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19 Nov 2008 07:34 am

The Mormons And Scouts

A reader writes:

I am a Boy Scout leader.  It is probably true that officlal scout policy, including pursuance of unwise legal chimeras, is in part due to pressure from the Mormon Church.  However, there is a huge difference between official public Scout policy and Scouting as it actually plays out with boys in their own communities.  Everything, good and bad, that is in society can be found in scout troops, and nothing can change that.  But over the years, as a trained leader, I have never, in any troop, ever, not once, seen official scout policy against gays even mentioned by the organization in any training, much less enforced.

When boys have asked me, I just tell them that the Scout Law includes the points "Friendly, Courteous, Kind" and that that means to everyone.  When they asked me about the Supreme Court decision letting the Scouts do as they pleased, including discriminate, I said fine.  That decision says we can not be forced to do the right thing by the US Constitution, and it is the Constitution which it is the Court's job to explain.    But our guide is the  Scout Law, and it is our individual responsibility, not the Court's, to figure out what that means. 

I know for a fact that there are many scout troops that operate in just the way I am now describing.  I know, too, that there are others that would make you and me shudder. It is completely unfair to describe the Boy Scouts as a right wing or fanatical or even religious organization.  It is a loose grouping of thousands of small outfits that run the gamut.  I know that in my community, it is a positive influence on boys.

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