Trevorum

Cubs love ceremonies of all kinds. Face painting is not unique to Native Americans -- I say go for it! Every year, our final pack meeting was always an outdoor campfire. At the start of the meeting, and with great mystery, I'd char several wine corks in the campfire. I'd then make a big show about smudging each cubs forehead and nose with the charred corks, making them 'one with the fire'. The ceremony made no reference to Native Americans (and any cultural symbolism was probably tens of thousands of years more ancient). They loved it!

Cubs love ceremonies of all kinds. Face painting is not unique to Native Americans and I say go fot it. Every year, our final pack meeting was always an outdoor campfire. At the start of the meeting, and with great mystery, I'd char several wine corks in the campfire. I'd then make a big show about smudging each cubs forehead and nose with the charred corks, making them 'one with the fire'. The ceremony made no reference to Native Americans (and any cultural symbolism was probably tens of thousands of years more ancient). They loved it!

Does anyone know when Philmont base camp adopted the use of the two person wall tents? I was browsing on http://maps.live.com and noticed the base camp was laid out in a different pattern. It sorta looks like multiple circles of crew trail tents.

It's a great "problem" to have, ain't it? I'm constantly amazed a how our troop reinvents itself. There are 15 or so eager new faces at our meetings now, learning knots and fire-building from the old-hands who were learning that stuff themselves just yesterday (or so it seems!). The SPL, just now getting into the groove, is getting ready to hand the troop over to another young fellow who will make the same mistakes along his learning curve... New dads and moms are sitting on the committee meetings and coming on campouts. It's great!

"God is the one source of morality" Barry, I understand that is what your faith teaches, but please dont presume that mine teaches the same thing. I don't acknowledge your god and I rather suspect you wouldn't recognize mine.

How much money goes to pay Council Scout Executives nationwide? Quick, take a guess! Go ahead, guess! ~300 councils x $100k/yr = $30 million. Each year. For SEs. And that's just for the TOP execs. And it's not even counting the salaries of all the bigshots in Irving.

Yep. Semper, you've got a problem in that council. Now curious, I checked my own council's 990s and found that between 2002 and 2004, our revenues increased by 52%, net assets increased by 14%, and salaries of the top five employees increased by 16%. Our 2004 revenues were $4,973,000, just slightly larger than Baltimore. Top exec compensation was $163k, with the next four ranging from $72k to $59k. These salaries seem reasonable for executives of a $5M outfit. Want to know more? goto http://www.guidestar.org/ It's free.

While following this thread with interest, I haven't participated, mostly because I've never seen religion as a "core component" of Scouting. Some Scouts are religious, some aren't; and that's OK. Religion is very different from reverence. All Scouts are expected to be reverent; mandating religiosity in any form would be a mistake. I think I agree with Kudu. An awarness of diversity is one thing, but I strongly feel that Scouting is NOT the forum to be teaching anthropology or comparative religion. BSA has this one right. Encourage boys to learn about their faith (and possily others) outside of the Scouting program. Bring the reverence with you into the program.

Beav, I really hate to break this to you, but - brace yourself - Gilligan's Island was not real. I know, I know, it seemed so authentic, but that was merely exeptionally good scripting and superlative acting.

Semper, without disagreeing with your opinion, I would respectfully ask that you think twice before voicing it during the FOS presentation in front of your unit. The presenter is just a messenger and you would most likely be putting him on the spot (not the SE), while at the same time discouraging other possible contributors. Instead, bring the issue up at your distict committee meeting. Those are the folks who might be able to do some good.

You may have an old jac. I believe the emblems first appeared sometime in the 70s. I got mine in 1968 and it's never had the emblem.

Great ideas all, but here in Texas, there's one summer activity that is (almost) mandatory ... BAR-B-CUE!

The decision to invest in a PLB comes down to ones sense of risk management. How likely are you to be in a situation where the device would save lives? Personally, I'd rather invest in an Automatic External Defbrillator (AED). I think that investment would have a MUCH greater chance of saving lives. Of course, the troop sees me as one of the "old guys", so I may be biased.

