LDS Scouting Mixing With Non-LDS Scouting

[LeCastor]

Hi all!

 

Was just wondering what your respective experiences have been vis-à-vis LDS Scouting--whether units, Scouters, or building usage--and their relationship(s) with non-LDS Scouters.

 

Is there much intermingling? Is it segregated? Do non-LDS units or Scouters use LDS facilities for meetings or Roundtables?

 

What's the deal, yo?

 

LeCastor

[scoutldr]

Yes, we use the local LDS church for district meetings, OA chapter meetings, training, etc. Only drawback is we can't serve caffeine. We would have LDS units at camporees and the only difference would be when they would pack up Saturday night and go home.

[chrisg478]

Around here the LDS units are just another unit. They do things thier way but we don't treat them any different. When my son was a Cub Scout he went to Day Camp, District events and Webelos Woods beside kids from the LDS unit. I attended basic Cub Leader training, PowWow and even Wood Badge with the Leaders of the LDS unit. Our District holds roundtable at the LDS church and we also have used it for other events. Our local LDS unit has always been very involved in the OA and their leaders help with training events and activities.

The only real differences are they leave camp Saturday night, they don't attend our summer camps, do FOS presentations or sell popcorn. The only thing we discuss changing in regard to LDS units is to offer special IOLS trainings just for LDS members. That usually gets shot down and it is up to each training team how to best accommodate LDS members who say they can't stay overnight on Saturday.

[SeattlePioneer]

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We also have our district meeting and Roundtables at an LDS church. We have a district marble tournament each year held in the same LDS church.

 

Our Klondike Derby was just held at an LDS camp.

 

So the LDS church has been VERY welcoming and accomodating to our district and it's program!

 

 

We have an outstanding district Assistant Commissioner who looks after all the LDS units.

 

What a terrific organization! The Cathjolic Churches are in fairly distant second place by comparison.

 

Unfortunately, the LDS practice around here of assigning people to Scout leadership positions and then rotating them around after a couple of years tends to lead to weak units. But they are certainly out there trying to do a good job.

[qwazse]

Our Crew's memorial day service project (graveside flags in and urban cemetery) draws LDS units.

Haven't seen much of them otherwise.

 

Back in the day we did camporees and service projects together, even had a joint worship service on a Sunday morning. Both my SM and the LDS SM kept track of both of us boys as we graduated.

[Eagle94-A1]

Mixed on this one.

 

As others have mentioned, the turnover rate doesn't lead to a stable, quality program. I have had several experiences with playing phone tag and trying to get the unit leaders so I can get info to them, invite them to RT, or see if they want to have a OA election and camp promo. And Some of the meetings I've been to resemble more babysitting or sports than Scouting.

 

But I did have a positive experience with one troop. Part of that was the LDS bishop was very involved in Scouting, serving as the district chairman.

 

One thing I've have heard from LDS scouters is that the further away from Salt Lake City, the looser the program.

[TAHAWK]

Regardless of the theory, some years ago, a local stake had trouble finding a Scoutmaster. A non-LDS Scouter ended up being the SM until an LDS Scouter could take over. After five years of his service as SM, a replacement was finally called. The LDS Church gave him some sort of award. Nice medal. I was given to understand that he was the first Baptist to receive that award.

 

We have had several basic training events at one of the LDS churches in our district, We did serve coffee, including "high test." None of the participants were LDS Church members. Possibly the health rules apply to members and not to the building.

 

(Our area is rather significant to the LDS church. The first temple is here. One of the Twelve was our District Chairman for two years.)

[LeCastor]

I have heard rumblings of non-LDS Scouters refusing to participate in events held at LDS locations. Personally, I think that is shallow given that the LDS congregation has been open to allowing the use of their building for anything and everything. And I'm pretty sure it's not about the non-allowance of coffee/Coke. Roundtables, for example, have seen drastic drops in attendance since the venue was moved to an LDS building.

