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The ACLU wins one against the Boy Scouts
Indianapolis Star ^ | 11/16/2004 | MIKE ROBINSON AP

Posted on 11/16/2004 5:06:33 AM PST by Captal de Buch

The Democrats win one for a change.

Seething about their openly gay constituents being denied access to the Boy Scouts the legal arm of the left wing, the ACLU, has continued to dog the youth organization.

In an effort to force the Scouts to put homosexual predators into leadership positions the ACLU has sued Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Chicago Board of Education.

It looks like they aren't going to stop until they can get their hands on those kinds.

From the Indy Star.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEFENSE_BOY_SCOUTS?SITE=ININS&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Pentagon to cut off Boy Scouts from bases

By MIKE ROBINSON Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO (AP) -- The Pentagon has agreed to warn military bases worldwide not to directly sponsor Boy Scout troops, partially resolving claims that the government has engaged in religious discrimination by supporting a group that requires members to believe in God.

The settlement announced Monday is part of a series of legal challenges in recent years over how closely the government should be aligned with the Boy Scouts of America, a venerable organization that boasts a membership of more than 3.2 million members.

[b] Civil liberties advocates have set their sights on the organization's policies because the group bans openly gay scout leaders [/b] and compels members to swear an oath of duty to God. The ACLU believes that direct government sponsorship of such a program amounts to discrimination.

The Pentagon said it has long had a rule against sponsorship of non-federal organizations and denied the rule had been violated. But it agreed to send a message to posts worldwide warning them not to sponsor Boy Scout troops or other such groups.

The rule does not prevent service members from leading Scout troops unofficially on their own time, and Scouts will still be able to hold meetings on areas of military bases where civilian organizations are allowed to hold events.

The settlement does not resolve other ACLU claims involving government spending that benefits the Boy Scouts, such as money used to prepare a Virginia military base for the Boy Scout Jamboree and grants used by state and local governments to benefit the Boy Scouts, Schwartz said.

He said the Pentagon spends $2 million every year to prepare the Virginia base for the jamboree, held once every four years. He said the Defense Department also makes annual allocations of $100,000 to support Boy Scout units on military bases overseas and $100,000 to improve Boy Scout properties, such as summer camps.

Attorney Marcia Berman, who represented the Defense Department, declined to comment on the settlement Monday. But Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the message that will be sent to bases represents "a clarification of an existing rule that DOD personnel cannot be involved in an official capacity." The original ACLU lawsuit named as defendants the Department of Defense, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Chicago Board of Education. The schools settled, agreeing not to engage in official sponsorship of scouting activities.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aclu; ban; boyscouts; bsa; bsalist; dod; gay; homosexual; religious; scouts
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1 posted on 11/16/2004 5:06:33 AM PST by Captal de Buch
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To: Captal de Buch

Where is GW on this? This needs to be on his agenda to take care of.


2 posted on 11/16/2004 5:10:15 AM PST by TheBattman (Islam - the cult of Satan)
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To: Captal de Buch

The AC'PU' will only make the Boy Scouts stronger and more popular.


3 posted on 11/16/2004 5:11:04 AM PST by bear11 (God saved the Republic!)
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To: Captal de Buch
The ACLU wants all scouts to have an Islam Celebration and Sensitivity Day, too.


4 posted on 11/16/2004 5:12:20 AM PST by Diogenesis ("Then I say unto you, send men to summon ... worms. And let us go to Fallujah to collect heads.")
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To: bear11

Another example of what the blue states don't get about the red states.


5 posted on 11/16/2004 5:12:35 AM PST by GOP_Proud (Can I git me some morals here?)
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To: Captal de Buch

That's why Arlen Sphincter is the wrong choice for the Judiciary Committee.


6 posted on 11/16/2004 5:12:54 AM PST by Time is now (We'll live to see it......or something like it....)
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To: Diogenesis

their job is to destroy the USA ...... and they are in league with the communist and socialist to do it.....


7 posted on 11/16/2004 5:13:13 AM PST by Gibtx (pajamahadeen call to arms.....)
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To: Captal de Buch

Another example of the Communist ACLU trying to destroy anything that teaches our children the correct values.


8 posted on 11/16/2004 5:13:33 AM PST by fredhead ("Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants." William Penn)
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To: Captal de Buch

After the blue states secede, let's make sure there is no ACLU in the red states.


9 posted on 11/16/2004 5:18:59 AM PST by atomicweeder
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To: Captal de Buch

May we who are Christians demand our government not engage itself in official sponsorship of THEIR agendas?

If "our" government can neither sponsor (represent) the will of the majority nor sponsor (represent) the dictates of a minority, what good is government altogether but to collect and spent tax monies?


10 posted on 11/16/2004 5:20:38 AM PST by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: Captal de Buch

This, of course, is the same ACLU that had to return over $1 million in grants to the government because they refused to promise they wouldn't hire anyone that was on a terrorist watch list.


