An Atheist Mothers Depressing Journey With the Boy Scouts

[NeoGreen]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/07/27/an-atheist-mothers-depressing-journey-with-the-boy-scouts/

An Atheist Mother’s Depressing Journey With the Boy Scouts
July 27, 2017 by Hemant Mehta

After moving to a new city, Kate Abbott wanted to help her 8-year-old son Henry find a new group of friends, and she figured the Boy Scouts would be a perfect place to make that happen. They met with a local den leader, bought the requisite clothing and equipment, and dove right into the Cub Scout handbook.

That when she realized belief in God was a requirement for the Scouts.

Kate wasn’t aware of this before. And she wondered if there was a way to work around it. She and her husband weren’t religious and they were raising their son without religion. Since the den seemed fairly liberal, couldn’t she prove her son was “reverent” in a non-religious way?

She tells the story in an essay at Longreads:

It’s perfectly legal for them to discriminate based on a lack of religion. But is it moral? Is it moral to exclude anyone, much less children, based on their religious beliefs? Of course not. So why should it be moral to exclude children on their lack of religious beliefs? Would it be moral for my son to hide and lie about his personal beliefs just to be in a club? I can’t think of anything less moral (or what I think of as Scout-like) than lying about what you believe to be right.

You would think the Scouts would welcome an honest atheist who genuinely wants everything the Scouts offer (minus the religious bits), but they have a long history of excluding people who don’t meet their requirements perfectly. It’s a mistake that has put them in an existential crisis before and they still haven’t learned their lesson.

I just want to add a few points about the specific BSA rules and guideline in regards to the requirement for a "belief in god":

Excerpt:

CHARTER AND BYLAWS OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA (2014)

ARTICLE IX. POLICIES AND DEFINITIONS - POLICIES
Section 1.

...

Activities
Clause 2.
The activities of the members of the Boy Scouts of America shall be carried on under conditions which show respect to the convictions of others in matters of custom and religion, as required by the twelfth point of the Scout Law, reading,
“Reverent:
1) A Scout is reverent toward God,
2) He is faithful in his religious duties,
3) He respects the beliefs of others.”

Freedom
Clause 3.
In no case where a unit is connected with a church or other distinctively religious organization shall members of other denominations or faith be required, because of their membership in the unit, to take part in or observe a religious ceremony distinctly unique to that organization or church.

and,

BSA Guide to Advancement - BSA Publication 33088 (2015), Page 39

5.0.5.0 Religious Principles

The Boy Scouts of America does not define what constitutes belief in God or practice of religion. Neither does the BSA require membership in a religious organization or association for membership in the movement. If a Scout does not belong to a religious organization or association, then his parent(s) or guardian(s) will be considered responsible for his religious training.

My interpretation is that since there is no BSA prescribed definition of "god" there is no metric upon which any agent of the BSA may reject any child's participation as long as he/she is adhering to their parent's/guardian's teachings (as defined by the parent/guardian, not the BSA or any other institution).


Some quotes for A historical perspective:

“We are not a (social) club or a Sunday school class, but a school of the woods.”
Sir Robert Baden-Powell

“The religion of a man is not the creed he professes but his life - what he acts upon and knows of life and his duty in it. A bad man who believes in a creed is no more religious than the good man who does not.”
Sir Robert Baden-Powell

"School of the woods", has always been my guiding principle and focus while I and my son have participated in scouting.