[skeptic]

I completely do not understand the continued bigotry towards the LDS in Scouting, and outside of it. But, if all scouts are brothers, then those that have an issue with LDS units and their members are not very good scouts and scouters. So they often go home on Saturday at council and district events. So they have some unfamiliar program elements. Why is that an issue outside of those in those units? As LeCastor says, it is shallow. And often, the perceived problems are built on things that happened years ago. Locally, our LDS groups have become much more involved, as they have an umbrella of units so to speak in districts, so the individual Stake units can act together for many activities. My understanding is that this comes from higher up, as they have realized the drawbacks of units being too small.

 

Whatever, just because the approach is different does not make it any less Scouting connected.

[qwazse]

I have heard rumblings of non-LDS Scouters refusing to participate in events held at LDS locations. ... Roundtables' date=' for example, have seen drastic drops in attendance since the venue was moved to an LDS building.[/quote']

 

I think this is an unintended consequence of anti-LDS propaganda ... most of which was intended to teach mainline church folks orthodoxy ... not sectarian apartheid. It's simply easier to play the "good Christian" by shunning property built by heretics than it is to actually be merely Christian, fear no edifice, and learn how to address heresies via courteous dialogue at appropriate times.

 

There's also a numbers game happening. Losers, don't like to go to the winning team's field. That's why around here, conference sports banquets are held at neutral locations.

 

All of this is beyond a scouter's control. IMHS, the best you could do is everyone recognize that this kind of prejudice may be a problem and plan to alternate locations from time to time.

[Eagle94-A1]

The anti-LDS attitudes is as bad as the anti-Catholic attitudes I've experienced. I even had one potential leader, write a very long, abusive letter about he and his family will not join Scouts since they let Catholics in it.

 

Better off without him.

[SeattlePioneer]

Personally my respect for the LDS church has grown over the years as I've seen the generosity of spirit and cooperation shown by LDS Scouters and Church leaders towards Scouting in general. Frankly, I think there are lots of things about LDS practices that seem smart and supportive of families to me.

 

For example --- I like the idea of families being encouraged to have a years supply of food on hand. To me, this sounds like families deciding that THEY are responsible for the welfare of their families, not the government and not Mr. Safeway.

 

I'm IMPRESSED by the number of young people going on missions, often to foreign lands. There was a good movie about that a few years ago by a young man who went to Tonga or some similar Polynesian Isle. That's an impressive level of commitment and probably has consequences for the church with added understanding about foreign cultures.

 

I don't know if LDS families have lower divorce rates --- I wouldn;t be surprised if they do.

 

 

If you consider issues like that, perhaps it's not surprising that some other churches don;t want their members seeing too much of that....

 

 

 

[TAHAWK]

The anti-LDS attitudes is as bad as the anti-Catholic attitudes I've experienced. I even had one potential leader, write a very long, abusive letter about he and his family will not join Scouts since they let Catholics in it.

 

Better off without him.

 

 

Too bad.

 

Being a Scout in a (large) troop that had at least one of everything (black, brown, yellow, white, every sort of Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shinto, Buddhist, and Baha'i) was a very good thing for me. It's hard to listen to prejudiced generalizations when your patrol mates and tent mate are "minority" in several respects. I was in a distinct minority in that troop as I was not a military dependent, but I was forgiven my strangeness..

 

When the local stake only had thirteen Scouts, they Scouted with us for a year until the next crop of Cubs crossed over. The thirteen Scouts registered with us and over fifty family members as well. Troop 43 camped with the new LDS troop once a year until I moved to Ohio and for some years thereafter.

 

I do recall that at that time, our Catholic Scouts were told they should not be at our sponsor's Methodist services. We - the Scouts - thought that was very strange, Dumb adult stuff.

 

Your "potential leader" may well poison his kids.

[Stosh]

Bigoted kids learn their attitudes from their bigoted parents.

 

Stosh

[SSScout]

Stosh: In a nut shell, the source of much of our world's problems. This is why a "Scout's Own" should never be planned by the adults.