NJCubScouter

Kwc, you have a point, you usually don't know what a person is actually thinking. But, like a baseball manager deciding whether to send in a righty hitter against a lefty pitcher, you generally play the percentages. This comes into play more in picking a jury, and there are stories about lawyers who excuse a potential juror based on their profession or other characteristics, lose the case, and then find out later that the person probably would have been in their favor. It does sometimes factor in when deciding whether to try to get a judge disqualified from a case -- which is very difficult

Kwc says: Gee, I wonder if all of the judges who are members of Augusta are going to have to give up golf? Not entirely, but at Augusta, probably yes. The basic canons of judicial conduct prohibit judges from being members of organizations that discriminate. I did a little looking around and found Georgia's rules, and there is a comment that makes it unclear how this would be be applied to a "private club." There also is a comment that basically says that if in doubt, a judge should refrain from activities that might be called into question. So I would say that a judge who belong

Without getting into a whole legal dissertation, I highly doubt that Gregg Shields, the ever-present BSA spokesman, is correct in his statement that a ban on judges' involvement with the Boy Scouts would be "unconstitutional." The states are generally free to regulate the conduct of judges as they wish, and in terms of constitutional rights, it is probably the most heavily regulated "profession" there is. For example, most states prohibit judges from engaging in any partisan political activity (with limited exceptions for their own election campaigns in states where they are elected), a proh

ASM, and also, Rooster, littlebillie, Weekender, OGE, ScoutParent, sctmom, BobWhite, Ed Mori, and all others of the Christian faith, Merry Christmas.

LeVoyaguer says: Thus could it not be reasoned that Atheism "is" a gnostic faith that accepts the "non created" elements which rejects the "created"? Well, leVoyageur, although your meaning is still not crystal clear to me, it still seems that you are trying to make atheism "fit" into a belief system that involves a deity. It doesn't fit. Atheists believe in no deity. Why try to make it more complicated than that? As for "elements" that are "created" or "non-created," there is really only one set of "elements" at issue, that is the Universe, including this planet and the life on

And I'm happy for you, ASM, but you don't mind if some of the rest of us discuss other belief systems that are more confusing. Right?

OK, le V, I looked up "Kolob," it looks like a fictional planet mentioned in the literature of the LDS religion, though another site I looked at did not mention LDS. One site had something about the Osmonds recording an album about it, or something. Can you please explain what the point to all this is? Also, you keep referring to "Atheistism." What is that? If you mean "Atheism," I apologize for bringing it up. Typos and misspellings are epidemic on the Internet, I have been known to commit them myself, and I try not to be one of those who points them out, unless they make the me

Very cute, Rooster. Or should I say, DedicatedDad, since as I recall, he once engaged in similar speculation about me.

I thought gnosticism was more like deism. I guess it sort of starts out that way, in that God "is remote from human affairs, and is unknowable and undetectable by human senses." I can go along with all that. But then it gets into being more of a "normal" religion, with gods that have names and give birth to other gods and everything. (See http://www.gnosis.org/gnintro.htm ) Seems like sort of a cross between Christianity, Greek mythology and something some college philosophy major thought up after a long night of "partying." And I surely didn't know that there is a religion that says

OGE says to me: If B-P's sexual orientation is irrelevent to you, why first imply he was gay, provide flimsy references and then run like the devil away from them and say you realize that what you have doesnt prove a thing. I didn't do any of those things. I said there was evidence, which there is. I think that what I implied was that I don't know whether it's true or not. As for the flimsy references, as I said, I am sure there is more in the book, which I haven't read. There's apparently another book that reached the same conclusion. I haven't read that one, either. I have re

OGE, I thought that the subject of B-P's orientation, or rather the circumstantial evidence regarding his orientation, had been discussed on here before. Turns out I was right. Check this out: http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=5417&p=2#id_5611 This is a post by tjhammer on Feb. 11 of this year, which as it turns out is the day before I joined the forum. It was probably one of the posts I read that day as I was deciding whether to plunge into the fray. If you want some "outside" evidence, check this out: http://faqs.jmas.co.jp/FAQs/scouting/8_USA-

I think I have already said all I need to say about Mr. Lambert, but I do want to comment on this one statement by Rooster: If an atheist or a homosexual sincerely declared that he no longer embraced atheism and/or homosexuality, then I'm sure BSA would welcome that person into the fold... Clearly you are correct about the atheist, in fact the letter Mr. Lambert's SE sent to him specifically invited him to declare his belief in a "higher power" within a specified period. Mother Nature would be fine, just say you believe in something and you're in. The impression I got from the arti

OK, so now we're quoting articles on economic and legal policy written by comedians. (Ben Stein, if you haven't clicked on the link. Admittedly, he is a comedian with a law degree, who once worked as a White House speech writer, for Richard Nixon. I think Forbes Magazine was so amazed to find a comedian who is a conservative Republican that they had to run this article.) I agree with part of what he says, but I think he takes parts of it too far. Personally, I think that as a social and economic commentator, Mr. Stein should stick to acting. ("Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?" Ironicall

New Jersey abstains... courteously. (Apologies to whoever wrote "1776.")

