Re: A Scout's Duty to God and Country
RYAN KEIL (RYAN.KEIL@M.CC.UTAH.EDU)
Wed, 6 Jul 1994 00:05:50 -0600
On Sun, 3 Jul 1994, Rick Busdiecker wrote:
> Date: Sun, 3 Jul 1994 00:49:05 -0400
> From: "Michael F. Bowman" <mfbowman@cap.gwu.edu>
> The book provides general information on the relationships between
> BSA and religions and BSA policies; sample ceremonies for
> presentations, universal or non-denominational prayers, graces,
> songs, etc.;
---deleted, background material in re a childcare facility
> I would respectfully suggest
> that if you were to stick with the term `non-denominational' and avoid
> `universal' you would be being more respectful of those have
> consciously chosen to believe that there are no supreme beings.
---deleted, more about the childcare facility
> Despite the official positions which some of the Scouting
> organizations have taken, I can assure you that there are many people
> who have a firm belief, that can reasonably be characterized as a
> faith, that there are no gods. These are not simply
> Don't-Know-Don't-Care agnostics, nor are they people who have no moral
> system or code.
While the intent of this reply is certainly well-meaning, it seems to have
missed a crucial element of the original posting. The book (manuscript)
to which the orig poster referred is a compilation of materials directly
to all religious awards existant in BSA, a very select target. In the
context of this arena, 'universal' is applicable as the manuscript,
according to Mr. Bowman, entails all information relative to the specific
scope defined from the outset. Mr. Bowman did not, as I recall, claim
that this manuscript was in any way universal to all religions without any
specificity as to scope. Nor did he state or imply that it covered all
belief systems [ by system I do not mean an established religion, but
rather a set of values that govern an individual's personal conception of
deity or non-deity ].
Perhaps it came at an inopportune moment, for Rick, but it was pretty
explicit as to what the manuscript is about.
YiS
Ryan Keil, BEAR-ly Scoutin'
ryan.keil@m.cc.utah.edu
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
