Eagle Board of Review and God Take 2

[packsaddle]

Please also remember that the ONLY thing you get in these forums is 'opinion'. There is nothing authoritative about the responses of ANY of the respondents with regard to BSA policy - only our accounts of our experiences which may be a helpful guide to YOUR OWN decisions.

[John-in-KC]

My comment, as a conservative Christian,

 

When I put on my Scout uniform, and listen to an Eagle Candidate discuss faith, I want to hear his context on the matter. That means I want to read closely his spiritual reference, and if I'm unfamiliar with his faith, I want him to help explain it to me.

 

My job as a Scouter is to reinforce his and his family's faith traditions. Yes, I think it's as simple as that.

[msnowman]

Saturday, while chaperoning a Troop lock in, I asked the boys their feelings on this. My question to them was "Is it fair for a BoR to ask you if you believe in a god?" There were 2 Stars, 1 Life and 5 new Scouts.

 

The overwhelming response? "Well, a Scout is Reverent, so its as fair to ask about god as it is about being clean or obedient". They were also very clear that what would not be fair would be asking if they believed in God (as in Father/Son/Holy Ghost) - the specific God of standard Christianity. However, asking if they believe in "a" god - in whatever form that might take for the individual was absolutely fair game.

 

Just wanted to share views from some youth.

 

YiS

Michelle

 

 

[packsaddle]

John-in-KC, if you admittedly do not understand a scout's religious thoughts, how do you reinforce them?

[John-in-KC]

PS,

 

Questions I have asked:

 

"How do you worship?"

 

"How do you pray?"

 

"What's important about your faith?"

 

My fairly stock comment is "stay with your faith. People who are in a faith together have an additional bond in their lives, and that bond can be a help in times of trial."

 

That make sense?

[GernBlansten]

John, by no means take this the wrong way,

but what would you do if the scout responds...

 

"How do you worship?"

"How do you pray?"

"What's important about your faith?"

 

 

Scout:None of your beeswax!

[TAHAWK]

This is from the module of training from Board of Review members published by the National Council. Boy Scouts of America:

 

"Boy Scouts of America does not define God for a Scout, nor does it interpret God's rules. Those are matters, as said above, left to home and to the religious body to which the Scout belongs. The board of review does not serve as an inquisition into the correctness of a Scout's perceptions, rather it seeks to determine whether the Scout has fulfilled his duty in a way he sees fit, keeping in mind his profession of a particular faith.

 

Discussion of a Scout's religion is very appropriate at a board of review, but it should be done with respect and appreciation for the variety of faiths and beliefs in the United States. An open-ended question like "How do you honor the 12th point of the Scout Law?" will allow the boy to discuss his religious beliefs. A blunt "Do you believe in God?" should be avoided as there are some religions that do not use the name "God" for their supreme being or higher power."

 

Even this, which hardly a mere opinion, is somewhat inapt if the Scout belongs to a non-theistic religious group, such a the vast majority of Buddhists, although I have never let a Buddhist who would take any offense at the typical inability of theists to understand Buddhism. They don't seem much into "taking offense."

[evmori]

I'm not John nor have I played him on TV, but my next statement would be

 

"Tell us how you live into the reverent point of the Scout Law"

[John-in-KC]

The defiant attitude alone would have me starting to question if I can vote for the young man for Eagle. I'd be asking all manner of questions in executive session of the District Guest.

 

Before we got there, I'd probably have tried the tack Ed suggested...

[Trevorum]

John, you're right, rudeness has no place in a BoR. A fellow may well use that type of response to probing questions from his peers, but a more appropriate response in an EBoR would be along the lines of, "My religious beliefs are personal and I do not choose to discuss them." Whereupon the questioner should shift tacks as suggested by Ed.

 

The point is that some people welcome the opportunity to share their religious beliefs and others do not. It's a personal preference that has absolutely no bearing on the reverence of the individual.

[John-in-KC]

Trev,

 

Agreed. Every young man we approach is different, and if we as Scouters have only one approach, we're done for.

 

When I put on the BSA uniform, I agree to set aside active evangelizing of the youth in my charge. I'm not going to define a narrow band of "this is all that right can ever look like." It's a two-way street, though. The Scout, especially at Eagle, needs to have thought about who he is, how he got to where he is, and who he wants to be.

 

I have to keep reminding myself that we're talking about a very small percentage of Scouts who will ever give us challenges, especially if they've made it to their EBOR.

[scoutingagain]

"I have to keep reminding myself that we're talking about a very small percentage of Scouts who will ever give us challenges, especially if they've made it to their EBOR."

 

Yes and I think we need to do the same thing about adult scouters who sit on EBORs. The overwhelming majority of which are conducted properly and with a positive outcome. I think on the forums we tend to focus on the few BORs that tend to go astray, and they are few and far between.

 

SA

[packsaddle]

ScoutingAgain, true enough. Ideally, we're here to try to find solutions to problems rather than to create them. But as you mention, that naturally tends to focus us on the hardest (and therefore least common) problems.

[hot_foot_eagle]

Because the difficult cases are rare, it's difficult to find the solutions within our local networks.

 

The standard line for us is "talk to the SE." Input (official or not) from a forum like this is just as productive, and likely to generate more points of view.

 

 

[WAKWIB]

The fact that there has been a very lengthy discussion about this topic is wonderful in my opinion. We are all involved in serving youth in an organization that gives young men the possible opportunity to explore and discover that there is Someone or some thing greater than themselves. We can't really define that for him, but unlike much of society, our organization doesn't squelch or minimize the importance of "faith". When the boy stands before Review, we hope to see him freely share what he has done with that opportunity, and not just with Reverent but the 11 other points as well.