God and Country Award
Posted on 06/16/2005 11:22:21 AM PDT by SandRat
The year 2007 would have marked the 100th birthday of Boy Scouting in England. Unfortunately, the British Boy Scouts, founded by Lord Robert Baden-Powell as the first Scouting group in the world, is now a dead organization.
The recent decision by U.K. Scout Association executives to make chaos of the Scout Oath mangles the program far beyond anything Baden-Powell might recognize. Instead of being required to pledge their loyalty to "God and the Queen," members of the Scout Association can now opt to swear allegiance to any combination of things. Muslims can pledge to Allah, Hindus to Dharma, and atheists to life in "good moral standing." Anti-monarchs can omit the Queen's title and mention instead the state.
But the decision isn't much of a surprise.
In 1991, UK Scout executives decided to give troops the option of allowing equal access for girls and boys to any of its programs. By 1996, nearly 26,000 girls had joined. By 2000, British Scouting authorities required that all newly formed troops be co-educational.
In a statement of special problems that may arise with the integration of young ladies with young men on camping trips and the like, U.K. Scout Association administrators asseverate:
In the instance of physical building constraints, commissioners should first establish whether these problems have been raised as a cover for opposition to making mixed provision. Where these problems are real, commissioners should emphasise that these are NOT gender issues but are resource problems.
That's officialese for saying that tenting arrangements, bathroom issues, and other gender differences are simply relics of a time when males dominated society and filled the ranks of Scouting exclusively. Today, everyone is equal.
At an October 1997 meeting of the executive board of the U.K. Scout Association, a decision was made to admit open homosexuals into troops as leaders and members. "Society has changed considerably since 1907," wrote British Scouting executives in their revolutionary "Equal Opportunities Policy Guidelines." "The Scout Association has had to recognize these changes in how we describe what we stand for." The new non-discrimination code included a prohibition of discrimination on the basis of "marital or sexual status" and "political or religious belief."
The London Telegraph asked Lord Baden-Powell's grandson, a vice president for the U.K. Scout Association, to comment on the decision, but he said only that the board had made the decision without his knowledge. Baden-Powell's 79-year old daughter, Betty Clay, denounced the decisions and political correctness of the Scout Association. "He, in his writings to young men, and in his responses to many anxious young men's inquiries, always made it clear that they should do their best to keep themselves clean in thought, word, and deed ... They should ... look on themselves as guardians of their bodies and minds and to do as far they could according to the will of God."
Today, homosexuals are allowed to become Scout leaders without question, because "there is no link between homosexuality and pedophilia, and therefore there is no justification for restricting membership on this basis." Only a brief note at the bottom of the non-discrimination code clarifies what was clearly considered by executives in discussions of sexual status: "Pedophilia is a bar to any involvement in the Scout Movement."
Aside from pedophilia, sexual relationships are not only tolerated, but encouraged in the confines of the English Scouting experience:
It is important for leaders to help some young people to understand the nature of public and private behaviour, and the need to respect other people's privacy and personal space. When two young people do form an emotional attachment, leaders should both support their need for some privacy together as well as help them to remember their other friends, who may feel rejected by the couple.
Far from the abstinence-based approach of the Boy Scouts of America, British Scouts encourage Scout leaders to discuss "sexual behavior and practices" and "contraception" with their troop members. The only significant restrictions placed on troop leaders are mandatory abidance of the new age-of-consent laws (age 16) passed by Parliament and to avoid allowing "relationships between young people at different stages of sexual development."
Americans, take note of this: Since the UKSA decided to ally itself with the homosexual movement, Scouting membership in England has dropped by close to 20 percent. From 1997 to 2001, membership fell from 500,000 to 400,000. It had been as high as 650,000 in the 1980s.
There are consequences to political correctness. Among other things, it kills movements.
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Hans Zeiger is an Eagle Scout, president and founder of the Scout Honor Coalition and a student at Hillsdale College in Michigan. His new book, "Get Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America," can be pre-ordered from online booksellers
Please stop grouping us together. Just because someone has no religious beliefs doesn't mean we support other agendas.
They never want to go out and start the "Queer Boy Scouts" - funny how that works
That's against congressional charter. BSA would sue them, as they sued other scouts organizations out of existence when it first was awarded a charter.
These people will not stop until God, Family, and Country are a distant memory.
What won't happen? Maybe some things won't happen. But, like its UK version, BSA already admits Muslims and even provides pamphlets helping them with their religious faith. Only people who do not have religious beliefs aren't allowed to join (people like my kids). But BSA fully admits the Allah-worshippers. (Which is the final smack in the face... :-0 ).
"They never want to go out and start the "Queer Boy Scouts"
excellent point. they never want to be publicly known for who they are as the public won't like them.
"Pedophile gay men boy scout leaders", would never fly.
bttt
It's not an excellent point. The poster doesn't know - BSA has a charter giving it sole use of the word "scout". And THAT'S why you don't see "Queer Scouts" or "Transgendered Scouts" etc.
P.S. (I wouldn't want to see that happen, either. But I do think BSA should be either required to admit the nonreligious, as it already admits every other type of religious belief known to man, including that of the people who murdered thousands on 9/11, or not permitted access to public school students during school hours, as it is in my town).
I checked the web site for the national Boy Scout Jamboree, and found the following:
A Scout is Reverent The 12th point of the Scout Law—A Scout is Reverent—illustrates just how important spirituality is to the Boy Scouts of America. All Scouts, no matter what religion they practice, have a home and brotherhood in Scouting and at the 2001 National Scout Jamboree.
Nearly 6000 Catholic Scouts and adult leaders stood in heavy rain and unseasonably chilly temperatures to celebrate Mass at the Boy Scout National Jamboree being held at Fort A.P. Hill, VA. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Apostolic Nuncio Presiding over the Mass was joined by Bishop Walter Sullivan, of the Diocese of Richmond, VA, and Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger of the Diocese of Evansville, IN. who serves as the Episcopal Liaison between the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America.
Approximately 145 chaplains, representing 19 religious denominations, provided spiritual direction and guidance to Scouts, Scout leaders, and visitors who attended the jamboree. The jamboree's 20 subcamps, which house 1,700 Scouts and leaders apiece, will have a chaplain of each Scout's faith, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and more.
Pledge alligance to the gods of the state...
Correct. GSUSA sold out to WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Scouts and Girl Guides). Their goal: produce good "Citizens of the World."
Girls as young as eight.
"BSA has a charter giving it sole use of the word "scout"."
Charters don't make for such protections, trademarks, tradename, and copyrights do, but the word "Scout", alone, would be a weak registration and most likely not hold up. If someone wanted to use the name "Queer Scout" they would be free to do so.
Next: Merits badges won't be earn. Simply "try" and be awarded. Just like the Black beret of the US Army: Given to lift the "moral" of those who didn't earn the Army Ranger tab in the first place.
PC anything is insanity everything.
Ping
God and Country Award
BSA Dharma Award
"Is NAMBLA active in England?"
Big time.
Boy Scouts in Britain ...sounds more like a NAMBLA dating service
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