Posted on 07/29/2015 8:51:24 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
Are religious youth groups like Awanas safe from those accommodation orders? Would groups like the religious scouting-like programs be exempt, if they limited membership to members of that faith?
I agree that shaking dust is what needs to be done. However, it’s not a small or easy decision.
In my case, scouting was a huge part of my life. In 10 years, I worked my way up to Scoutmaster after being a lower level leader at every level. A friend and I founded the troop. We were direcly influencing dozens of young men. My two boys were approaching Eagle. One will never reach it.
We left and moved our troop over to Trail Life USA. It was certainly the right choice for our troop and family. It wasn’t even a difficult choice but man, it was a hard choice. I openly admit to grieving for what we lost.
God has blessed our troop. We are strong and well organized. Our leaders are sound and dedicated and we’ve doubled in size.
For a family just starting in scouting it is easy but when your life is wrapped around it. It’s not.
I considered it my ministry. Now, with TLUSA it is a true ministry.
It’s not quite that simple...if a Chartered Org is secular or a liberal church, they can mandate that homosexuals be allowed to register in a unit.
The unit leaders can voice their opposition, but will be removed from the unit by the Chartered Org if so desired.
Right now, only units Chartered to religious institutions are “exempt” (for now) from the new policy, if they so choose.
We are registered with an organization that is secular. I told our TC to meet with them and discuss this policy to find out if we’re on common ground or not. We can attempt to include in our Troop Charter that no homosexuals are allowed, but if the Chartering Organization opposes it, it’s out.
And if a homosexual attempts to join our unit and we deny them, they have grounds for a discrimination lawsuit against our Chartering Organization and possibly the members of the unit. The BSA will pull our Charter and disband the unit and the boys lose...it’s really an untenable situation for non-religious units.
On my honor, 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.
A Scout is:
Trustworthy,
Loyal,
Helpful,
Friendly,
Courteous,
Kind,
Obedient,
Cheerful,
Thrifty,
Brave,
Clean,
and Reverent.
BSA is suffering cognitive dissonance from the above vs. helping homosexuality.
No matter what adult joins your unit it is up to the parents whether to enroll their child in any given troop
and if they don’t like or trust the troop leader, voila, he-she has no troop to lead
This is true...
I don't know. But given the way things are going, yes, they will be subject to them.
The only way to fight is to ensure religious organizations are exempted at all levels (local to federal).
Really, the whole point behind a church is to bring us flawed humans into the world of God, and that includes homosexuals. We're all flawed. The issue is, some flawed humans want to bend the church to their will, not bend to God's will.
If they are a “ministry” of the church and have explicit references to the religious nature of the organization, they may be ok. I assume AWANA has something like that.
Problem with BSA is that it cast off its religious moorings and is now for “everyone.” With these recent changes, it is now toxic for a troops to sponsor a BSA troop because they will be sued for discrimination the first time they try to block a homosexual from a leadership position. Doesn’t matter whether the BSA claims they won’t be forced by BSA to have homosexual leaders, the secular civil rights laws trump.
So churches who take the Scriptures seriously really have no choice but to cut ties with BSA.
“troops” = “church”
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