Horizon

Can't you bundle it in with their Confirmation classes? That is what my son did in the Presbyterian Church - he used the confirmation process to drive him through his knot.

An issue BSA has to face with this particular case is a very sympathetic plaintiff. Rosa Parks was not the first one to refuse to give up her seat, but she was the best one to rally behind. Heller was not the first person to fight for his 2nd Amendment rights, but his background made him a great person to be the face of the case. Jennifer Tyrell makes a much better face, because we don't have the same cultural visceral reaction to lesbians as we have to gay men. You can't accuse her of trying to get close to young boys, or pedophile tendencies, or anything like that. Even more, she is

Beavah - I have no issue with that list. Funny - seems to have left out the evil gays that the BSA won't let into the club though. Not a good verse to hang the organizations beret on.

Well Beavah, we could just take a look at Paul's list of who doesn't get the Kingdom of God (I am using the NRSV for this one): wrong doers, fornicators, idolators, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, and robbers Now the interesting thing in Paul's list is that our lesbian mom doesn't make the cut, so perhaps we should let her back in? In the meantime, the greedy is interesting. Perhaps we should start rejecting adult applications from The 1% that Occupy Wall Street is so concerned about. No Gordon Gekkos need apply!

Fred - you know the old joke about jokes by the numbers? (if not, a version is below) I sometimes think that for this discussion a list of the standard arguments and rebuttals would save a lot of 0s and 1s in the transmission. The only new ground today is the news article, and the general shift in tone vs. 10 years ago. For example, Beavah is trying to paint the progressive Christian side with a broad brush dipped in the paint of decadent Rome. This has been done before, and it is still just as vile in its inferences and insinuations. The standard response would be to point ou

DLChris71 - I didn't see any derogatory remarks in shortridge's comments. Mine - guilty as charged. Then again, I will defend my choice of terminology happily.

When we have our new parent orientation for the Troop, we introduce our Troop tradition of the essentials pack. We ask all boys to have field pack that has the outdoor essentials, plus we add the Handbook, paper and pen, and a 6' hunk of rope. They are to bring it to every Troop event. I then tell them the contents, and why they are necessary or useful - and not just in the wilderness. I THEN tell them that this type of kit should be in all of their trunks for earthquakes. I sometimes go so far as to ask how many parents have an earthquake kit in their car, and also a supply at th

Congrats to these boys, and those that helped lead them to this: http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2012/05/02/boy-scouts-rescue.wham#/video/us/2012/05/02/boy-scouts-rescue.wham

DLChris71 - you don't have to leave America to find bigoted violence though. Right here in these United States gays are bashed, abused, in some cases tied to a fence and murdered (The Matthew Shepard case). Even a screening of the movie about his life triggers protestors. So, while it is true that Christians are under assault in some nations, I am focused on the bigotry here in America where gay children are bullied, leading to higher rates of suicide. I am focused on the bigotry here in America, where gay people are bashed to death. This is why when I am not counseling Shotgun

I put this in a prior run of this debate, but if my beloved Corps can handle gays - what is our problem again? http://articles.latimes.com/2011/oct/09/local/la-me-1009-gay-pride-marines-20111010

Warning, the following is from a Libertarian Christian who used to actively try to get rid of gays from any aspects of his life (making the gay guy at high school miserable, screaming slurs as we drove by the only gay bar in town, telling as many anti gay jokes as possible, etc.) I then actually met a gay person and made friends with them. I then started to listen to Christ's message of love. I then started to look back on my past in horror. I was a bigot. Period. I was only following what was being taught by my church, my parents and my community. It was still wrong, and I wallowed

If folks want to read a little more background on this one: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-boy-scouts-lesbian-pack-leader-20120427,0,2353253.story "the local cub master put her at ease. 'He assured me at the local level it would never be a problem, she said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. From Day 1, I was open and honest about it.' ' So this is a case where a local unit did not care, and it sounds like they needed a leader as well. Someone called Council, and once Council was told they pulled her registration. Too bad. Committed relati

That list is the attitudes of different groups of Scouts, if that was not obvious. To really mess with everyone, I have never forbidden cell phones on backpacking trips (no headphones while hiking due to safety though). If figure if you are willing to carry it and risk it, it is your business. Some of the boys get great joy at finding a signal on top of a peak and "checking in" on Facebook from, say, Mt. San Jacinto. If that gets one more boy on the Trail - wahoo! For the 20 miler, we have talked about doing the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon that is 26.2 miles of hiking fro

I have taken Scouts on some pretty fun hikes and backpacking trips to the various mountain ranges of California. They can be broken up into the following groups: 1) Nice View 2) Another Peak 3) Fastest to the Objective 4) Are we done yet? 5) Does this count for X badge / Y requirement? 6) Never doing this again

I find it interesting that people use Philmont to complete Hiking - in our Troop it is used to complete Backpacking (another badge I would prefer to see on the Eagle list).

