God and Country Program

[Trevorum]

emb021 is absolutely correct, and this is THE reason why requiring a religious emblem as part of the standard Boy Scout advancement program is impossible. Some faiths simply do not have a religious award. Others, like Wicca, have such programs but they have not been approved by BSA.

 

IMHO, the practice of religion within a Scouting context is best left to the Scout and his family.

[PACK15NISSAN]

Just a question, what do you do for a scout who is an atheist. Is there a Me and Me program or the Big Bang and Me, for them?

 

i personally think it is a good idea to challenge boys to practice and explore their faith in every aspect of scouting. I don't know about some of the upper God and Country programs but at the Cub Scout level, you do not have to attend a church to earn the emblem or to complete the requirements for advancement. Those who don't attend church simply have to either find a church to do it with or find some one qualified to do it with.

 

We are planning to do our God and Family with our Webelos den as a whole. All of the boys are protestant and no parents have any objections. Myself and one of my assistants are youth directors, Sunday school and Bible school teachers, so we are more than capable of leading it.

[Docrwm]

Ah.....Atheist Boy Scout is an oxymoron. BSA has consistently won Federal Court cases involving the requirement that all registered members of scouting (adult and boy) profess a faith in a G*d.

[Nike]

You know, some things are just best left alone. And this is one of them. There is a world of difference between professing and practicing.

[NJCubScouter]

I agree with those who say there should not be a "hard requirement" for a youth member (in any of the BSA programs) to earn the religious emblem of their faith, because there is no requirement that a youth "belong" to any "faith." All that is required is that the youth believe in a higher power.

[Kudu]

John-in-KC writes:

 

This happened to be a point I drove home with Lawrence Ray Smith, who chairs (volunteer) the National Religious Relationships Committee, during my week at PTC

 

Does anyone know to what religion Lawrence Ray Smith belongs?

 

Kudu

 

 

[Narraticong]

I think we all agree it is "required" of a youth to believe in a higher power. Then is the only "test" of that his positive response? If so, why waste time talking about faith at BOR?

 

As an organization, me make a big deal out of "A Scout is Reverent", but we are absolutely non-committal in what that means. Why are Wiccans not approved? By our own standard, they are as valid as my own Lutheranism. It matters not what he believes in, only that he believes in something beyond himself.

 

Maybe rather than making it a requirement at all, we should just "encourage" reverence. That would be much easier and more accurately reflect the policy we have in action.

[emb021]

"As an organization, me make a big deal out of "A Scout is Reverent", but we are absolutely non-committal in what that means. Why are Wiccans not approved? By our own standard, they are as valid as my own Lutheranism. It matters not what he believes in, only that he believes in something beyond himself."

 

I've not seen anything that says Wiccans are not approved.

 

What is not approved is their religious award.

 

Some have tried to make a big deal that Wiccans and others with similiar beliefs are somehow 'not allowed' in the BSA (which has lead to the establishment of other groups like the Spiral Scouts). AFAIK, that just not so, at least from a national policy point (there are always the local hard*sses who somehow think you need to belief in a judeo-christian religion to be in the BSA, which is not so).