Here's a subject I've been dying to talk to folks about. The Boy Scouts of America. As in the past, I'll start off giving you an outline of my background on the subject.
When I was in 2nd grade (waaaay back in the day!), my mother enrolled me in the Cub Scout Pack that met at my school, Archer Elementary School, in Greensboro. She even volunteered to be the Den Mother for my Den, and she stuck with it as long as I did. Which wasn't all that long. I'm not sure what drove me away before I earned my Arrow of Light. I don't think it was my lack of religion. More, I think it was my reluctance (or fear, if you will) regarding Boy Scouts. I clearly remember going to a local Camporee, seeing terrifyingly large teenagers doing remarkable things (fingerprinting, building towers with tree limbs and rope, building rope bridges -- the whole Scout thing) and acting normal for teenagers. It put me off, for whatever reason, and I dropped out shortly after.
Now, fast forward about 20 years. In 1993, my son comes home from the start of his 5th grade school year, carrying Cub Scout recruiting material and a determination to join up. I mean, a REAL determination. Every year before this, he'd tried to get me to sign him up, but he had accepted my usual reply that I didn't think he'd much like it. This year, no chance. So I gave in, with the understanding that the minute he told me he was tired of Scouts, he was out of it forever.
So we joined up with the Pack that had been out at the school recruiting him. Then we found out that he would have to achieve in one year what most boys take two years to do -- complete the Arrow of Light requirements in the Webelos book. So I agreed to help the kid out, and do with him the stuff he had missed out on the year before. This effort gave me a new view of the Scouts. I discovered that it was fun. And, being regular Christian church members, we had no problems with the religion requirements.
After that year was over, I decided I wanted to volunteer as an adult leader. What I really wanted to do was volunteer for Cub Scouts, partly to keep from appearing to manage my son's Boy Scout career, partly to provide better service to Cub Scouts than what I had seen in my son's den. I started out as an Assistant Den Leader for the Bears in Pack 426. By the time my career with the Scouts was over, I had served as Den Leader, Assistant Cubmaster, Cubmaster, Tiger Den Leader, Assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster. I had garnered four leadership awards, including the Scoutmaster Key, I was an adult initiate into the Order of the Arrow, and I had even visited Gilwell Park in London, the home of the World Scouting movement. My son was also voted into the Order of the Arrow, and he had achieved the rank of Life Scout. So I think you can trust me... when I tell you something about Boy Scouts of America, I know what I'm talking about.
While I was in Scouts, I loved all that was right with the program. The exposure of teenagers to a wide variety of fields of interests, encouraging each kid to develop a sense of self-reliance and discipline, and the help it gives to everyone in developing leadership and teamwork skills. All of this is admirable. And it is far more fun than I would have believed possible when I was a Webelos, intimidated by my visit to the Camporee all those years ago.
Unfortunately, there's an awful lot that's very wrong about Scouts. They do a lot to teach kids to be tolerant of cultural differences -- then they turn around and teach them that atheists aren't welcome. They have policies in place to make sure that no adult is ever left alone with any Scout -- then they turn around and say that regardless of policies, no gay person can be allowed in.
Let's look at this in a little detail. I had a Scout come to me one day, after a Troop Committee member urged the Troop to rotate the duties for saying Grace at camp meals. He asked if he would be required to do so, in light of the fact the he didn't "believe in that stuff." I mentioned to his father that he needed to be aware that official national policy out of Texas states that atheists aren't allowed in Scouts. I never saw that kid again, and he was just starting to get into the swing of Troop life. Later, I mentioned to a committe member what had happened, and he was incensed. "How can an atheist be reverent?" he asked. My urge to answer that you could revere a lot of things besides God never came to fruition, I'm sad to say.
But what about homosexuality? The Boy Scouts of America policy on this is built around the assumption that this sexual issue is inherently "indecent." Unfortunately, this is not the case. Sure, the Bible says in a few places that it is, but one thing the Boy Scouts should not be is a Christians-only club. And this is not even going into the matter that there are many Christian churches that don't condemn gay people out of hand. The fact is that if you're going to promote yourself as a group that welcomes all cultures and religions, you must look primarily to support values that are common to all cultures, leaving other quirks out of the mix. Homophobia is NOT universal. If you must fight against sexual activity, it should be done in the context that the policies and procedures already do: by ensuring that there are no adult-young person issues. BSA has no problem with having female adult leaders sharing camp space with adolescent boys because their policies keep them from being alone together. So what's the problem with having gay leaders, so long as said leaders follow the same policies as female adults?
The Boy Scouts have a fine tradition, history and program. I treasure my memories of being involved with the Scouts. I just wish I could still support them. But my values, which count bigotry as a big negative, will keep me from considering it. I hope one day that the leaders of this fine organization can find it in their hearts to grow up a little and stop holding childishly to these "traditional values" long after the rest of the world has moved on.