st0ut717

My 0.02

I am a vet that did multiple tours in the mid east and spent many months in gulf region nations. additionally i am coming from a non religious point of view.

This thread is using islam and muslims as if it is one religion. it is not. Sunni and Shia among many others this is a very important details. if you do not understand why then you need to do serious research. Like why isnt Saudi Arabia or turkey fighting ISIS. But Iran is.

For those of you who are Christians. i have read nothing in the new testament that allows you to have a call for violence against anyone.

I leave you with this one story from an acquaintance of mine from Bahrain. As he was showing me his Mosque. He was displaying the art and craftsman ship of the mosque which was very impressive. Then he told me of the rituals for worship.

"Here is where we men will pray and in this room is where the woman and children will pray. and your western whores will be allowed if they cover them selves." I had many other conversation with the avg. joe on the street. When I left the region my thoughts where and still are. Well at least they hate each other more then they hate us.

To the extent that Love Your Neighbor or Take Care of the World We Have Been Given might offend someone, I guess I am just not concerned enough to do anything about their "issues."

 

My Buddhist friends are not offended by deist themes in a service as, they tell me, being offended over such a thing is against their religion. (When we had a local blow-up over the Ten Commandments in a public place, the local spokesman for Buddhist congregations made a point of volunteering that they should not be invoked as a reason to take down the Ten. A local newspaper "journalist" then wrote an editorial saying that the Ten "obviously" was "offensive" to Jews and Muslims. 0___0 And no, "Amen" is not offensive to Muslims.)

 

The only trouble I have been aware of has resulted from Protestant ministers who just WILL present a Protestant service if allowed. I have had no such problems with Rabbis or Catholic priests,

 

Scouts planning a Scouts' Own would need to be counseled.

THAWK,

As a Taoist... I would not object to the ten commandments being displayed at a Governmental location. ie. City hall or a public park.

As an American I do. The constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." As an American i stand by the constitution. A town government that does this IMHO has violated the US constitution amendment 1. in that they respected the establishment of 1 religion over others. Unless they not only allowed but funded similar displays of other faiths.

LeCastor I gave it a shot.

I will refrain from quoting various Scriptures as I do not want to offend anyone via a missed quote or contextual issues.

To help other people at all times:

Islam: Praised for giving charity but only if done in private, for to help others for the sake of being praised for helping others is shameful.

Judaism: Teaches that not helping someone in need is not much different than actively harming that person.

Christianity:To not help others when in need is an offence.

Taoism: The fact that there was help is the difference not the person.

Buddhism: Doing good leads to Nirvana

Hinduism: Actions that benefit the 5 sections of society women, children, animals, saintly people and the elderly.

To keep myself physically Strong:

Islam: Follow the Quran and Allah will give you a health.

Judaism: To be physically Strong is a requirement for survival

Christianity: Keeping yourself physically fit is seen as good

Taoism: A still person does not dance. Never give a sword (In our case knife)to a person who cannot dance.

Buddhism: The body and mind must be balanced

Hinduism: The soul moves the body to attain pure consciousness

Mentally awake:

Islam: Advance your intellect, but control it

Judaism: The glory of god is intellect

Christianity: Nothing directly related to intellect that I found

Taoism: Having a Vacant mind gives you a full mind

Buddhism: The body and mind must be balanced

Hinduism: Intellect is simply a conduit for the soul to interact with the physical world

and Morally Straight:

Islam: 'Straight Path' Clear cut (but complex) set of duties and commands

Judaism: 'To point the way' A set laws to be applicable to all aspects of life

Christianity: A list of doing good or evil based on examples and traditions

Taoism: without evil there is no good

Buddhism: List of 5 overarching activities that one is prohibited from

Hinduism: Renounce the fruits of labor

Calico, for precisly these reason you state are why eagle scouts get a leg up. Becuase of the defined program.

A 15 year old eagle scout did several measurable activities, has a standardized set of base knowledge. has put in a specific set of dues in blood sweat and tears.

15 year old Black belts - Did they all do the same program do they all have the same knowledge? Even in the same form? No nothing is standardized.

Both are great programs but only one is measurable to a complete outsider.

~~

{snip}

There was kind of a second point to the rant.

The second point was regarding the frequent use of Indian texts, quotes, prayers, etc.. Now, I understand that Indian heritage and culture plays a fairly large role in the BSA. The OA is probably the biggest example. But I think some of them take it a little too far. Many of these services use Indian prayers and other things that reference their pagan tendencies, like, appealing to the "great spirit of the wind."

So saying a prayer to a Christian god is OK but anything not christian is a little too much?

And you are the one that should decide what religious faith are appropriate?

As far as paraphraseing Pslams. The bible is not orginally written in english. If you are going to be dogmatic in wording of the bible you need to read it in Aramaic, Greek, Hebrew or Latin. the languages spoken at the time. On top of that the current bible wasnt even created until 325AD.

Think about that That is like in 150 years from now rewiting the US constitution in whatever way you want and backdate it to 1774 and say this is what Washington, Franklin, Adams and the rest said to do.

Every year we did PWD i told myson before the event. that he was going to lose because the dad's build some of the cars. I would help him but that was it.