I agree that swimming is easier to earn than hiking for most boys thanks to summer camp and other opportunities. We have a local swim training center that offers Swimming and Lifesaving almost every weekend. In my old Troop, only a couple of boys every earned Hiking due to the 20 miler. One boy did it with a side hike on a backpacking trek just to get it. In my Troop as a boy the Troop would do the Walk for Mankind hike as a way to complete that requirement.

All: Thanks for the responses and comments. I am going to follow-up with friends at the Council level, possibly this weekend at Camporee. If I hear anything interesting, I will happily share it.

No title, it came as part of our weekly "Scoutweek" email that I subscribe to. The full letter is here: http://www.ocbsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/PARENTS.pdf Our Council exposure: "At last count 136 units need to be converted from Parents of units by December 31, 2012 or approximately 5,840 youth will be without the Scouting program. " My pack, like many in my area, is multi-ethnic, multi-religious and is associated with the local school. If all of us go hunting for charter orgs, I think that some packs will collapse in size. We have city wide service organizations

Just got this from my Council: "All units chartering or rechartering for 2013 must be faith based, community service or commercial business based organizations." Oh boy. Our PTA dropped the charter long ago, so our Pack created a "Parents of" organization. My homeowner's community won't charter I am positive. This is going to get ugly for Packs I think. Troops probably are in a better position. More from the letter from the Council: Here in the Orange County Council, Parents of sponsored Scout units seemed to be a viable alternative in the wake of PTAs exodus as cha

I feel like you are describing Canoeing MB, not 9a though. I don't canoe around here, we either surf (not a Scout MB, though it should be), or kayak as a Troop activity I admit. If I had to have 5 kayak treks over a two year period to get scouts to First Class inside of 2 years, I would have a challenge that would impact other activities like hiking, rock climbing and basic camping. I think that you are putting too much into that requirement personally. I expect a First Class Scout to be able to know the right way to be safe on the water, I don't expect him to be an expert in any g

I feel like you are describing Canoeing MB, not 9a though. I don't canoe around here, we either surf (not a Scout MB, though it should be), or kayak as a Troop activity I admit. If I had to have 5 kayak treks over a two year period to get scouts to First Class inside of 2 years, I would have a challenge that would impact other activities like hiking, rock climbing and basic camping. I think that you are putting too much into that requirement personally. I expect a First Class Scout to be able to know the right way to be safe on the water, I don't expect him to be an expert in any g

Beavah - your requirement for several canoe trips for earning First Class appears to be at odds with the requirement: "First Class requirement 9a: Tell what precautions must be taken for a safe trip afloat." It does NOT say plan and run a canoe trip. It says tell what you have to do to be prepared to be safe on the water. I would agree that simply memorizing the words and regurgitating them is too little, but you description sounds like too much to me. A program with enough opportunity for hiking, water activities, and cooking plus offering First Aid Merit Badge can easily ful

I used a small trick that helped. If I was talking to my son, I called him by his name. If I was talking to the role, I called him SPL. He would do the same, leading to some fun exchanges. "SPL - is the Troop ready to leave for the campout?" "Scoutmaster - all set. Dad - did you grab my messkit when we left the house?" "Son, yeah, its in my camping box."

A few thoughts: 1) When I go to Ace Hardware, they all have these headsets on. If you ask someone a question, they IMMEDIATELY get on the headset to find the expert who has the answer. It rocks. Having a way for any staffer to immediately contact the right person would be great (walkie talkies, everyone has a map of the campground with a listing of the classes and activities on them, etc.) 2) Training for adults. I have just taken a 1 week vacation without my family. If I could fill in some slots and get some of the BSA training done - that would help make the week for me. At

My Scoutmaster wore a bolo. When I became a Scouter, I bought a bolo. I thought that was what Scouters wore! When I am wearing a Troop or Pack t-shirt at an activity in the summer, I can usually be found with a bandana around my neck for all of the reasons stated above. When our Troop orders their custom neckers next time, I am going to encourage them to purchase full square ones instead of the mini-triangles that they got last time. My son has a great necker collection from the UK and Sea Scouts. When he attends Troop meetings in his BSA shirt (instead of his Crew shirt), he jus