Religious Emblems program

[clydesdale115]

What are your feelings on offering the Religious Emblem program (Webelos level) to our boys as a den? Of 8 Scouts, we have 5 Protestant, 1 Catholic, and 2 unchurched (Christian). We are looking ahead to our upcoming Webelos year. From my research, it looks as though we can offer the Protestant version to the den as a group, regardless of their affiliation (or lack thereof). The pastor of the church would have the final check-off. The Roman Catholic version (Parvuli Dei) specifically says it cannot be offered as a den activity. It needs to be done through the individual's church and you must be Catholic to participate.

 

Obviously we can't lead the Catholic version, but do you think we could take 5 or 6 den meetings to offer the Protestant version? It is fairly generic (God's love for you and God's place in the family). Our one Catholic Scout could still be a part of these classes, but he would have to work on his own to complete HIS workbook.

 

The Religious Emblem can be used for a Webelos requirement; or you can do other optional requirements through your home church. Since it takes 5 or 6 weeks to complete (at least), we are thinking of scheduling it during our den meetings, then adding one more meeting each week, to complete the workbook in one month.

 

Any thoughts on this? I think it is worthwhile, but I don't want to make anyone feel obligated. Are we on the wrong track, having these as den meetings?

clydesdale115

 

[Region 7 Voyageur]

I do not think that this is a good idea.

 

Religious awards are awarded by the individual faith, not by BSA. I do not think that den meetings should be used for this purpose just as troop meetings should not be used for merit badges. Also from the situation you described this would be a real disservice to the scout that is of a different faith.

[packsaddle]

I agree. It is more of an individual activity that is recognized, but not awarded, by BSA. I encourage the boy and his parents to do this as a separate activity.

[John-in-KC]

Agree and disagree.

 

On one hand, at the 3d and 4th tier of these awards, there is recognizable difference between the Catholic Committee on Scouting materials and the PRAY generic protestant materials.

 

OTOH, if the PARENTS sit down on the front end, look at the curriculum, and concur as a group that God and Me or its Roman equivalent are acceptable in their understandings of Christian doctrine, then maybe it's worth ADDING time to the Den schedule (such as Sunday afternoon faith meeting) to do this.

 

In my Council, the Relationships Committee, through its operating Protestant Committee on Scouting, annually teaches all four PRAY Protestant curricula. A Scouter Pastor provides sponsorship for those youth who are unchurched or for those whose own pastors will not buy in. We do the eight meetings of the curriculum across a five month window. Additionally, our Catholic Committee on Scouting is starting a parallel program with its curricula.

[fgoodwin]

I'm also torn on this one.

 

I'm chairman of our council's Protestant Committee, and when I teach adult courses on the religious emblems, I always emphasize that the workbooks are designed to be done in a family setting, not a group setting like a den or troop.

 

OTOH, some boys and families simply won't make the effort, so I admire clydesdale115 for taking the initiative to at least consider a group class.

 

I don't know what the best approach is (how about those families who try to do it the "right" way but their minister has no clue about the program or how to lead it?).

 

My formerly "hard-line" opposition to group sessions is softening.

[Cubmaster Randy]

Our district has some pretty good CO's and the units from those churches/synaguogues usually will offer the class to any particpant who would like to participate in them. Contact information is on our website and is promoted by email and at roundtable by our district religious relations chair. We did have one den that talked about doing it as a den outside of their den meetings. The scouts were all from the same denomination and many attended the same church. One of the Mom's was trained as a facilitator and offered it to the den. In the end only 2 of the 6 actually did it.

 

I personally would not do it during den meetings as it is not a BSA award. It is recognized by the BSA, but is still awarded by the scouts own church or faith. I know of one Pack that worked on theirs, they did not do much else..but that is another thread for another day

[scoutldr]

I vote "no". The religious programs are not BSA programs and should be earned through the Scout's church. The only connection with BSA is that the emblems earned are allowed to be worn on the uniform. While "duty to God" is a tenet of the BSA, religious instruction is not in our mission...nor should it be.

[John-in-KC]

Hey Fred,

 

In my own church, one of the things I do is look at the annual confirmation class for Boy and Girl Scouts (along with camp fire...). I know what Pastor teaches, I know what PRAY wants from the curriculum. The delta is about 3% (some of the church organization stuff in God and Church session 7).

 

He covers it. We tell the parents: $4 for the PRAY book (which is a good resource) + however much for the various awards, and the young people get their religious award as part of their confirmation.

 

Now, that doesn't work for Cubs... but it helps at the teen level.

 

John

[clydesdale115]

Earning the Religious Emblem of your faith is actually a requirement (albeit, an optional one) for the Webelos Badge. Guess that's where our dilemma has arisen. If the Scouts are not all of the same faith, it does seem exclusive to offer just the Protestant version (God and Family - Webelos level).

 

True, it's not awarded by BSA, just recognized. Still, they list it as an optional Webelos requirement - that sounds like a green light to include it in our group activities. The God and Family curriculum definitely lends itself to group presentation (the whole "pizza" thing :-)

 

Our Web 2s just completed this - their DL led the meetings and the Pastor of our CO came in for the final check-off. All the boys in her den earned it together. I'm just not so sure it's that cut-and-dry.