By the time he was in webelos PWD was more of a pain for him.

Amazingly he lost to cars that had looked like they had CAD/CAM work done on them. He knew the race was fixed from the beginning.

best thing about boy scouts no PWD

So say we all

I dont think any trophy should be awarded to a cub that Dad builds the car for him.

fred johnson' date=' I'm just getting back to your response to me of a couple of days ago. You are reading into my question things that are not there. In fact, I DO think the BSA has, and occasionally enforces, a "belief" requirement - but it is not quite the same as the official written BSA policy that click quoted earlier. It's just, "believe in a higher power." Maybe it's also, "And don't refuse to say the Scout Oath because it refers to God, and don't say you're an atheist." The exact boundaries, of course, are not crystal clear. There have been many discussions on here about Buddhism, a subject I know little about, but the attitude of the BSA seems to be that it is "spiritual enough." And what if the "higher power" someone believes in is the "worldwide brotherhood of humankind"? Or just "nature"? No prayers, no worship, no organizations, no buildings, no donations, no missions, no clergy, no religious awards, just a belief in one or the other of those things - is that enough? [/quote'] Buddhism there no God as a Christianity defines it. There is spiritual energy that flows though all things (Qi). And our place is to figure out where we fit into the Qi That's the elevator pitch.

If you disagree with the teachings or the values' date=' I can respect that. We are a pluralistic society. I just believe it's unrealistic to expect to be a member and leader and represent BSA to others while at the same time contacting congress to advocate for laws being changed ... and ESPECIALLY if you contact BSA corporate sponsors. [/quote'] Is that not working wishing the rules and laws as a citizen to change a rule or law you don't agree with?

Huh? I never said any such thing and your statement contradicts BSA statements and practices.

no your did not directly say that but the impression I get is that you would based on your comments.

Fred so a scout that isnt your churches religion isn't alowed to publicly express their religion?

H

That's actually what has caused the issue. When people stand up and say they are not in adherence with the policy' date=' they are asked to leave. And usually the whole reason people make a stink about it is for protest publicity. My church welcomes all, but if you want to protest their teachings publicly in their sanctuary, then you are asked to leave. Same for scouts, you can't be a scouter and protest what BSA teaches. [/quote'] Yes you disagree with what the BSA wants as long as you work within the rules of the bsa . This would include writing to congress and corporate sconces of the BSA.

Christineka. I found this pdf it is how to involve scout in scouting and does reference blindness. http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34059.pdf

Well said lecastor

Concur with the above The CC is way out of line.

Maybe his last merit badge he earned was collection and he was collecting merit badges!

One thing that should be asked to a person in scouting that is risking losing a scout to this dogma.

Are you an atheist in that you believe in nothing beyond the physical existence or are you atheist because you don't believe in any religion.

These are not always the same.

If the answer to the second part of the question is positive then there are no issues with that scout.

Desertrat yes the technology in itself int the problem its the choices the kids make thats the problem.

Just like a knife. If the scout does not not use the tool properly it should be removed from the scout.

How is using a gps or camera camp out sedentary. You confuse all technology with web browsing and playing video games. If you don't LEAD with technology the boy will use it in a inapproiate manner.

Sun Tzu Earth Constant: One must understand the terrain of the battle. In this case CyberSpace.

Baden-Powell invented scouting because the men coming to his regiment did not have the basic skills required to be effective in his regiment.

Boy scouting today is to prepare boy to lead in tomorrows world.

If a scout cant use a GPS because his leaders are technophobes what message are you sending? Incorporate them into your programs. Short Wave Radio. Have a scout uploading pics and video of the campout. this is part of a POR. Historian. GPS races.

And once again you are ranting about the demons of technology over the internet.

I dont know how I feel about this.

One the girl scouts dont have a CO so all funding for everything must be done via cookie sales.

How many of us have girl scout moms hawking cookies in our workplaces. this (online) is actually a astep above that (mommy doing it for me).

My daughter did do a girl scout fund raiser via the internet and she does know who ordered what and when. and allowed our out of state relatives a chance to help more easily.

I asked her how it felt to have her own web business. she looked at me and said "Dad I dont have my own business like they say its all just show."

BUT..... if she stays in GSUSA I am hoping that her love of nature will survive the marketing machine that is cookies.

For cub scouts.. the big events are Getting your whitteling chip and the pine wood derby .

Pine wood derby. you can talk about potential vs kinetic energy. ojbjects that are in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon. (friction)

Whittleing chip. show a few different knives of different metals and discuss why they are diffent and what the purposes are. basic first aid and grems in a cut.!

Milk carton catapult: Ballistics you can at least show them a ballistic formula or table and use different projectiles and discuss why they are different:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trajectory_of_a_projectile

Video game belt loop. Have the cubs build a camp site in MINECRAFT.

Tour a science museum.

Local university astronomy clubs see if you can camp on campus.

You have to be trying not to talk about STEM IMHO.

No company will do anything that is counter productive to thief profit margin. By stating the this anti-smoking message was brought to you by Joe Camel is ineffect an advert for rjreynolds via brand recognition.

I was a swimmer in high scool. Yeah I never heard I was gay for wearing speedos or shaving my legs 😒