boy scouts

i was reading thru the news this morning, and this article struck me as odd:

Scouts share Hanukkah with Jewish soldiers in Iraq

now, the scouts have repeatedly said they do not allow gay members because it goes against their creed and beliefs, which are based on christian fundamentals and the bible.

so... why do they allow jewish people? after all, didnt the jews kill jesus? and arent they basicaly non-christians? why are jews allowed and not gay people? even gay christians are kicked out.

it seems the scouts are very selective in how they apply their rules & regulations, as well as their 'faith'

things that make ya go hrmmmm.....

Actually there was a big Jewish movement to change the boyscout rules because they found them unethical and the Jewish faith doesn't believe in bigotry. You can see some interesting articles here:

Jews pained by anti-gay Scouts a year after court ruling

Reform Jewish Leaders Urge Boy Scout Ban

The backlash from the boyscouts anti-Gay policies was tremendous, not just from other religious organizations within the scouts, but from state governments, who for years funded the scouts, but after the anti-Gay crap, they STOPPED funding them because the scouts don't match the states "anti discrimination" policies HA HA HA Good story on that here: Discriminating against the Boy Scouts. Also the ACLU sued the U.S. Government, and won, to stop it from supporting the Boy Scouts on military bases because of their discriminatory practices. story here

The boyscouts don't demand you believe in a Christian God, they just require you to believe in God period to be a scout. The scouts have over 29 different religious groups within their organization. Atheists have been stopped from getting badges in the scouts, and even kicked out in some cases, just for being Atheist. The United Way was one of the boyscouts major funders, they have some chapters that have pulled all of their funding for the scouts because of their discriminatory practices.

The funny thing is that the Girl scouts don't have an anti Gay policy and have been unscathed through the whole ordeal :high:

Wasnt the boy scouts founded on freedom rather than religion?

Regards,

Lee

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Originally posted by Lee
Wasnt the boy scouts founded on freedom rather than religion?

Regards,

Lee

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No Lee those were the Freedom Scouts. They were the ones who wore the lavendar and pink outfits with the pretty saches, steel toed boots and curvey white hats. They didn't last long, dunno why :-D

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Originally posted by Chilihost
things that make ya go hrmmmm.....

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Thanks Luke...

Now I can't get that bloody song out of my head.

:biker:

I hate to see the Boy Scouts policies bring down problems upon them. I do think they can be a great influence in the lives of young men. I myself was an Eagle Scout and was in Boy Scouts for many years. All throughout middle and high school I was involved in scouting and I learned a great deal in scouting, some of my fondest memories are from when I was a scout, and to this day many of my closest friends are friends I've had since scouting - guys I've kept in touch with over many years, many continents and countries, and all of whom know I'm gay and have no problem with it at all.

I wouldn't trade my years in scouting for anything.

Then again, I have a friend who - a couple of years ago when he was going for his own Eagle badge - was denied it. Forced by the scoutmaster (who had recently found out he was gay) to tell his eagle committee that he was gay. Wouldn't allow him to go for eagle unless he told them. And, once they found out, they denied it to him. That's bullshit. On that one factor alone they denied him eagle and condemned him.

When they go through these kinds of problems, despite as much good as they have the potential to do, they bring it upon themselves. They have an agenda and set of policies that prevents them from conforming to the laws that allow for public funding and support. That's their own fault. They have every right to deny gay or atheist young people membership in scouting. As a private organization that's their decision and theirs alone. But in doing so they just gotta deal with the undesireable consequences of it.

It's to religions demise that it preaches love and acceptance, yet so publicly deny that to certain groups of people. Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged? When was the last time you've seen that in a church?

Private organizations, like the scouts, with a religious base, just seem to get off on saying who's "part of the club" and who isn't.

I was in the scouts when I was a kid and thought it was ok. I was more impacted by going to summer camp every year. I had a great time then and thought it was so kewl. People going to camp 'church' on Sundays was odd, but we didn't have to go. I went once... they had it at night.. and everyone walked down the trails late at night, each with a candle. fucking bizarre. Didn't do that again.

Other things happened at camp the last time I went that made me not want to go again, but it was fun while it lasted.

There is nothing like a group of kids, your own age, all going through the same experiences together. The joy of being in a group like that is a great feeling. It sucks that it's legal to exclude people from experiencing that joy in life.

Man... things were so much simpler when I was a scout..

I didn't know about anything like that, and just LOVED being a boy scout.. walking around in uniform and having fun with guys may age making soap sculptures and camping out.

But yeah, I almost sent them my uniform back a while ago... but i decided to keep it.

Good memories.