I have been a Girl Scout leader for several years. Originally, we were sponsored by the Catholic church then for scheduling reasons we changed to a Lutheran church sponsored group. We meet in their basement and sell cookies to their congregation and ... THAT'S IT!

They don't tell us how to earn our money or spend our money or ask us to teach the religious goals of their respective churches to our girls. We aren't limited to the money they donate plus one fundraiser. We make enough money from cookie sales for all our troop needs but we could do other fund raisers if we wanted to do something big. Contrast that to the LDS troops who are forced to function on ever decreasing budgets and aren't allowed other fund-raisers, except maybe one church-approved one. The church wants the program dependant on the church and it's bounty.

Yesterday I was talking to an acquaintance of mine who is on the cub committee in her ward. She knows I spent a lot of years in the cub program while LDS and was complaining about a boy who was attending their ward while his parents lived with his grandparents. But now that his parents had bought a house and moved out of the ward, she wanted him taken off their rolls and made to go to scouts in his new ward. The new ward should be friendshipping him, she complained. This boy is in a scout troop with his school friends and just because he moved (still in the same school district), she wants to be able to kick him out and put him in a troop with kids he doesn't know as well. She also talked about how cubs was an important part of preparing boys for the priesthood and how she needed to help the boys feel the spirit. It reminded me of all the times when I was in the Primary presidency that we encouraged scout leaders to teach Primary principles and help the boys earn their religious knot.

This just seems wrong to me. Mormonism shouldn't be allowed to turn Boy Scouts into their own public indoctrination program. I hope they do start a Sons of Helaman group and let the Boy Scouts go their own way. Mormon troops are Boy Scout Lite anyway, unless they are lucky and get a really good leader. But using them as a tool really stinks.

In the 50's when I became a boy scout, my Dad was called to the ward scout council. He was a teacher, a coach, an athlete, an outdoorsman and a disciplinarian. He was quickly eased out of the calling.

I learned later that he and a member of the bishopric argued over whether "scouts" was to make missionaries or men. You couldn't argue with my Dad so he had to go.

Some years later I approached him wanting to go on a mission, he discouraged me.....Thanks Dad.

Our ward had a motto that we repeated every Sunday in Deacon's Quorum. We would sit in a circle, and repeat, "Scouting is Priesthood, Priesthood is Scouting."

Makes me want to scream now.

Can't wait for the BSA to accept gay leaders. That should create the much needed separation. Unless of course the church has another "revelation" and changes their mind about homosexuality.

I've always had a problem with how scouting is so engrained in the lds culture - often cheapend and dumbed down. Scouting teaches boys to be Men, religion teaches them how to be good (or Godly depending on your take) men. the two goals are, and should be, seperable.

AMEN.

I'm curious, though... Boy Scouts is run very differently from Girl Scouts, right? Are non-LDS Boy Scout troops perhaps more closely tied to their sponsor churches in general than Girl Scouts are? I just wonder if BSA rules about fundraising and such are written to be at the discretion of the troop sponsor, or if TSCC is in violation of these rules.

All Boy Scout units (troops/packs) are run by the "Charter Organization". There is a signed agreement between BSA and the Charter Organization, not between BSA and the unit leadership directly. Some organizations are more involved than others.

The Charter Organization owns all the unit's property. They are officially responsible for choosing leaders (and the Charter Organization Rep must sign all adult applications). Around here, most of the units are in churches but the churches don't always get directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the unit. Some do (especially if they have lots of families in the troop.) Some don't (especially if they have alternative religious youth organizations).

Girl Scout Troopss are authorized directly by their local council. There is no such concept as a "charter organization". Money belongs to the girls (and the council if the troop disbands). Volunteers are approved by GSUSA, not the meeting facility owner.

Around here, many troops meet at the same churches that have Boy Scout Troops. The relationship is different though - the local UMC where my GS troop meets has a fairly strong relationship with the BS Troop because lots of the families from the church are members of that troop. In the case of our GS troop, they allow us to use their facilities and that's the extent of our relationship.

Oh forgot to include fundraisers. BSA fundraisers and GSUSA fundraisers have similar rules - basically, you can't have troop fundraisers without first supporting the council fundraisers. (It's where the councils get most of their money.) Around here, that's popcorn and discount cards for the boys and chocolate/magazines and cookies for the girls.

Additional fundraisers must meet guidelines (and approvals) by the local scouting council. For the boys, the Charter Organization is free to impose any additional rules it likes. The girls just have council rules.

Google "volunteer essentials" and "girl scouts" to find details on all the GS council rules. Google "Boy Scout Council" and your state to get a link to your local BSA council which should have the local fundraising guidelines & paperwork.