James Hamlin

The Australian organization probably varies slightly from the American branch. It's called "Scout Oath", and while religious emblems are not compulsory, in many troops religion is tied closely to the activities (really depends on the troop). I have a Hindu friend who quit scouts because the troop he was in was sponsored by a local Mormon church, and scouts had have a conference with a church leader before advancement. Basically, he was discriminated against. My troop is sponsored by the local Lion's Club.

IMO, the dogmatic exclusion of gays from the boy scouts goes against its own principles, and is the result of a concentration of power in the Bible-thumpers in the organization. Since the Boy Scouts oraganization is supposed to include all religions, as long as they are theistic, I would think that it would allow for whatever beliefs the individual religions held, whether they were tolerant or not. Instead, those who adopt the bigotry from the Bible are calling the shots.

James Hamlin

Very sad.

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): No scout troop under the auspices of the BSA may admit children or employ adults who are not "morally straight". If you are a homosexual or a non-theist, you are not "morally straight".
Period.

The people at Scouting For All-a wonderful organization-may be able to give you more information on how Buddhist Scouts handle things.

Ronin

Thanks, Fr. Andrew...I support Scouting for All.

I have found what I was looking for here:

Buddhist Scouts and Gay Buddhists

From the buddhist scout informational text:

The Promise

Buddhist Scouts would not be happy to use the phrase "duty to God" in the Promise, but can replace it with "duty to Dharma". Buddhists do not believe in a personal creator God: To them, ultimate reality is Nirvana, a state of beyond greed, hatred and ignorance"

I have recently received a letter from the head of my local BSA troop that spells out, in no uncertain terms, that one must be able to recite the Promise as written.

I may post the exchange I had with the BSA over this issue later.

From the gay buddhist article:

"I can now go back to my temple and tell our gay, lesbian and bisexual members that they are still Buddhists, that they are still welcome, and that they are as well- equipped for the Buddhist path as anyone else."

In a prepared statement, the official spokesman for the Dalai Lama said the Tibetan spiritual leader looks forward to "further study and discussion on human sexuality."

"His Holiness was greatly concerned by reports made available to him regarding violence and discrimination against gay and lesbian people," said Dawa Tsering of the Office of Tibet in New York.

"His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation," Tsering said.

Well...no merit badge for Lhamo Dhondrub.

GunnerJ

...of course, the scoutmaster has no specific responsibility to inquire into a prospective member's "moral straightness." When my dad, the agnostic Christian, ran the troop, the subject just never came up. (although, we never had any gay scouts that I know of, and I was a theist then.)

enfant terrible

I don't know, and I am glad if you do. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

GunnerJ

No problem.

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): I'm not surprised that there were no gay scouts "that you know of", because gay children who want to avail themselves of the scouting experience learn early on that they must stifle any expression of, or curiosity about, their emerging sexual identity--or be excluded and ostracized.
It's preparation for a lifetime in the closet.

What's an "agnostic Christian"?

GunnerJ

Why are you telling me this? I'm sorry, but it's something I already know. My point was that while each troop has to follow the same rules re: admittance, there's no standard entrance exam asking "Do you believe in god? Are you gay?" I've heard that some troops, specifically those sponsored by a religious organization, do exatly that, but it's not a requirement.

This wasn't an attempt to justify the overall policy. It was just an observation.

You'd have to ask one.

Tony

I grew up in Soviet Union. We didn’t have scouts, but we had something similar.

The organization was called “Pioneers”. It had nothing to do with going around the world and discovering new continents. It was a second age group in communist brainwashing.
The whole structure was:
1-3 graders in school were called “Octoberers” (This name came from October – the month of Great Socialist Revolution in 1917 in Russia);
3-7 graders were called “Pioneers”;
14-28 years old – “Young Communists”;
from 18 till death – “Communists”.

Everybody automatically was enrolled in Octoberers. It was not much political pressure on the young kids. They basically had to follow the god-like image of young Lenin – study well, obey parents and teachers, help Pioneers, etc.

With Pioneers situation was much different. They had to swear to follow the Communist Party policy, help young communist, prepare themselves to protect Soviet Union from enemies, study well (of course), prepare themselves to work hard for the country, etc.

The Young Communists organization was basically a preparation for the Communist Party membership. It was a lot of politics and brainwashing.

So, the point in my story is: it’s all too similar. Definitely governments of different countries developed similar structures to brainwash their people from early childhood to prepare them to serve their political goals and die, if necessary, for it.

No wonder, that we had to believe in communism and you, when you were kids, had to believe in god and stuff.

It was no difference. Same idea – brainwash your people, so it will be easier to control them.

That all, folks.

Good thing that Communist ideology has collapsed and religious ideology is collapsing too.

Cheers.