As a Boy Scout athiest/agnostic I had trouble with the Boyscouts and not letting Athiesm an gay/lesbians in. For the religion part, You have to believe in a god. Not the Christian God in partcular. any will do. I just ubderstood the value of lipservice and didn't scream "I'm an ATHIEST!!"
As for the gay/Lesbian thing, I believe that a private organization should have the right to control it's own membership. PETA would kick out people that showed up for meetings in a fur coat and no one would think anything odd. Or the American Apple Growers Association would be perfectly fine with not letting the owner of an orange orchard join. So I can't really complain about what private organizations allow for membership.
As for the person telling you that he would rather not have you join because of a "Disability" I would go over that persons head and raise holy hell. My son is in cubscouts and they don't treat him different from any of the other kids, and almost seem to inadvertantly use him as a tool to teach the kids tolerence.
If your son wants to join scouting, you should do all that you can to ensure he does. Kids with autistism/aspergers seldom express intrests in things like group activities, and the possitive influence it will have on him and his happiness should out way the bad energy from their control over membership. After all, happiness can be fleeting in this world and you shouldn't deny someone else the chance because some old farts are beeing stuborn bigots.
As for the atheist/agnostic part, my son really doesn’t care much about Christianity. I don’t think he gives it much thought. Personally I don’t like the idea of lip service and having to hide what I believe or not believe. But I don’t think this would effect my son all that much.
Since we are no longer in the Tampa/Plant city area-I’m sure I could find a troop that would be willing to take him in. I don’t want an all disabled troop though.
As for the gay/Lesbian thing, I believe that a private organization should have the right to control it's own membership. PETA would kick out people that showed up for meetings in a fur coat and no one would think anything odd. Or the American Apple Growers Association would be perfectly fine with not letting the owner of an orange orchard join. So I can't really complain about what private organizations allow for membership.
As for the person telling you that he would rather not have you join because of a "Disability" I would go over that persons head and raise holy hell. My son is in cubscouts and they don't treat him different from any of the other kids, and almost seem to inadvertantly use him as a tool to teach the kids tolerence.
If your son wants to join scouting, you should do all that you can to ensure he does. Kids with autistism/aspergers seldom express intrests in things like group activities, and the possitive influence it will have on him and his happiness should out way the bad energy from their control over membership.
After all, happiness can be fleeting in this world and you shouldn't deny someone else the chance because some old farts are beeing stuborn bigots.
that's my 2¢ worth.
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Since we are no longer in the Tampa/Plant city area-I’m sure I could find a troop that would be willing to take him in. I don’t want an all disabled troop though.
Thank you for your input.
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