The Boy Scouts Succumb to Liberal Ideology

Twenty years ago I was happy to enroll my 6-year-old son in Cub Scouts.  No organization held a higher image in terms of instilling values in boys.

The Boy Scouts of America were never political, but they were highly patriotic.

Organized through our parish, the troop was a fun and active way for boys to be together with other boys and their involved dads.  There was no hint of racism whatsoever, with black boys and their fathers involved.  It was just a nonissue.

Changes

Five years ago the Boy Scouts bowed to pressure from the homosexual community and changed their rules to allow practicing homosexuals to be troop leaders.  

Now the National Executive Committee for the Boy Scouts of America has submitted to the demands of the far-left, Black Lives Matter movement, and just announced a new badge for “diversity and inclusion.”  Incredibly, the new badge will be a prerequisite to becoming an Eagle Scout, according to the committee.

Yet racism was never an issue in the Boy Scouts, locally or nationally.  Any boy, of any race or religion or background, could be a Boy Scout.  Numerous troops in our area had both black Scouts and Scout leaders. It was as irrelevant as their hair color.

The Boy Scouts of America stands with Black families and the Black community because we believe that Black Lives Matter,” the executive committee stated. “This is not a political issue; it is a human rights issue and one we all have a duty to address.

The overriding human rights issue of our day, the abortion of thousands of unborn human babies every day (including an estimated 247 unborn black babies daily), is not mentioned and is not part of any Boy Scout badge.

 That is why, as an organization, we commit to [i]ntroducing a specific diversity and inclusion merit badge that will be required for the rank of Eagle Scout,” the letter continues. “It will build on components within existing merit badges, including the American Cultures and Citizenship in the Community merit badges, which require Scouts to learn about and engage with other groups and cultures to increase understanding and spur positive action.

The Scouts will also be

“[r]equiring diversity and inclusion training for all BSA employees starting July 1,” and “[c]onducting a review of property names, events, and insignia, in partnership with local councils, to build on and enhance the organization’s nearly 30-year ban on use of the Confederate flag and to ensure that symbols of oppression are not in use today or in the future.”

The organization noted that these moves are only their “next steps but certainly not our last.”

 Here’s the full letter from the Boy Scouts executive committee, below 

Dear Scouting family,

As our country reckons with racial injustice, we all must consider our role and our failures and commit to meaningful action.

The twelve points of the Scout Law that define a Scout are all important, but at this moment, we are called on to be brave. Brave means taking action because it is the right thing to do and being an upstander even when it may prompt criticism from some. We realize we have not been as brave as we should have been because, as Scouts, we must always stand for what is right and take action when the situation demands it.

There is no place for racism – not in Scouting and not in our communities. Racism will not be tolerated.

We condemn the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and all those who are not named but are equally important. We hear the anguish, feel the heartbreak, and join the country’s resolve to do better.

The Boy Scouts of America stands with Black families and the Black community because we believe that Black Lives Matter. This is not a political issue; it is a human rights issue and one we all have a duty to address.

That is why, as an organization, we commit to:

Introducing a specific diversity and inclusion merit badge that will be required for the rank of Eagle Scout. It will build on components within existing merit badges, including the American Cultures and Citizenship in the Community merit badges, which require Scouts to learn about and engage with other groups and cultures to increase understanding and spur positive action.

Reviewing every element of our programs to ensure diversity and inclusion are engrained at every level for participants and volunteers by applying a standard that promotes racial equality and denounces racism, discrimination, inequality and injustice.

Requiring diversity and inclusion training for all BSA employees starting July 1 and taking immediate action toward introducing a version for volunteers in the coming months.

Conducting a review of property names, events and insignia, in partnership with local councils, to build on and enhance the organization’s nearly 30-year ban on use of the Confederate flag and to ensure that symbols of oppression are not in use today or in the future.

These are our next steps but certainly not our last.

We will also continue to listen more, learn more and do more to promote a culture in which every person feels that they belong, are respected, and are valued in Scouting, in their community, and across America.

As a movement, we are committed to working together with our employees, volunteers, youth members, and communities so we can all become a better version of ourselves and continue to prepare young people to become the leaders of character our communities and our country need to heal and grow.

Yours in Scouting,

The Boy Scouts of America, National Executive Committee

Allowing openly practicing homosexual men to be Scout leaders is very different from allowing men with same-sex attraction who are living a chaste life to be involved. When the Boy Scouts began allowing openly gay men to lead local troops, the Church of Latter-Day Saints as well as some Catholic parishes pulled their support of the troops; some fleeing Scout leaders created a Christian alternative, Trail Life USA. Dr. Taylor Marshall started a Catholic alternative to the Boy Scouts a few years ago called the Troops of St. George. TSG aspires to transform men and whole parishes:

The Troops of Saint George apostolate aims to use the outdoors as our canvas and the sacraments as our path to light the way for the formation of Holy Catholic men and boys. Whether called to the vocation of the priesthood, the religious life, or that of Holy fatherhood, our fathers and sons will take a prayerful pilgrimage together to fulfill Christ’s desire for them to grow in virtue and in their Holy Catholic faith as they journey toward heaven.- Saint George, Pray for us.

Contrast the TSG to the modern Boy Scouts of America. Now moms whose child’s father isn’t around are extremely hesitant to sign their young sons up for camping trips with openly gay men when that child’s own father wasn’t there.  At the time my son started in Boy Scouts, his father was uninvolved and my main purpose of involving him in Scouting was for the positive male role models.  He and another boy whose father had died went on numerous camping trips where all the other dads were along but not their own.  Never for a second would I have considered sending my son on a camping trip with practicing gay men, knowing the statistics on homosexual men grooming or molesting boys and adolescent young men.

The very boys who need Boy Scouts the most can no longer rely on it for men of strong moral character. 

That was bad enough.  Now demanding the ultra-liberal mindset of Black Lives Matter to be a required step towards the until-now highly revered Eagle Scout status is a tragic mistake. 

The organization is pro-abortion, gay and transgender marriage (so a Boy Scout leader could wear women’s clothes for example), anti-cop, and promotes a distorted image of American history and historical figures, including that of slavery. 

The Catholic Position

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation promotes LGBT ideology and opposes the nuclear family. The group’s platform aims to “dismantle cisgender privilege,” and “disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure.”

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, a black Catholic deacon of the Diocese of Portland, Oregon, author, and co-host of EWTN’s Morning Glory radio show points out that

the policies espoused by the Black Lives Matter organization on family and sexuality constitute “a radical feminist agenda disguised as a movement for ‘Black Lives Matter… No Catholic can support the national organization, whatsoever.

Bishop Shelton Fabre, chair of the U.S. bishops’ committee on racism believes Catholics should join efforts to call for racial justice. However, he cautions against the BLM;

Black Lives Matter has a broad agenda covering many social issues, some of which are not in harmony with Catholic teaching.

Retired Bishop Edward Braxton of Belleville, an African-American, wrote a pastoral letter in 2016 on the Catholic Church and the Black Lives Matter movement. Braxton noted that there are “profound differences” between the teachings of the Church and the Black Lives Matter movement. Most leaders in the BLM do “not embrace traditional Christian theological ideas about praying to keep the peace and change hearts.”

Numerous pro-family black leaders are speaking out against BLM, including Alan West, Dr. Ben Carson, Larry Elders, and Candace Owens, who have pointed out that the new powerful movement ignores the real issues in the black community: fatherlessness, abortion, and welfare.  Again, there’s no Boy Scout badge for “unborn babies matter.”

Isn’t respect and “love one another” better taught through daily example than by mandated curriculum?  The Boy Scouts have fallen and will never be the same.