The Boy Scouts of America

[weezel365]

On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and Country, to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally fit, and morally straight.

Believe it or not, I was a Boy Scout. I spent more time in Cub Scouts, I was only an actual Boy Scout for about a month and a half. Then it was Summer and I

Comments

[sexy_bex_e]

I am very tempted to send this rant to a Scout Master I know, but I'm afraid the profanity would be off-putting and lead him away from the message you are trying to get across.

[weezel365]

You could copy/paste it and change the language accordingly. I would have no objection to that, I'd love for the message to be spread further and open more debate. As long as the hyperlinks stay embedded, it should be fine.

[veazey21]

The thing about religion is mostly incorrect. There's a variation on the God and Country award for just about every religion, including a blanket one for Hinduism (which is a bunch of gods in the same pantheon worshiped in a bunch of very different ways) and even stuff like Shintoism that isn't really popular here but has a lot of followers in other countries. I'm not sure about the stance on atheists or agnostics.

That thing about homosexuality, though, is just out-and-out dumb. I didn't like it when I was a Scout, I don't like it now, and I'm pretty sure I won't be changing my mind. It's a policy born out of ignorance and fear, and is something that the Scouts should be actively trying to eliminate rather than continuing to support. And if I had a bunch of money, I'd try to set up some non-profit organization to get the Scouts completely off of church-related money.

[weezel365]

I'm literally AMAZED I'm about to ask you to do this, but could you explain further? How is it incorrect? Because, it's difficult for for me to include links working on the Wii, but I work hard to research my SECS and PEACE articles, so if you can provide proof to correct me, I want, and NEED to hear it.

[veazey21]

Here's the table you're looking for. There's awards for the Baha'i (a tiny religious minority in Iran, virtually unknown outside of that, and Rainn Wilson is one), Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, and even Zoroastrianism. Yeah. I didn't even know that was still a thing, either.
It's a lot like how Tim describes your variation on kung fu and its encouragement of faith: you don't have to believe exactly what I believe, but I encourage you to believe what fits you.

PS: Not getting my God & Country is the one thing I regret about my time in Scouts. It's one of about three things you can earn as a boy that you can still display on your uniform (in some fashion) as a leader. Eagle is another.