Posted on 11/16/2004 8:21:23 AM PST by SeasideSparrow
Read and click link to contact Rumsfeld:
Boy Scouts banned on bases
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: November 16, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
The American military cannot survive the challenges of the 21st century without the preparatory support of the Boy Scouts of America. Millions of our bravest heroes in uniform – thousands who have given their lives in every war since World War I – wore their first uniform as a Boy Scout. A U.S. Marine now in Iraq – who also was my Scoutmaster when I was growing up – once told me that he became a Marine because he had first been a Scout.
Apparently seeking the annihilation of our nation's defensive capacity along with its moral character, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Monday that U.S. military bases will no longer be able to sponsor Boy Scout troops. It seems that our nation's military leadership has broken wartime policy to settle with the terrorists in the ACLU.
It is the Boy Scout Oath to which the ACLU responded by filing legal claims against the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Chicago Board of Education in 1999. "On my honor," goes the Oath, "I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."
Following its new settlement with the ACLU, the Department of Defense will be sending word to American military bases worldwide that sponsorship of the Boy Scouts is strictly prohibited. Though Boy Scouts – primarily the children of service members – have long met on military bases in association with a base sponsor, the days of political correctness have brought that arrangement to an end. And this is the George W. Bush / Donald Rumsfeld Department of Defense that we're talking about.
Like an array of private organizations that, of necessity, have dealings with our nation's armed forces, the Boy Scouts adhere to beliefs and practices that fall outside the sanction of public policy. No one on our nation's military bases is coerced into supporting the Boy Scouts, though, no doubt, members of our armed forces hold the Scouts in much higher esteem than they do the ACLU.
It is true that Congress awarded a national charter – an honorary statement that Congress supports the patriotic, educational or scientific goals of an organization and that the organization is guaranteed rights to its name in perpetuity – to the Boy Scouts of America in 1916. Congress did this in full recognition of the Scouts' right to discriminate.
But it isn't as though membership in the Boy Scouts of America is restricted to evangelical Protestants only. The Boy Scouts are as ecumenical as organizations come. Among 29 religious groups that award patches to Scouts through the Religious Relationships Committee are Armenians, Baha'i, Baptist, Buddhist, Christian Science, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, Lutheran, Maher Baba, Moravian, Mormon, Presbyterian, Quaker, Roman Catholic, United Methodist and Zoroastrian.
But the Boy Scouts do insist on belief in God. Over the years since the Boy Scouts of America was founded, several hundred atheists have been told that they could not serve in positions of Scout leadership. Is this inconsistent with the principles by which our nation's military and government operate?
Just because military bases sponsor Scout troops doesn't make those troops an extension of government. Thousands of police and fire departments, cities and schools also sponsor Boy Scout troops. The Boy Scouts remain a private organization – a partnership with government does not automatically render an organization public domain.
It's also worth noting that our nation's military itself administers an Oath of Military Service to new members of the armed forces, that, like the Presidential, Congressional, and Supreme Court Oaths of Office, concludes with the words, "So help me God." In fact, all high-ranking government officers must swear an oath in accordance with Section 3331 of Title V of the U.S. Code that includes that little invocation to the Almighty.
Further, military bases feature a vast array of religious options for the personnel and families who live and work there. In recent years, the nation has discussed the admission of Wiccan chaplains to the military, and Muslims are well represented in the chaplaincy despite the sensitive nature of our present war.
But the Department of Defense cannot expect to win wars abroad if it is capitulating to the demands of political correctness at home. Our armed forces must be aligned with the standards of character that make America worth fighting for.
Americans who care about our nation's moral condition and national security must contact the Department of Defense and tell them to stand up for the Boy Scouts. Send a comment to Secretary Rumsfeld – tell him that he must do everything possible to reverse Monday's settlement with the ACLU.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hans Zeiger is an Eagle Scout, president and founder of the Scout Honor Coalition, a student at Hillsdale College in Michigan, and author of a forthcoming book about the Boy Scouts in the culture war. His columns have been featured in the Seattle Times and other Internet websites.
I fail to see how this is any different than the argument about cub/boy scouts use of school facilities. Ultimately I believe scouts use of these public facilities was affirmed. If the argument is about improper allocation of public funds, then thats something else. I guess it comes down to what they are calling 'sponsorship'. Churches sponsor troops by providing facilities and often funds. Public facilities permit fair use of facilities to the public, but are not obligated to provide 'sponsorship' in the form of funds.
