buddhist Bangladesh 908,435 83% Muslim Pakistan 526,403 97% Muslim United Kingdom 498,888 72% Christian Republic of Korea 252,157 26% Christian/26% Buddhist Japan 220,223 84% Shinto/Buddhist From this chart it can be easily seen that Scouting is a movement for all major religions. Worldwide the world is 33% Christian, 20% Muslim, 13% Hindu, and 6% Buddhist. In these 10 countries, Scouting is 40% Muslim, 29% Christian, 8% Hindu, and 6% Buddhist. So, it appears that Scouting reflects rather well the major religions of the world.

It would not surprise me to find out that your HR department person simply stated an opinion. Not likely that is written in any of their rules and so on. Could be wrong; but seems really an odd idea. I know in 25 years in management, we were never told to ignore such things. That applies to scholarship interviews as well; Eagle Scout was a positive factor in the review process.

I believe Clinton and Obama were only Cubs, and perhaps also G.W.; but they still participated. Of course, that has little to do with their adult lives, if they did not follow through more than a very short time, the value to them is diluted to some extent. JMHO

Our Methodist CO's minister spoke today about "pick and choose" faithful. What she said, while referring to Christians specifically, could likely be related to individuals in most religious groups. Her sermon started with a quote; "I would like $3 worth of God, please". You can imagine the following context; basically pointing out that "true faith" does not choose just what is easy and comfortable. The other thing she said, which I found unusual, was; "the scriptures do not chastise 'intellectual atheists'; but they do take part time believers to task" (or something close to these words). Another point of cogitation.

How come I am not having any luck blocking people? I followed the instructions, but they are still showing up.

Ed; If you are asking about the flag info and church, I showed the U.S. Flag Code reference in the post. The other was from a general discussion on a Googled site.

Paragraph below referring to Military use, Navy. Flag code. 175. Position and manner of display c) No other flag or pennant should be placed above or, if on the same level, to the right of the flag of the United States of America, except during church services conducted by naval chaplains at sea, when the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for the personnel of the Navy. Another reference: A conference of "mainstream" Protestant denominations some decades ago concluded that the Christian Flag, if displayed, should take precedence in a church over the national flag. Actual practice varies between individual parishes/congregations. The Catholic church my wife and children belong to has the US and Holy See flags in the seating area of the church, with the Holy See flag on the right (US flag code says under that arrangement, the US flag should be on the right). The Presbyterian church to which I belong has the US and Christian flags right at the base of the raised area on which the minister conducts the service. Again, the Christian Flag is on the right, the reverse of the US flag code arrangement. But the nearby colonial-era Episcopal church has the US and Episcopal flags hanging on the wall above the pulpit, with the US flag to its own right, as the Flag Code calls for. Joe McMillan, 15 April 2003 In my own Methodist church; there is a similar placement of the Christian flag in a superior position. Surely the flag code can be interpreted to include the Christian flag to have similar meaning as a pennant on the ship.

When a "church flag" is displayed, it takes the position of precedence, since it stands for God. Most of the time, the church flag, if it is there, is on a higher level than the American flag, so it is not an issue.

Moderators: Please pull the plug, permanently!!!!!

The solution G.E. is really obvious; but for some reason, no one wants to make it.

Yes Sherm, you could join the team; you just would not be allowed to swim. Help with timing, shallow water exercises, and so on. Nothing says someone cannot do things out of the water, or in shallow water, as a member of the team.

