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Mormons can't be Scout leaders.

Cainkane1

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Cainkane1
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The Presbyterians say Mormons can't be scout leaders because they don't consider Mormons Christians. Well lets see. Gays can't be scout leaders and atheists can't even join. I guess a Muslim, a Hindu or a Jew couldn't be a scout leader either.

These people are crazy.
 
Cainkane1 said:
The Presbyterians say Mormons can't be scout leaders because they don't consider Mormons Christians. Well lets see. Gays can't be scout leaders and atheists can't even join. I guess a Muslim, a Hindu or a Jew couldn't be a scout leader either.

These people are crazy.
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True. What makes it more aggravating is the excessive government entanglement with the scouts. Seems like an organization chartered and granted various statutory rights and powers by congress (U.S. Code, title 36) would have to be less religious, but the courts disagree most of the time.
 
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For those who are wondering what the hell this is about, Cainkane1 declined to post a link for some bizarre reason.

Here's the story.

A Presbyterian church was happy to have Jeremy and Jodi Stokes as Cub Scout leaders, at least until officials there found out they are Mormons and told them they would have to step down because the church does not consider them real Christians.


The Stokeses enrolled their sons as Scouts at Christ Covenant Church, a Presbyterian congregation about 10 miles from Charlotte, N.C., then expressed interest in volunteering as leaders. Church officials were initially thrilled earlier this month, the Stokeses said, until they saw on the couple's application forms that they belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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In short, this was a decision made by the church that sponsors the troop, not BSA policy as a whole.
 
Cleon said:
In short, this was a decision made by the church that sponsors the troop, not BSA policy as a whole.
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I suspect it's actually a violation of BSA policy, and might actually get the church in some trouble with the BSA. Christianity is not a requirement for membership or participation.
 
What's the deal with the Boy Scouts? All they seem to do is sue each other, and complain about being persecuted by not getting enough special perks. Why can't they be more like the Girl Scouts, and sell delicious cookies? The Girl Scouts don't seem plagued with legal problems and sociosexual complexes that have to be worked out in the court of public opinion. When was the last time the Girl Scouts had to hold a press conference for "damage control"? The Boy Scouts should disband and all the members should join the Girl Scouts, who are clearly superior in every way. Also, more cookies.
 
Ziggurat said:
I suspect it's actually a violation of BSA policy, and might actually get the church in some trouble with the BSA. Christianity is not a requirement for membership or participation.
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Troops operated/sponsored by private organizations have some latitude in this regard. The article has the response by the local BSA council:

Regardless of doctrinal questions, Christ Covenant's Cub Scout program is within its rights to deny the Stokeses leadership positions, according to Mark Turner, executive director of the Mecklenburg County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, which also includes the Cub Scouts.

As an example, he offers a unit operated by a home-school association.


"That unit will only serve youth that are home-schooled. Period," he said. "If you're in the unit for three or four years and your family sends you back to school, you're out of the troop. That's their niche."
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Jewish kids can be scouts and I personally used to know a Jewish scout master. A Jewish scout can get a merit badge that is approved by his Rabbi as a matter of fact. The scouts won't allow atheists in because of the god and country thingy. One of the days a kid whose parents are Satanists will sue to force the scouts to allow their child in. When that happens we'll just see.
 
Cainkane1 said:
Jewish kids can be scouts and I personally used to know a Jewish scout master. A Jewish scout can get a merit badge that is approved by his Rabbi as a matter of fact. The scouts won't allow atheists in because of the god and country thingy. One of the days a kid whose parents are Satanists will sue to force the scouts to allow their child in. When that happens we'll just see.
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Well, it's not Satanism, but Wiccans have had issues.
 
Piscivore said:
We got our son out early.
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The quality of the experience depends heavily on the particular troop you're in. I spent a number of years as part of the Boy Scouts, and I learned two useful things: how to get along with other kids I didn't particularly like, and outdoor skills (camping, backpacking, knots, basic first aid, etc). All the stuff about gays and atheists never came up. Neither, in fact, did any of the religious stuff. The whole ranks and merit badges lost interest to me pretty early, but the camping was always fun.
 
Ziggurat said:
I suspect it's actually a violation of BSA policy, and might actually get the church in some trouble with the BSA. Christianity is not a requirement for membership or participation.
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Since several of the senior leadership of BSA are LDS, it may very well cause issues.
 
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Ziggurat said:
The quality of the experience depends heavily on the particular troop you're in. I spent a number of years as part of the Boy Scouts, and I learned two useful things: how to get along with other kids I didn't particularly like, and outdoor skills (camping, backpacking, knots, basic first aid, etc). All the stuff about gays and atheists never came up. Neither, in fact, did any of the religious stuff. The whole ranks and merit badges lost interest to me pretty early, but the camping was always fun.
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I have to agree with you Ziggy,

I spent 7-8 years in the BSA (cub scout to boy scout) and this kind of stuff never came up. I understand people like to paint the entire BSA with one brush, but the fact is, it really depends on the troop leader. I had three different troop leaders, two of which were Jewish.
 
Here, it's the BBs who are churchy rather than the Boy Scouts.

But its academic as racial and religious discrimination is, of course, greatly frowned upon by courts.
 
Cleon said:
Troops operated/sponsored by private organizations have some latitude in this regard.
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In fact, Mormon troops used to not allow non-Mormons to advance within the troop. At least this was only aimed at the parents, not the kids.

Cainkane1 said:
The scouts won't allow atheists in because of the god and country thingy.
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And the Mormons have pushed very hard for the universal enforcement of this as of late.

Alfred_Packer said:
Since several of the senior leadership of BSA are LDS, it may very well cause issues.
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Yes and no. The LDS do hold sway over the BSA, but they would likely not want to limit a troops ability to exclude leaders who do not toe the line of the sponsoring organization. Can you imagine a Mormon troop welcoming a Catholic Assistant Scout Master?

Alfred_Packer said:
He is looking forward to going back to Camp Napowan in Wisconsin next summer and is saving up to go to Philmont in 2012.
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I hope he makes it to the Tooth before the end of the world!!

In all seriousness, Philmont is my favorite place in the world. He will have a great time and you should do everything you can to join him on the trip if at all possible. Some of the best memories of my childhood are from spending time with my dad and my brother at Philmont. I could go on and on, but I'll leave it at that.
 
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Architect said:
But its academic as racial and religious discrimination is, of course, greatly frowned upon by courts.
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The BSA has already won the battle in the courts. They are a private membership organization and can discriminate on the basis of religious belief. Whether the individual troops can discriminate on the basis of creeds that the BSA approves is maybe an interesting topic, but the logic of the overarching case would seem to apply.
 
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