What Sought of Reverance?
Jay Thal (jay.thal@TCS.WAP.ORG)
Sat, 10 Jan 1998 20:18:37 EST
Sometimes the place to be is in the frontlines, or the pulpit, or on the
soapbox....
A recent posting on the subject of the Randall case favors inclusion of persons
who, currently, do not embrace theism yet opposes altering of standards. We
cannot have it both ways unless we determine that what we refer to as standards
are, in fact, developmental goals. And that would be fine with me.
Unfortunately that posting also extended the issue beyond persons with
atheistic beliefs, but to include agnostics. This has the potential of going
over the line into an orthodoxy (small o).
So what is agnosticism? Simply put, it is the belief that the ultimate cause
and essential nature of things are unknown and unknowable, and that human
knowledge is limited to experience. Being an agnostic does not preclude one
from espousing a faith or religion. Being faithful should not preclude one
from embracing the Big Bang or Evolutionary theories. Whether a Supreme being
merely flicked a Bic some 15 billion years ago, or is involved in our daily
lives, is individual and valid.
Faith, to me, is the acceptance of the inexplicable. Faith is the embracing of
a central dictum though one cannot fully fathom its purpose or intent. Social
progress, and if one can relate that term to the evolution of various western
religious sects, has been a matter of constant challenging or questioning of
currently accepted, ostensibly immutable, truths or interpretations to reach
out for a clearer understanding.
Sometimes change has been through a revelation, or charismatic leadership.
Thus have developed the Protestant movement out of Catholicism, or in
relevantly recent days the Church of Latter Day Saints. Each of those faiths
have brought solace and direction that provide validity to their adherents.
Other religions and belief systems provide similar validation, and deserve
reverence and acceptance. .
It is extremely arrogant to assert a single (our) belief system over others.
This does not relieve us from making judgements regarding goods versus evils.
But, it is an extremely dangerous proposition to generalize a judgment about a
specific evil (murder, the alleged sacrificial eating of babies, etc.) to an
entire people.
Do we really want theism itself in the teachings of Scouting? How would BSA,
or we, react if a demand was made to include Creationism Theory into Mammal
Studies, Astronomy, or Geology Merit Badges, albeit their not being required
for Eagle rank?
It is suggested that BSA s insistence on a belief in G-d has to do with the
need to derive values/standards from an omnibenevolent, omniscient, omnipotent,
and omnipresent and immutable standard against which to measure rightness and
wrongness. Then, it would be incumbent upon us to explain why that same
immutable omnibenevolence did not prevent the Holocaust or stay the Trail of
Tears?
This will be heretical to some, but the unfathomable flickor of a Bic is an
acceptable inexplicability, together with the possible randomness of its
consequences. The inexplicability of profound evil and an apparently
indifferent G-d may suggest that G-d may be fallible though we may,
nevertheless, believe. The constancy of a single frame of reference does not
assure that it is immutable, perhaps it is untested.
What we must carve out in our personal lives, and in Scouting, is an expression
of values which uses the failures of our species as reference points from which
we must depart towards something better. Not being a believer in fate, I
pursue involvement and proaction. That is why many of us are Scouters, to
nurture leaders who will question current authority.
If the outcome in the current cases will be a determination that is not a
business enterprise, and not subject to the Unruh Act, the challenges will go
on at a different time and in different venues. This is not a California
phenomenon. That testing will, unfortunately, polarize many people and drain
resources of both sides. It will test what is central to Scouting - conveying
values or conveying values immersed in faith. With respect to the issues of
gender or sexual preference it will also test whether a private organization
can enjoy societally conferred benefits, such as relief from forms of taxation,
while embracing exclusionary practices.
And so to rest, butnot far from a soapbox.
YIS
Jay Thal
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