11 posted on 11/16/2004 5:23:00 AM PST by 4woodenboats (We don't want effeminate playboys running this country, we have George 'W'hoopass Bush!)
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To: TheBattman

Homosexuals are attracted to any and all male dominated organizations.

The Boy Scouts, like the Catholic priests, will be inundated with homosexuals if the ACLU has its way. It will surely end the Boy Scouts as we know it.

The ACLU must know this, so why do they keep at it?


12 posted on 11/16/2004 5:23:56 AM PST by Noachian (A Democrat, by definition, is a Socialist.)
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Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: Captal de Buch

The FREAKS aided by the anti-American, anti-liberty ACLU have gone to far this time... Something has got to be done!


14 posted on 11/16/2004 5:27:48 AM PST by odoso (Millions for charity, but not one penny for tribute!)
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Comment #15 Removed by Moderator

To: Captal de Buch

The irony here is great, because the nation's premier 'military base', West Point, sponsors Boy Scout Troop #1, for the sons of the officers and enlisted who run the USMA. Has done so for the better part of 100 years.

I discovered this on a trip to the USMA. You can go to the museum near the Visitor's Center, and they have a display case showing the easily-recognizable BSA khaki uniform with the Troop number, a single "1", on the deltoid. Very impressive.

[BTW this was maybe the best vacation I ever had, taking my eighth-grade son out to the USMA on a football weekend (Air Force won) in the fall two years ago. The prettiest campus on earth, and the whole school is more suffused with an atmosphere of morality and love of God than even a 'religious' university such as Notre Dame. FReepers especially will love this place.]

Back to the real world: This ACLU action is disgraceful, showing how the gays have no perspective, and no sense of fair play. Only seeking to satisfy themselves. They have no business being around scouts for that reason alone, never mind the perverted stuff.

The homos can not win this battle. Support your local BSA troop and district.


16 posted on 11/16/2004 5:30:40 AM PST by caddie
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To: Captal de Buch
A Scout Is Reverent.

If the ACLU thinks they can take down the BSA, they are sadly mistaken. Churches ought to be the main sponsors of scouting, anyway. My boys are Cub Scouts (one will be a Boy Scout in 2 yrs) and our HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL troop is sponsored by a presbyterian church.

17 posted on 11/16/2004 5:32:31 AM PST by UsnDadof8
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To: Captal de Buch
I don't know what the practice is regarding "sponsorship" of Boy Scouts or other groups by government bases. Just giving this a quick legal analysis, though, I would argue that forbidding the government to sponsor groups with a "religious" component, but sponsoring other groups without such a "religious" dimension, is clearly a discrimination AGAINST religion. (Just like Bush's faith-based initiative: my understanding is that Bush is seeking to "level the playing field" by allowing ALL groups, religious as well as secular, to receive government funds for their "charitable" work.) The danger of discrimination against the religious is much, much greater than any danger of a government "establishment" of religion. I thought the ACLU was in the business it's in to prevent discrimination against persons based on their beliefs.

On a personal level, of course, I am disgusted beyond words - or rather beyond words which I am allowed to use on this site.

Hey, if the ACLU wants a fat, juicy target for a government "establishment" of religion, I've got one. A federal holiday, signed into law by Ronald Reagan, named for an American citizen (Columbus was not an "American," and there's no longer a "Washington's Birthday" holiday, merely "Presidents' Day.") This holiday commemorates a CHRISTIAN MINISTER who used the moral authority of his religion to bring fundamental changes to American society. Oh my! Religious groups influencing the government! Isn't that what the liberals are afraid of?

So why is the ACLU not stampeding, immediately, to get rid of Martin Luther King Day?

Don't get me wrong, please. I think we SHOULD commemorate Dr. King. Without going into detail, I think at his best moments he exemplified some of the best qualities of "the American spirit." He gave his life rather than give in to violence or hate. (Wouldn't politics be transformed if we judged people on their BEST moments at least as much as we did based on their worst ones?) Dr. King's legacy is not my point.

But his actions didn't take place in a vacuum. Again, the term "moral authority" comes to mind.

So, if the ACLU sees the "danger" in a base sponsoring a Boy Scout troop, why do they not consider this holiday an impermissible establishment of religion?

My point is the absolute hypocrisy of the ACLU. If you hate Christianity, be up front about it. Don't hide behind legal principles that you don't even follow.

But the more they pull these stunts, the more the US turns red. Literally and figuratively.

If anyone has examples of the ACLU defending Christians I'd love to hear about it.
18 posted on 11/16/2004 5:32:40 AM PST by cvq3842
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To: Diogenesis
The ACLU wants all scouts to have an Islam Celebration and Sensitivity Day, too.

New merit badges -

Killing infidels

Bomb making

Raping

Beheading

Airborne to all members of ACLU - "DROP DEAD"

19 posted on 11/16/2004 5:36:13 AM PST by airborne (God bless and keep our fallen heroes.)
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To: cvq3842

Very well stated.
Thank you


20 posted on 11/16/2004 5:36:24 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (Dan Rather called Saddam "Mister President and President Bush "bush")
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