First thing I'd do is ask the SPL to run it by the PLC. If the scouts don't like the idea, it's dead anyway.

"Why should anthropologists be the ones to decide?" They sure argue a lot, but I've never heard of anthropologists "deciding" anything. If you want a good explanatory framework about human culture though, they're the ones to ask. Lawyers on the other hand, just love to decide things.

Yes, lawyers, tax accountants, and governments are known to be wise in the the interpretation of these issues ... Regardless of what they rule, anthropologists generally see all religions as being a cultural system with three key and interlocking components: 1) a set of rituals or symbolic behaviors; 2) a set of ethics or behavioral rules; and 3) a set of beliefs that includes supernatural beings or supernatural forces. (The supernatural beings do not have to be "gods" - lesser beings such as ghosts, genies, leprechauns, tooth fairies, and angels all qualify.) But if it doesn't include supernaturalism, it ain't a religion (at least to anthopologists).

Ed, a religion is just a cult with more members. (Or, put the other way around, a cult is a religion that just hasn't picked up steam yet.) As Merlyn points out (and he is correct on this point), some widely respected religions were started by total crackpots. In fact, anthropologists have observed that in many, many societies worldwide, religious prophets are indistinguishable from the mentally disturbed. food for thought...

Lynda, without disagreeing with the DE about the capris, I am wondering what was his threat? She was to uniform herself properly or else he would ...? just curious.

Another tenure overlap which IS permitted is the Scoutmaster Award of Merit (18 months) and the Scoutmaster Key (36 months).

While I appreciate the fact that BSA is religiously diverse and in fact takes pains to reach out to (some) minority faith groups, I nonetheless strongly suspect that our membership does NOT represent a random sample of the US population with respect to religion. Rather, our religious cross-section is skewed to the right for several reasons. (1) BSA membership policies actively exclude most of the religious "left" including those who self-identify themselves as Humanist, secular, athiest, agnostic, none. This is a large slice of the US population, as Merlyn will attest. (2) At the same time, some faiths on the "right" of the spectrum - notably LDS - actively promote BSA membership more than do others with the result that, nationwide, BSA religious membership is heavily weighted to the right. As I've said many times before, I think it's a shame that not all boys have the opportunity to be Scouts. Eight year olds should not be excluded from membership because of the religious beliefs of their parents (or because of their private lives, but that's another thread.)

... "... the most difficult question or criticism ..." (sigh) Where's Rooster when you need him? ...

For a quick survey of religious diversity, see Kudu's site: http://www.inquiry.net/ideals/faiths/index.htm

Pack, I disagree. I can not speak for Wicca, but UUs are fully accepted and supported by BSA at all levels (notwithstanding possible misunderstandings at the local level by scattered units here and there). As a member of the Religious Relationships Committee, I can assure you that BSA National is 100% welcoming of UUs (while perhaps a bit gunshy of the UUA). Case in point: Hal Yokum, longtime UU and member of the UUSO executive board, has just been awarded the Silver Buffalo by BSA National. And his religious affiliation was absolutely not an issue. The problem is that Scouting in general and BSA in particular unquestionably DO have roots in traditional European notions of reverence. Both have long since realized the value of religious diversity and welcome members from all faiths. However, the patrimony remains with the unfortunate consequence that some loose-cannon members insist that BSA is a Christian oranization or a Judeo-Christian organization (or a Islamic-Judeo-Christian organization). adc, yes, BSA has thousands of Muslim members and recognizes the Bismillah award for Cubs and Webelos and the In the Name of God award for Scouts and Venturers. Many (perhaps most) Muslim members are registered in multi-faith units, but in December 2006, Islamic organizations sponsored 98 units nationwide.

Pack, huh?? Are you suggesting that BSA excludes Wiccans and UUs? Surely not. This must be a syntax error. For the record, both Wiccans and UUs - and all other faiths - are welcome in BSA.

You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!