The Boy Scouts of America was officially founded on February 8, 1910. A century later, it has seen more than a hundred million members join its ranks and has awarded the rank of Eagle Scout to nearly two million young men.
I am an Eagle Scout. My father didn’t earn his Eagle, but his father and three brothers did. Three of my cousins are Eagle Scouts. My wife’s father, brother, and great uncle are all Eagle Scouts. Suffice it to say that I am enthusiastically supportive of the program, even if I sometimes find myself at odds with the policies and decisions of the national committee.
I make no qualms about my opposition to the discriminatory policies held by the BSA against atheists and homosexuals. However, I have long held the belief that, ultimately, the positions and the policies of the national committee affect the organization on a macro level. The problems seen on that scale are quite marginalized on a micro scale (ie. individual councils or units).
Instead, I participate in Scouting — despite my opposition to specific policies — because I still feel that the program is important and that it makes a difference. I had been drafting an essay for this site, largely touching on this topic, and whether Scouting was relevant in today’s society, but GeekDad beat me to it.
This morning, in a similarly-titled essay, Dave Banks hit the nail on the head:
At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, hundreds of delegates booed a group of Boy Scouts as they led the convention in the Pledge of Allegiance. While this show of disapproval must have been heart-felt, it was misguided. The frustration that some have with the Boy Scouts is understandable, but a group of 14 and 16 year old boys doesn’t dictate organizational policy. The argument the delegates had was with the BSA administration.
This is the heart of the argument about Scouting’s relevancy. While the Scouting program provides plenty of opportunity to boys to develop important and unique skills, hone leadership traits that will pay off outside scouting and help boys to live up to their potential, most of the complaints people lodge against Scouting’s relevancy are tied to decisions that the BSA’s adult leadership makes. And so we’re faced with a decision: should we withhold the potentially outstanding experience of Boy Scouts from our sons because of the unbending rules of the organization’s administration?
To make matters more complicated, on the local level, there is often a flexible interpretation of the laws. Homosexual parents and scouts serve Boy Scouts without fear of reprisal (even in America’s Bible belt), and atheists simply keep their mouths shut during the scout pledge to God and claims of reverence. Like many issues, at the local level, we’re all just people and local administration understands that. At its core, Scouting is a program they believe in and want to share with others, no matter who they are or what they believe. And ultimately, the biggest knocks to Scouting’s relevancy don’t make much sense. As a parent, I wouldn’t expect a heterosexual Catholic leader to proselytize to my son about his religion or his sexuality, any more than I’d think a homosexual atheist would be discussing those subjects with my kids.
This is quite representative of what I personally see in most criticisms of Scouting. The topics of atheists and homosexuals in Scouting have served as a lightning rod, but I think that they get a largely disproportionate amount of attention from the media and the public.
These critics generally don’t loathe that we raise young men and women to be thoughtful, meticulous leaders. They don’t sneer at the millions of hours of community service rendered each year by local units. They don’t complain when we donate warm clothes to homeless shelters, serve dinner at a community kitchen, or team up with Habitat for Humanity to literally put a roof over someone’s head.
Ultimately, however, the collection of those experiences are what define Scouting, they’re what define a Scout’s experience, and they’re what make Scouting great.
I wouldn’t trade my knowledge or experiences from Scouting for anything. These experiences have given me a way to relate to my father (who died when I was only 7), helped me learn to communicate with my grandfather (who was a very stubborn old man), taught me things that I probably would not have learned on my own, and has shown me things — in nature and in myself — that I could’ve never dreamed of finding on my own.
When the day comes, I hope that I have a son with whom to share a similar experience. I don’t think that a better case for relevancy can be made.
To make matters more complicated, on the local level, there is often a flexible interpretation of the laws. Homosexual parents and scouts serve Boy Scouts without fear of reprisal (even in America’s Bible belt), and atheists simply keep their mouths shut during the scout pledge to God and claims of reverence. Like many issues, at the local level, we’re all just people and local administration understands that. At its core, Scouting is a program they believe in and want to share with others, no matter who they are or what they believe. And ultimately, the biggest knocks to Scouting’s relevancy don’t make much sense. As a parent, I wouldn’t expect a heterosexual Catholic leader to proselytize to my son about his religion or his sexuality, any more than I’d think a homosexual atheist would be discussing those subjects with my kids.
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