I wonder if that means they're also reconsidering their stance on gay members too. I don't know whether my son is going to be straight or gay, but regardless, I'm not okay with supporting something that would shun a young man and forbid him to be involved just because he's coming to terms with his sexuality, even if he does it the "good" way and is wanting to "be gay but not act on it." Not cool.
I'd guess that the Mormon church provides a huge percentage of their funding.
The whole "friends of scouting" thing is nuts. The ward pushes extremely hard to get members to contribute. They generally go door to door to make sure every family in the ward gets an invitation to donate.
In our ward they actually pass out the donation slips and have you fill it out during priesthood.
I seriously doubt the BSA will change it's policy where the LDS church hold's it's purse strings.
actually they have WAY more to lose by changing their current policy, financially. If they change this policy, it is almost guaranteed that most of the religious organizations that make up the majority of their chartered organizations will part ways with BSA. If they make this policy change, it will effectively kill BSA and at the very minimum make it a completely irrelevant organization.
The GSA seem to do ok without the religious control and prejudices that the BSA has. I think they would survive, and may even see a renaissance of growth.
helemon Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The GSA seem to do ok without the religious > control and prejudices that the BSA has. I think > they would survive, and may even see a renaissance > of growth.
That's what I think as well, as those who are religious yet support equal rights for gays might be more likely to join the organization. There might be more troops sponsored by the UU and other churches that accept gay members.
lie down with marments, wake up with "hater" tattooed on your forehead.
I'm not willing to give National an ounce of sympathy.
but the bottom line is that B-P designed the scouting program for inner city youth displaced by the Industrial Revolution.
and it can still be an amazingly effective program. It can work extremely well for inner city fatherless minority youth.
It does in our troop. We have a model that can be reproduced on a national level that would revitalize scouting.
but not with the current position the marments impose: enre gays, vaginas and non-deists.
But our program does very well in integrating fatherless, impoverished minority youth into mainstream white, male, corporate America. And I can't think of another program that is half as effective.
and got them out of the Philly ghetto for a road trip. Their troop (African American) got along well with other troops (European American), and they all learned a lot, had a great time until they were in Texas and went to eat.
My father entered the restaurant with the white kids, and my uncle entered with the black kids. They mistook my dad for white and seated him. His brother was forced to eat in the kitchen with the black kids.
Not the BSA's fault. Just a shitty thing to happen to a bunch of kids. It didn't undo their nascent friendships, but it was a defining moment in both my father's and uncle's lives.
I'm flying under the radar. We skip right over the religious section of the handbook, not being affiliated with a church. The big boys don't need to know. A person's take on religion is their own business, so far as we're concerned.
I actually saw a recent quote by someone high up on scouting where they basically say that they don't really care if atheists and gays are involved in the program unless those people decide to make an issue out of it. I thought this was encouraging if a bit naive - I'm sure plenty of people do lots of policing on the local level.
Maybe when hell freezes over. They just barely started holding coed youth leadership courses for Venture Scouts at their national camp in Philmont. A lot of the "old guards" weren't too pleased to see that happen. Women are, after all, a distraction that young boys don't need at a leadership camp. Sausage fests only!
And even if they do change their policy I cannot support an organization that lets its campgrounds and programs flounder while its executives make millions of dollars a year.
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2012 10:42PM by Strykary.
I remember when the Boy Scouts were being sued for not allowing gays to be members. The church expanded their Duty to God program around the same time and there was a lot of talk that it was to get ready in case the court case went against the BSA and the church had to withdraw its support from scouting. I was hoping they would have to accept gays so that I wouldn't be required to do scouting and get my eagle or else I was evil and didn't want to follow the prophet which is what one of my youth leaders told us in a lesson once.
Did you have the "We won't let you get your drivers license until you get your Eagle," ultimatum from your parents? I wonder at the lower quality of those Eagle projects because (1) the boys don't really care about them and are just doing them to get them out of the way and (2) a 15 year old doing the project vs a 17 year old.
GSA makes millions off cookies they don't need religion. BSA definitely needs religion especially Mormons. Boy Scouts is lame and outdated only people that will do it is the boys forced by their religious parents and yes I am an Eagle scout.