Re: Russ Jones, 1-10
Bradford Price (bprice@NEO.LRUN.COM)
Sat, 10 Jan 1998 16:34:21 -0500
Russ Jones wrote:
"I believe the reason for the BSA's insistence on a belief in God
has to do with the fact that only the concept of an omnibenevolent,
omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent being can provide an immutable standard
against which to measure the rightness or wrongness--the goodness or
badness, if you will--of one's values, thoughts, and actions."
Russ illustrates what I see as a fundamental difficulty with the
insistence that "theism" be an absolute theological standard, adherence to
which is required for admission to membership in BSA, from which there can
be no deviation. What is presented above represents a particular
conception of God which is assumed to be "BSA's" concept of God which
grounds the reading of the Oath and Law. It also happens to be a
conception of God which excludes many theists, Christian and non-Christian.
To say that BSA is open to persons of "all faiths" representing the full
range of religious/spiritual expression in the human family simply cannot
bear the imposition of a particular theology, concept of God, etc.
Assuming that Mr. Jones', or anyone else's, concept of God is the
foundation for interpreting the Oath and Law leads to the rejection of any
number of forms of human spiritual expression ALREADY represented in the
Scouting program.
Brad Price
Eagle, Brotherhood
Troop Committee Chair, Unit Commissioner, Summer Camp Chaplain, JLT Course
Director
..........and I used to be a Beaver............
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