As usual, it would be helpful to have an article that contained more information and less inflammation.
It seems to me that there is something deeper going on here.
If the libs can't win because most people consider moral issues to be important, then get the ACLU to bring down the moral state of America by attacking any organizations that promote higher standards.
I wonder if they'll change the name of Scout Lake at Robins AFB?
I guess the scouts can take a hike. Somewhere else.
The ACLU - protecting everyone's rights, except the average American.
The boy scouts are within their right to reject atheists. The government is also within its right to not to distribute government funds and sponsorship because of the scouts discriminatory policies. And yes, rejecting someone on the basis of their faith ( or lack of) is discrimination. I became an atheist when I was 16 (15 years ago). I didn't make a big deal about it, and there was one other kid - a tenderfoot, who was agnostic. We still had fun and I enjoyed the experience. I can't put my son into the scouts now thanks to the scouts adopting Mason-like religious policies. My kids will never know what scouting is like because we are < gads!> secularists. My existence never tore down the troop or demoralized the organization, so I have no clue why the top brass chooses to think that atheists should be excluded.
FYI
Sue the ACLU for preventing the free practice of religion.
More facts:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-boyscouts16.html
Pentagon drops Boy Scouts
November 16, 2004
BY FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter Advertisement
The U.S. Department of Defense has agreed to stop sponsoring the Boy Scouts, according to a legal agreement announced Monday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois sued the Pentagon and other government agencies in 1999, saying their funding of the Boy Scouts was unconstitutional because the organization excluded people who did not swear an oath to God.
"It is critical that the Pentagon send this very clear signal to its units across the globe to insure that government officials are not engaged in religious discrimination in their official capacity," said Charles Peters, a lawyer with the firm Schiff Hardin, who assisted the ACLU of Illinois.
The Pentagon litigation was an offshoot of a 1998 lawsuit against the city of Chicago, which had chartered almost 30 Scouting programs. The city agreed to stop sponsoring the Boy Scouts. The controversy arose when a University of Chicago law student wanted to lead the city's Legal Explorer Post, but balked at affirming his belief in God.
The settlement with the Pentagon affects only 422 of about 120,000 Scouting programs, said Greg Shields of The Boy Scouts of America based in Irving, Texas. Most of those 422 programs were on military bases, he said.
"We have simply transferred the charters to non-military but supportive organizations like VFWs," Shields said.
The Chicago Public Schools, also named in the 1999 lawsuit, previously agreed not to sponsor Boy Scout programs.
Still unresolved in the litigation is whether the Pentagon may provide funding to the Boy Scout Jamboree, which is held every four years and draws tens of thousands of scouts. The Pentagon spends about $2 million a year to support the event, the ACLU says.
I suppose that's next on the ACLU's list.
Bump.
I don't think the presidential oath includes "so help me God." I think tradition has made it so, but it is not in the US Constitution. I'll look it up momentarily.
There for, Alcholics Anonymous shall be banned from bases since "belief in a higher power" is one of the keys.
Sponsorship by the base itself is prohibitted.
Sponsorship by the base itself is not required for the Scouts to have meetings there. If they can have meetings there, then the Scouts are not "Banned on Bases".
Nonetheless, this is still a silly ruling, considering how appropriate Scouts are for military dependents. I would hope that this - as it unfolds - just means a transfer from the base Recreation centers to the chapels, but we'll see.
Somehow I thought that our founding fathers meant the following by separation of church and state -- that the government could not create a state religion and cram it down your throat, NOT what we have now, an atmosphere hostile to religion.
And another thing. Atheists have the government's stamp of approval. Everything has to be catered to the atheistic point of view. Why? Atheism is a personal point of view about life held only by a few people, and I am highly offended by it.
Post 31, good one.
When is the ACLU going to go after American money, you know, "In God We Trust" and the eye of God on the dollar bill. Coins and bills alike refer to God. Let's redo all the money to get the dirty word God off in case somebody gets upset. That should create a nice new bureaucracy.
It seems that the Army Chaplain Corps should be allowed to sponsor a Boy Scout Troop. They believe in a higher power, don't they?
The ACLU:
Proudly Protecting Pederasts
And Punishing Patriots!
ping
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