 

Still pondering it ...

clydesdale115

[fgoodwin]

Indeed, many of the games in "God & Me" assume a group setting (its hard to play a game when there's just one kid doing it!).

 

Hence my ambivalence.

 

Still, I think the preferred approach would be for the CO (i.e., the church) to host the group sessions, not the den. But I think that overlooks the reality that most of the time, you won't have all boys being of the same faith (or even a majority), unless the boys all attend the sponsoring CO.

[ScoutNut]

I am in the camp that says - NOT in the den meeting.

 

The whole point of the religious emblem progam is to have the boys discover, learn, & grow stronger in THEIR OWN FAITH. Not YOUR faith, not the faith of the majority of the boys, but THEIR OWN faith. This is (or should be) a VERY personal experience, mentored by their parents & a member of their OWN religious organization.

 

This is NOT simply something the den does to earn another rank requirement.

 

Clydesdale - I am assuming that the church that is your CO is of a Protestant denomination. While the God & Family program is fine for your Protestant & generic Christian boys, it is NOT fine for the Catholic boy.

 

What you can do is to either copy information on the 2 emblems (God & Family - Parvuli Dei), or purchase the workbooks. Then give the info/workbooks to the parents & let them decide if this is something they want to do with their son. If you want to set up group classes for the God & Family emblem with your pastor that's fine, but it should be on non-den time only & you should get signed permission slips from the parents to allow their boys to participate.

 

Cramming everything into 1 month does everyone a disservice. Give out the info/workbooks, etc, as early in September as possible. This will give the boys a good 4 months to work on the emblems & get them signed off & approved by their religious organization's representative. Getting the medals might take some time. The signed forms for the God & Family have to be sent to PRAY & the medals ordered. The signed form for the Catholic program is also needed to purchase the Parvuli Dei medal, but you will have to contact the local (arch)diocesan Catholic Committee Chaplain to find out how/where to purchase it.

 

The emblems are NOT to be given out at a Pack meeting or other BSA event. Idealy, they should be presented to the boys at a service/ceremony in their OWN church, traditionaly held on, or near, Boy Scout Sunday in February. The boys can receive their BSA purple square knot patch at your Pack meeting.

 

[packsaddle]

It really has been a long, long time...but I remember working all summer on a service project for my minister as part of my God and Country award. Have the requirements changed?

And it took nearly a whole year of hard study, memorizations, explaining passages of the bible. I'm wondering if the bar has been lowered since that time.(This message has been edited by packsaddle)

[Cubmaster Randy]

The God and Family program for the methodists that my webelos son did was a six week program + an orientation meeting. They got to make a pizza while exploring their faith. I know that the Boy Scouts (God and Church or God and Life) that participated had at least a 6 month program. Of course, different religions have different requirments... so your mileage may vary http://www.scouting.org/awards/religious/awards/index.html

 

 

 

 

[John-in-KC]

Packsaddle,

 

http://www.praypub.org

 

The curricula has indeed changed, especially so since we 40-somethings were youth.

 

Please note, I am discussing the Christian Protestant curriculum. Other denominations and faith families have their own packages.

 

There are 4 tiers now.

 

God and Me covers Tigers-Bears, essentially. It's a game, and the theme of the game is I LOVE JESUS.

 

God and Family covers Webelos into first year of Boy Scouting. It's also a game, and the theme is "WE AS A FAMILY LOVE JESUS."

 

God and Church is for 6th-8th graders (funny, that is confirmation age). Indeed, it parallels my Pastor's confirmation curriculum for 8th graders. It's designed to teach Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.

 

God and Life is for high schoolers. It focuses on Paul's ministry, and I could use it as a curriculum in an adult class!

 

HTH

[clydesdale115]

Thank you to everyone for your very thoughtful replies. It appears the best way to handle this is as many of you suggest: We will simply introduce the God and Family (Protestant) and Parvuli Dei (Catholic) programs to our den families and encourage them to get started right away. I already have both workbooks and the counselor's book to show them.

 

The pastor of our CO church (Methodist) has "offered" to host the meetings, although no one in the Pack has ever taken them up on it. He will likely just designate one of us to conduct the classes, with him signing off. As it is, none of the boys in our den is a member of the CO (interestingly only 1 family in our Pack belongs to this CO). It would be a good option for those who are unchurched, and even those who have their own Protestant church might enjoy working the program as a group with their den mates. On non-den time :-)

 

I particularly don't want to feel like we are excluding the boy whose family is Catholic, because he is certainly welcome in the God and Family classes, but that would not be "earning the Religious Emblem of HIS faith." He would still have to earn the emblem through his own parish, or do the other optional requirements.

 

We would never intend this to be "doing something just to get a Webelos requirement checked off." Never. We'll introduce this program as an optional requirement, and let them know when the CO can start classes.

 

Thank you all so much for your insight - I welcome further comments, complaints, or suggestions :-)

clydesdale115