While we have a few here that simply will not accept anything as possible, I find this whole thing to be the proverbial "smoke and mirrors", whether referring to the LDS, or the related subject. Parents "in" the program have "chosen" to be here; and it only makes sense that most of them chose with at least "some" agreement that this was acceptable to them. The people, for the most part, that continue to harp about the Gay issue are outside the the organization; though there are a few apparently here that are not happy, and have an agenda. That is a separate discussion of course. As far as the LDS elephant, I had a number of interesting conversations with LDS leaders at the Jamboree, many wearing gold tabs. I found it interesting that they are aware that they need to be "more involved" at district levels, and also are working on keeping dedicated leaders in place whenever possible. This is big change to many, as the discussion has noted; but it is interesting to me that they seem to be taking note, and working towards more effective ways to keep their program viable. In our own area, we have numerous very dedicated scouters who are LDS, and a number of their units have longer term leaders than was normal ten years or more back. They are intricately involved in most district and council activities, and are accepting and flexible in regard to the needs and wishes of non LDS units at camp and at camporee. Maybe it is time for some to quit dwelling on the past, and start looking at the present. And those who are so disenchanted perhaps "do" need to consider their real motives in being involved, "if they truly are". This is a youth organization that is "supposed" to focus on them. It is "not" a political tool for people that want to modify society to fit their idea of how things should be. An interesting dissertation relating to this can be viewed here: http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/0/7/2/8/pages107284/p107284-1.php While it is just one more take on this, it seems to bring up some valid points; or at least seems to do so to me.

Young flatulators have more stamina I fear.

http://scout.org/en/information_events/news Lots of interesting stuff going on outside our little world.

Scouting on Tiananmen Square We, Scout Association of Hong Kong are lucky to have the blessing of the Chinese Central Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong, and have their utter trust and confidence in conducting scouting activities in China in scout uniform. These functions are under the invitation and with full support from the Chinese Government and the All China Youth Federation (another name for Communist Youth League in external affairs). We were provided with special pass, train and transport arrangement. It speaks so much of the close cooperation of the two youth bodies. Every year we have hundred of scouts visiting China, by coach, by train and by plane, all in scout uniform. This Summer, a special train of 10 cars of scouts and youths (600 strong) departed Shenzhen on 18 July (a border city north of Hong Kong) and travel through China from South to North, all the way crossed the Yangtze and Inner Mongolia before converging with another group of 150 scouts who arrived Peking by plane on 25 July and rendez vous in Tiananmen Square before the latter will travel by train through Central China to Chengdu to do service to the earthquake areas of the Sichuan Province in Western China." News received from Mr Alexander Wong, International Commissioner, The Scout Association of Hong Kong Annual summer exchange programmes involved the youths of Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the Mainland China(PRC).

Beavah; You seem to have forgotten the new doctrine: The majority no longer means anything if it is deemed "politically incorrect".

Because of the sets of supposedly controlled and restricted centennial patches showing up on eBay, National issued "very strict" dictates regarding following the letter of the rules on these types of items. I was told about this action at Jambo by one of the National Supply people with whom I was working. So, that is what I meant by "some greedy" individuals ruining things for others. And, as pointed out by someone else, local people might be more flexible with people they are confident will not misuse the items for personal gain. If anyone, with an Eagle card, could buy restricted insignia at any scout shop, it would make the whole system less effective. Adults are the primary abusers of trust in regard to these issues. That is obvious from things that occurred at Jambo and in Washington D.C. in regard to "traders".

"The sky is falling!!" "The sky is falling!!"

Does not matter which rank it is; paperwork is "supposed to be" furnished to support it. And yes, part of the problem is just that; too many people have been buying them and then trying to profit from them on eBay. It only takes a few greedy idiots to make things more difficult for others.

From a coal mining site newsletter in November, 2009. Do I read this correctly; the mineral rights are part of this? That could be much like the income from the Philco Tower. Massey Energy Co. said today that it worked with the Boy Scouts to transfer mineral and surface property rights to the land that was acquired for the new Scouting site. Additionally, Massey Energy pledged a $500,000 contribution to support construction of the project.

Here in So Cal, if the fire hazard is at the highest level, you can have no fires period, including liquid fuel stoves and lanterns. Gas stoves have to be canisters. Makes it very limiting, and make overnights far less enjoyable. For backpacking, it is okay, other than not having any fires after dark, which curtails much evening activity. Only so much you can do with battery powered lights. Better than burning the forest down though.

You smaller critters need to watch out for those swooping eagles. And, I'm going to work my ticket if I can.........