Excluded from Overnight Experience at Wood badge

[Eamonn]

The news that you will soon be wearing your beads, is really good.

I'm pleased that the "Damper" was pushed in and pulled out but the Scouter came out just the same.

Maybe a wee bit better ?

Jolly Well Done.

[evmori]

bmchugh,

Congrats on finishing your ticket!

 

Religion 1st & BSA 2nd isn't a bad thing. I can't think of a legit religion that doesn't allow unmarried males & females to sleep in separate tents in the same site. It seems there is something else going on there.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

 

I use to be an Eagle ..................

 

[SR540Beaver]

What am I doing back in this thread? I think I'm a glutton for punishment too. Being a life long Southern Baptist, with a degree in Religion from a SB University and a year of seminary under my belt, let me give you my personal take on things.

 

There are God's laws spelled out in scripture and there are man's laws......sometimes based on scripture interpretation and sometimes not. Each summer as a teenager, I went to our church camp. It was a huge camp that would have up to 5,000 attendees per session at 4 to 5 weekly sessions. Mind you, this was 30 years ago when I went, but many of the rules remain the same. Back then, girls could wear pants or shorts during the day, but had to wear skirts to the evening service. We had security people who carried rulers and if they thought your shorts were too short (male or female), you had to get on your knees and they would measure from the ground to your hem to make sure they were no shorter than 6 inches. If I recall correctly, hand holding was not allowed. Swimming sessions were scheduled by age and sex. Couldn't allow mixed sex swimming....someone might try to do something untoward in the pool......of about 300 people. It was so crowded you couldn't move without bumping into someone. LOL Boys would be run off if they got to close to the pool fence during the girl's swim time. These rules were not directives from scripture, but an attempt to make sure people acted in a moral manner. You went to camp knowing these were the rules and you grudgingly accepted them. Of course kids would always push the limits when they could.

 

Baptist's have always taught against drinking alcohol. The Bible does not teach against it. People in biblical times drank wine. I've had more than one Baptist minister try to convince me that the wine of the Bible was grape juice. I always asked them what refrigerator they got the bottle out of in the off season. The Bible speaks against drunkeness and excess, not drinking. But abstinance from alcohol is a basic belief of Baptists. Dancing is another no-no. I could go on and on.

 

My point is that men make many rules that they attribute to their religious beliefs, but can't always directly support from the written word of God. While I respect Johnsned's right to his religious beliefs, my challenge to him is to support those beliefs with scripture. I have trouble with the BSA bowing to a particular denominations teachings when organizing something like WB. For a person of a denomination who has a problem with the program as designed, I think they should be accomodated when possible. In other words, the person with the belief that men and women can't sleep in separate tents in the same campground should remove themselves to a separate campground. This decision should be respected by his fellow course members. But the BSA or the council should not create a course that caters to this belief even if you could actually point to a scripture that spelled out the restriction.

 

Johnsned, while I know from your postings that this is a church teaching that you believe strongly in and adhere to, can you tell me where the teaching comes from in scripture? I'm not interested in the church's teaching, but the scripture from God's word that supports the teaching. Also, why should the BSA be inclined to accomodate the teaching rather than leave it to the individual to deal with?

[SagerScout]

bmchugh -

 

You are right, I was responding to a later posting than your thread-starter. The conditions you describe are just about exactly what I described as those that would make me feel discriminated against. Johnsned's post explicitly said that the sleeping arrangements were described in the course materials, which to me was the salient point - it offered fair warning and would allow you to make your own choice.

 

At any rate, congratulations on rising above this disheartening experience and finishing your ticket anyway.

 

julia