Secular Scouting?
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Anonymous
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My husband was raised in a conservative, extremely religious community. It was difficult to tell where the boy scouts stopped and the church began. He has many fond memories of his many years in the scouts, but he is an Atheist now, as am I.
We are reaching cub scout age with our oldest son and many of his friends are joining up. We have good relationships with many people in the troop (school friends and neighbors) many of whom I know are Christian, and all of whom are quite liberal (example, all are perfectly respectful toward homosexuality - at least in public.) We have no reservations about our child being exposed to religious observations or traditions, and in fact we have found it to be a good educational opportunity. "Stand quietly while people pray, be respectful, listen to their words." "Why do you think they do that?" "What do you think they get from it?" "It doesn't matter what people believe nearly as much as how they treat other people." We explain to him what we personally believe, but try to encourage him to keep an open mind so that he can make his own decisions as he grows. While we have concerns about the Scouts' stance on homosexuality, I am quite confident that would not be made an issue in this urban troop, and likely never mentioned at all. We like the idea of many aspects of scouting: a sense of community, learning useful life skills, encouraging trustworthiness, and service. That all stated, we are experiencing pause when it comes to joining the scouts since God is proffered as an authority so very often, and it's right there in the Scout Oath right? It's one thing to not address sexuality, but believing in "a God" feels like a requirement of the organization and it may send the wrong messages to our little guy. We have been discussing it, and we are truly torn. We know this is likely the first of many situations that we will run into where our atheism is in conflict with what he is hearing. I was wondering if anyone has had an experience or insight that might be helpful to us as we navigate. Have you been in a very liberal scout troop? If the local troop takes it easy on the God/homosexuality component should I still be concerned with the larger organization's clear omission of respect toward atheists? |
Anonymous
| Since you have reservations about it op, don't lead him to it. But if he brings it up, and wants to join, I'd let him. It's just scouts. As parents you can't fight every national battle or your son will be too much of an outliner. |
Anonymous
| We're in a suburban troop and religion or conservativism hasn't been an issue in any way. Technically they do not allow atheists, the scout oath does include mention of God but we've always said it as a group, no one has had to say it on his own so my son could omit that. There are a ton of positive experiences in scouts, it's exposed my son to so many cool things. He is still in cub scouts, boy scouts may involve more faith. Give it a try. |
Anonymous
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First off, "Scouting" also includes Girl Scouts, so I just want to point out that there is no faith requirement in Girl Scouting which is a different organization from Boy Scouts.
Second, there IS a faith requirement to be a Cub or Boy Scout. The boy or adult member must agree that he or she believes in a Higher Power; however that Higher Power and belief is left ot the home and family to define. For Cub Scouts the issue doesn't come up at all, except that Cubs recite the Oath and Law, which includes the words "duty to God". There is no provision for a Cub Scout to omit the word "God" or replace it with "my faith" or "good" or mumble it... however in practice if the boy wants to do so, I don't know that most packs would notice or make an issue of it.
For Boy Scouts, they use the same oath and law, but Boy Scouts (grades 6 and up) have requirements to advance from one level to the next. One requirement is to recite the Oath and Law from memory; again no substitutions allowed. In advancing from rank to rank, one final requirement it to have a Scoutmaster's Conference. At my son's first conference, his Scoutmaster asked him how my son showed he followed the Scout Oath -- how did he do his duty to his country? How did he do his duty to God? My son stumbled on these questions, because he doesn't attend church and considers himself an atheist. Not all Scoutmasters will ask these questions (ours isn't particularly religious, he was just reading the questions suggested) and I believe the Scoutmaster is supposed to accept any answer except, "I don't believe in God, I am an atheist.") which is the unacceptable answer from what I have heard. If you want secular Scouting group that accepts people of all faith, or no faith, check out the Baden Powell Scouts. (Technically they are forbidden to use the term "scouts" in their name by the Boy Scouts of America which has a monopoly on the term, so the official name is Baden-Powell Service Assiciation".) It is an organization that has been formed based on the original plan of the Scouting founder, Robert Baden-Powell; and it is open to boys and girls, men and women, regardless of sexual orientation or religious belief or no belief. No politics, just Scouting! http://bpsa-us.org |
Anonymous
This! Cub Scouts allowed my son to do so many great things and have so many fun experiences. Wouldn't have missed it for the world. He's now in Boy Scouts. Neither group focuses too much on God, but it's more prevalent in Boy Scouts. But it's a very broad kind of thing, not just Christian. |
Anonymous
You should also be aware that, as atheists, you and your husband are technically not entitled to become registered Cub Scout leaders -- either den leaders, or Packmaster; nor can you register to serve in any other job, such as Popcorn Colonel; no could you work at a Boy Scout camp as Aquatics Director, for example. If they found out you were atheist, you could lose your position, even if volunteer. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-krattenmaker/when-will-boy-scouts-accept-the-non-religious_b_3294197.html |
Anonymous
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"morally straight"
who's morality? about what? useless words! |
Anonymous
Well, since Boy Scouts are a Christian organization, it is safe to assume they mean Christian morality If it were an atheist organization, they would be referring to atheist morality. Muslim? Muslim morqlity. Are you always purposefully this dense and argumentative or naturally so? |
Anonymous
THere's always Camp quest -- it's just in the summer time, but sounds like a good thing for humanist kids http://www.campquest.org |
Anonymous
| OP, why don't you talk to the den leader or cubmaster about your concerns? Further, ultimately your son - like all the other boys - will make up his own mind about God. Signed, a Cub Scout & Boy Scout Mom in a pack that sounds like the one you described! |
Anonymous
There are Jewish Scouts and Muslim Scouts. |
Anonymous
Yeah, scouting is not per we Christian. The first to sponsor a pack were Mormons. There are Jewish packs sponsored by synagogues. Im planning to out my son in one next year that has no formal religious affiliation. It meets at a school and not a church, synogogue, etc. That won't eradicate religion, but I'm pretty sure it's not emphasized. It's much raiser to find organizations around here that don't emphasize religion than many other parts of the country. |
Anonymous
from the handbook |
Anonymous
| My boys are in a troop that is sponsored by a Methodist church. Religion is not emphasized, but there is some prayer. There are christians, jewish, and nonreligous boys in the troop. My boys do not practice any religion. They have not encountered any problems. They like the troop. With the diversity in the Washington, DC area I think you should be able to find a troop that goes light on religion. |
Anonymous
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OP - you do know that Boy Scouts of America does now allow homosexual boys in troops, right?
I think it is a fabulous program (much better than my girl scout experience) and emphasizes leadership in the high school years. Colleges look favorably upon Eagle Scouts because admissions officers know how difficult it is to cram in all the badge requirements, the overnights, and the leadership positions required before making Eagle. Our troop is "boy lead" meaning at this age the boys run everything. I am so glad we got involved. And we have all sorts of faith in our troop. Good luck! |