Rick_in_CA

Which reenforces my belief that the controversy wasn't really about gays, but about religious pluralism. And why Trail Life has adopted a policy on gays that is almost the same as the new BSA one, but they only allow Christian leaders (and only ones that are the "right kind" of Christians).

You guys do know that secular humanism is not the same as atheism? While many atheists are secular humanists, not all secular humanists are atheists (though there are some secular humanist organizations that are explicitly atheist). So it's very possible for Charles Schultz to have been a secular humanist that also believed in God.

I have run into scouters that don't like female webelos den leaders (as one said: "Ideally, the CM, ACM and webelos den leaders should be male, and the other den leaders should be female"). Maybe that is what is going on? Your girlfriend really needs to talk to the CC and COH and find out what is really going on. How big is your pack?

Actually it doesn't use the term "legal". From the latest GTSS:

True, there are some faiths that offer a religious emblem program that isn't recognized (Unitarians, Wiccans, etc.). However, there are others that don't have one either because they are too small in the US, or because they aren't organized enough. Now the Unitarians are fine with interfaith worship, and I don't know the Wiccan stance on it, but if you come from a tradition that doesn't allow it, and doesn't have a religious emblem program, you are SOL. Plus, the requirement says "with the den leader". What if the den leader is from a faith that forbids interfaith worship? Is that going t

My understanding is that the requirements listed in http://www.scouting.org/filestore/program_update/pdf/Appended%20Requirements.pdf are the final ones. We have a diverse pack, in a diverse area. I know we are going to have parents that will have problems with the new faith requirements. It reads to me like the authors didn't consider non-Christians when they wrote them (or did, but went with "who cares?"). This is cub scouts, not Sunday school. The faith components belong in the family. If I am reading things correctly, if we have a cub scout from a faith tradition that doesn't have a re

GSUSA is an organization with national presence, while the BPSA is a tiny organization (in the US at least) with little presence that few people had heard of (I only know of it because I read this forum - as far as I can tell, there isn't a single BPSA unit in California). So it is a mistake to point at the fact that people aren't switching to the BPSA as evidence that they wouldn't switch to an open GSUSA. Of course, it isn't evidence that they would either.

Peregrinator, you implied that the UUA was being underhanded and dishonest with it's actions. The record clearly shows that to not be the case.

I think we should allow girls in at all levels, but leave it up to the charter orgs on whether to allow them in for their units (which is how the UK and Canada did it if I remember correctly). This is how venturing works today (crews can be boy only or coed - it's up to the charter org). As GeorgiaMom has said, families with both sons and daughters can find it difficult to support the program as they have to split their time. At recruiting events for our cub pack, we keep getting asked "can my daughter join too?" The BSA is one of only something like sixteen scouting programs in the world

All the letters can be found at: http://www.uua.org/re/children/scouting/162788.shtml. So no, it wasn't underhanded or cowardly.

I'm curious. I'm not an expert on Buddhism, but what "transcendent higher power" do they believe in?

Sounds cool! Got any pictures?

Interesting. Thanks for sharing it. This reminds me of an essay that is part of the UUA religious emblem program (and can be found on the UUA website). I don't think they would mind me reproducing it here. I like this very much, but of course, it's from my faith tradition. Your mileage my very. When Others or You Say “God†By Rev. John. A. Buehrens If you are like most people, you are probably puzzled at times when other people use the word "God." That's not surprising. Different people use the word at different times in very different ways

Actually, I really like these. They are still rather Christian in mode, but they are still really nice. Thank you for sharing them!

Here is something I wanted to add, a post from the past. It was a discussion about Scout's Own, not simply prayer, but it brings in a bit of perspective on some of the problems that can be encountered. from: http://www.scouter.com/forum/open-discussion-program/6826-generic-nondenominational-worship-services-yea-or-nay

A great question, but one that isn’t easy to answer. Here are some issues to consider. - What is the scout actually doing when he leads an invocation (which by definition is a prayer)? Is he speaking for the group? Is he giving a demonstration of how his faith tradition does it? What are the expectations that are being set? Is “joining him in prayer†presented as optional or expected? - What does it means to “pray†in different faith traditions? In many traditions, prayers are not free form like most Protestant prayers. There are specific prayers, often a

So you didn't intend or expect your words to be insulting? Well they were, and not just to Merlyn. You are correct that most people (you are probably right about the 90% bit) don't really know what the word "atheist" means. They think it means "anti-religious", which is true for some atheists, but not all (many are deeply spiritual people. Some are even ordained ministers). You then base your arguments on the idea that atheists are all anti-religious without any spiritual beliefs; and appear to ignore Merlyn and others when they try to explain that: an atheist is simply a non-theist. That