If I were one of the gay-bashers around here, I wouldn't worry about things like this too much. The article says the tone of the comic is "campy," and it seems to be full of sterotypes about how gay people act and what they care about (leather and powder-blue superhero masks and so forth). Does this character speak with a lisp and have a limp wrist, too? Is he going to be picking out lavendar curtains and listening to Judy Garland albums in the second episode? I don't think this is going to do much to advance that "gay agenda" we sometimes hear about.

RobK says: Homosexuality is by definition deviancy, and God quite clearly declares it an abomination in the Bible. Deviancy from what? Deviancy from the majority? So what? Deviancy from your ideal of appropriate behavior? Your ideal does not govern everybody else. It does not require me or MY organization to exclude people. And as for the Bible (any of the various versions and conflicting translations of it), it does not govern Scouting either. What the Bible says God said about gays is irrelevant. I for one, don't believe God has any animosity toward gays simply for being ga

OK Eisely, I have an article for you that also does not involve Scouting. You have seen the headlines and may know some of these details, but I did not know most of them. The article is from msnbc.com and involves men using their positions of authority to take advantage of under-age girls and women to whom they were supposed to be providing guidance and spiritual care. By the logic that supports your "suspicion," I assume that as a result of this story, you wouldn't want ANY adult male working with any children, regardless of whether the may is straight or gay. ________________________

Of course, these people wouldn't have to go through all this effort and trouble, and get into a public spitting match with a respected organization like the United Way, if the BSA did not insist on excluding qualified leaders, who live by the Scout Oath and Law, on the irrelevant ground that they happen to be openly gay.

I think the problem with this story is that it takes a very simple and tragic event -- the (alleged) molestation of Scouts by a Scouter -- and relates it to 2 things that it does not necessarily have any relationship to. One of those things is the ban on "gay leaders", which of course is the common shorthand for what the "policy" REALLY is: A ban on OPENLY gay leaders. There is no suggestion in the story that this guy was openly gay, there are clues in the story that he probably is not, and I strongly suspect that if he was, the story would just say it. So this guy (if we accept that h

Comedian Jon Stewart has a line that goes something like "Atheists are teenagers who hate their parents. Wiccans are teenagers who REALLY hate their parents." Funny though it may be, I can say from the perspective of both teenager and parent that there may be a grain of truth to this. Maybe not the "hate" part, but the point is that many things go into creating a "belief" or apparent belief, and rebelliousness can be a major factor. It certainly has been a factor for both of my daughters, for me when I was a teenager (when I announced that I was not only an atheist, but a socialist as

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving to all! No matter who, or what, you are giving thanks to.

ScouterPaul, I clicked on www.wicca.org, but got an error message, "Forbidden"/"You are not authorized to view this page." Do I have to know a spell?

I don't know why I bother to say things like this, but: ScoutParent, isn't that Biblical quotation relevant only to those people who believe that the Bible is the word of God? Why would it make a difference to the rest of us? And more importantly, it would not influence the policy of the BSA. And besides, Wiccans do not believe in "demons." They are not "Satanists." I don't feel qualified to explain exactly what they do believe, in response to mk. My daughter claims to be a Wiccan, but when I ask her what she actually believes, she says "Dad, stop making fun of me!" She's a tee

The question is, would an agnostic position be acceptable compliance with the scout oath, etc? I have seen suggestions both ways but nothing authoritative. I have heard agnosticism lumped in with the big G, "godless," where Scouting is concerned. On the other hand, if agnosticism (of which I was a "practitioner" in my younger days) means you "just don't know," then aren't you accepting the possibility that there is a God? You aren't saying that there isn't a God. Isn't that enough? The question might be expanded to one of the two types of people that I have seen classified as "

Ed, some court decisions have said that Hanukkah Menorahs are ok on public property, some have said the opposite. The same is true for nativity scenes. I personally think that no religious symbol belongs on public property, whether privately funded or not. It is public property. A religious display by a governmental entity constitutes "establishment of religion" as that phrase has been interpreted by the Supreme Court. It doesn't belong on public property. A "Christmas tree," by the way,is really not a religious symbol. It's just a decorated tree. In some cases it isn't even placed