GirlGuiding New Zealand removes god from promise.

[LeCastor]

I personally see Scouting as letting people in rather than keeping them out...

[Pint]

From a UK perspective, Girl Guiding UK dropped any reference to God from the promise, and while there was a little ( you had to search to find it ) criticism things have pretty much carried on.

Scouting through the UK Scout assocaition has also change the promise however this has been done by introducing a new optional variation that replaces " Do my duty to God " to "uphold our Scout values"

theres more information on that here http://members.scouts.org.uk/fundamentals/?pageid=2944

[AZMike]

The BSA isn't and never was intended to be for all boys. It's an organization that requires a religious adherence as one of its membership requirements. Boys who aren't religious, like girls, can still be good people but aren't eligible for membership. They can be members of other youth groups or start their own, but this is the way the BSA was set up. I wouldn't join an atheist organization and demand they accommodate me by allowing me to start the meeting with a Christian prayer.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

The BSA isn't and never was intended to be for all boys.

 

Odd that official scout recruiting would use that phrase, then:

http://www.scouting.org/filestore/me...df/523-021.pdf

 

Cub Scouting Is for All Boys. Cub Scouting is for boys of all sizes, shapes, colors, and backgrounds. Some are gifted students or talented athletes; others struggle in these areas. Some have strong, stable families; others face social and economic challenges. Some live in cities, some live in suburban areas, and some live in rural communities. Some have physical, mental, or emotional disabilities that make ordinary activities difficult. Because of its flexibility and its emphasis on doing one’s best, Cub Scouting easily adapts to all these situations.

 

Wait, not "odd" . . . what is the word . . . oh yeah, "Dishonest".

 

 

 

[qwazse]

Agree with Merl., here. Never liked the BSA marketing rhetoric.

 

Cub Scouting is not meant for boys/families bent on Deceit, Disloyalty, Self-service, ... and Irreverence. Says so in the fine print. Boys/families fitting one exclusionary category may resent being lumped in with those fitting another category, but neither should be blindsided by this tripe.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Agree with Merl., here. Never liked the BSA marketing rhetoric.

 

Cub Scouting is not meant for boys/families bent on Deceit, Disloyalty, Self-service.

 

http://www.wdrb.com/story/20110634/t...nside-a-prison

 

 

It also goes against what William Boyce stipulated when he handed over the BSA to the executive board -- that the BSA would not discriminate on the basis of race or creed. Discriminating against people who don't hold the creed "god exists" is such.

[st0ut717]

H

The BSA isn't and never was intended to be for all boys. It's an organization that requires a religious adherence as one of its membership requirements. Boys who aren't religious' date=' like girls, can still be good people but aren't eligible for membership. They can be members of other youth groups or start their own, but this is the way the BSA was set up. I wouldn't join an atheist organization and demand they accommodate me by allowing me to start the meeting with a Christian prayer.[/quote'] Can Do a Buddhist meditation at you next meeting then. Or is this only for Christians?

[NJCubScouter]

The BSA isn't and never was intended to be for all boys.

 

First of all, as Merlyn points out, the BSA has played both sides of the "for all boys" issue. The recruiting literature that is handed out in public schools says nothing about a religious requirement. That is only mentioned later, if at all. If a parent signs a leadership application, the summary of the Declaration of Religious Principle is part of the dense fine print, but I don't know that parents are informed about it otherwise. Second of all, not that we enforce "on-topic" in threads here, but this thread started out being about Scouting in another country, not the BSA. I mentioned the BSA in my previous post only to draw the distinction.

 

It's an organization that requires a religious adherence as one of its membership requirements.

 

Well, in practice it currently requires a belief in a "higher power" and this can apparently be satisfied by a spiritual belief that does not necessarily involve a deity, such as some forms of Buddhism. That does not necessarily equate to "a religious adherence", and I am not even sure what that phrase means. Clearly the BSA does not currently require a belief in any specific religion.

 

Boys who aren't religious' date=' like girls, can still be good people but aren't eligible for membership.[/quote']

 

Even assuming the word "religious" is accurate, that is how things are now. That is not necessarily the way they will always be. Whether the BSA would change its essential nature if it dropped the requirement of a belief in a higher power is a matter of opinion. I don't think it would.

[Stosh]

Trail Life USA...they walked and created their own narrow group. Certainly their choice. Things change' date=' Mr. Blake, and it's not always a bad thing. [/quote']

 

Drop in membership is not always a bad thing either. It weeds out the dead wood and parlor scouts. Everything can be defined from the perspective of any agenda. Works for me.

 

For the first 50 years of scouting it grew to significant numbers and became a very respected youth organization in America. Can that be said of the last 50 years? I'm not making a judgmental statement, only the facts as they pertain to the program.

 

Stosh

[packsaddle]

I agree regarding the drop in membership. If the numbers go low enough, we can shed ourselves of a bunch of overpaid so-called 'professionals' because there won't be enough 'green' in the game to attract people whose motivation is a fat salary. I'm all for splitting into even more 'splinter' organizations. Won't hurt a thing and it will rid us of a bunch of 'percentage parasites'.