DanKroh

Sorry, Brent, but what Mr. Baldwin wrote is not a "study", it's a literature review. And, frankly, I find anything written by Mr. Baldwin highly suspect, given that he's the president for a conserative activist council. Without reviewing all the original source material listed in his "citations", I am unable to tell whether this material is from equally biases sources, or with his degree in communications (can't find any mention of an law degree, despite the fact that he is writing for a law review), he has (purposely) misinterpreted the studies. Somehow, I suspect the latter. But an arti

"The problem is that there is a significant portion of the homosexual community that is involved with such molestation. Not surprisingly, studies have borne this out (see, e.g., http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/674504/posts)." Then it would be nice if you referenced, you know, an actual *study* instead of a Freeper article that links to a WorldNetDaily article. Excuse me while I fall out of my chair laughing at your "sources". I only noticed this post because for some reason, I can't squelch multi-page threads to blank out comments from ignored users. Anyone else notice th

How about a merit badge called "Clothing Care"? 1. Demonstrate hand sewing techniques a. sew a button on an article of clothing b. sew a patch on an article of clothing 2. Demonstrate proper operation and care of an iron. a. iron a dress shirt properly b. iron dress pants, putting in a proper leg crease 3. Demonstrate proper operation and care of a sewing machine a. tell the proper use of different stitch types (straight, zig zag, stretch, etc.) b. use a sewing machine to construct a simple, useful cloth article from scratch (we used to make drawstring gy

1. I'm the Cubmaster, my son is currently a Bear. 2. All our dens meet 2-3 times per month, plus the pack meeting. 3. Pack meetings are once per month, plus we have one additional "pack activity" just about every month. 4. Last summer, we had a campout, a fishing derby, and a trip to the local AAA baseball team. We shoot for one pack activity every month for July and August (still meeting regularly for most of June), and usually we end up with two each month. Plus most of our boys go to Cub Scout summer camp for at least one week.

Trev, I'm not sure how Day of the Dead relates, but here's my (semi-)educated opinion. I think it is probably more related to the Catholic holiday than the Pagan one (although the debate on whether or not the Catholic one is based on the Pagan one is for another time), and then tweeked with the local beliefs and customs. The native Pagan religions of the Americas don't really have any shared traditions with the European Pagan religions, but the Native American (both North and South) peoples were very heavily influenced by the Catholics who conquered them. Beardad, my sons' schools ha

OGE, I think there is a difference between accepting that sex is happening between middle schoolers and accepting that it's "a good thing". However, I think if one is going to accept reality, then many parents also need to accept that they are not going to be able to stop their middle schooler from having sex (short of never letting them out of sight and/or installing a chastity device). And before we start criticizing the moral of the parents whose children are having sex, I know plenty of church-going folks who have become grandparents via their teenager. So given our acceptance of

"Dan, no one celebrates the Pagan Samhain anymore?" Yes, people celebrate Samhain. I will be doing so Wednesday night. But that's it, the religious holiday is *Samhain*, not Halloween. Halloween didn't "evolve" from Samhain. Halloween is a secular holiday created out of whole cloth, whose entire purpose was originally to mock the Pagans and their Samhain celebrations. Nothing about Samhain resembles ANYTHING having to do with Halloween, except the same date. Lots of people mistakenly call what the ancient Celts celebrated "Halloween", but it's not the same thing as what is celebrated toda

"Just because a relatively few people celebrate it as a religious holiday is no reason to support it through public funds" OGE, the difference is, NO ONE celebrates "Halloween" as a religious holiday. I'm not sure what the celebrations for "All Saint's Day" are for the Catholics, but I am willing to make a solid bet that they don't involve anything resembling "Halloween". Pagan celebrations of Samhain also have nothing to do with the observance of "Halloween". They happen to occur on the same day. That's it. Saying that Halloween celebrations are religious (at least, from a Pagan poi

"This mystified me as uch as Dan suggesting that non-Pagans celebrating Halloween is creating a mockery of a religious day." Well, Trev, I think the difference is that every single secular Halloween "tradition" was originally created with the express purpose of mocking the Pagan celebration of Samhain. Whereas most people who celebrate a secular Christmas feel they are honoring the "spirit" of the holiday, if not the Christian celebration. I agree that in modern times, the mockery has been mostly forgotten, and most people celebrate Halloween secularly, without any intention of mock

"Trying to tar all religious folks who object to homosexual activity on ethical grounds with the brush of gay-bashing is the worst sort of religiophobic hate-based prejudice." Sorry, but I'm so not doing that. I'm just trying to keep "gay-bashing" from being dismissed as something that is not happening, or that when it is happening, that religious beliefs aren't at the root of some of it. "There's not a single western religion that teaches it's OK to beat up or kill a man for his orientation." Again, not what I said. I specifically said "some religious folks", not "religions".

Just to clarify, OGE, since I can't seem to edit right now. I don't think it's ok for schools to celebrate Halloween. Just that is the rationale that is used. I would prefer if they didn't.

"OK, I admit I am deficient in my pagan knowledge. But wasnt the original use of the jack-o-lantern to scare away the spirits that may only roam the earth one night a year? And if so, that makes then a relgious icon, flagrantly displayed in school and governmental buildings." No, the jack-o-lantern has no place in Pagan Samhain celebrations. Samhain is about honoring one's ancestors and those that have passed over in the previous year. Why would we want to "scare them away"? Not to mention that pumpkins are native to North America. "And if its ok for Schools and Goverment units to ce

"Most folks who aren't religiophobic recognize that the way to change people's fundamental belief isn't to argue with 'em and call them wicked. It's to convert them. To present a whole system of thought and community and support so that they voluntarily change their fundamental belief. Da question is whether the religiophobes have such a thing, eh?" Except a lot of the folks arguing these days that religious prejudice against gays is wrong are themselves religious people (does that still make them religiophobes?). So yeah, I would think they have such a thing... it's called a whole b

Um...Druish? Sorry, just not a term I hear in connection with Samhain very often. (Not to mention it brings up that great line from Spaceballs.) Governments and public schools celebrate it because it's been secularized. There are no religious elements (at least, not Pagan) in how the holiday is celebrated by most everyone else. Same as (Saint) Valentine's Day, or Groundhog Day (the Pagan holiday Imbolc). But there has been a growing trend in recent years to ban Halloween celebrations from schools because it's "satanic". (cue scary music) I think a better question is, why do scho

41% of homosexuals in a recent study reported being the victim of a hate crime at some point in their life after age 16. That's more than "a few people" expressing their hatred. Even if we cut that statistic in half, it's still quite a bit of hatred out there. So to dismiss the idea of homophobia and hatred against gays as politically correct "buzzwords" is to deny the reality of their situation. And I'm sorry, but to say that judging homosexuals that you have never met as "immoral" isn't necessarily prejudice is just crap. At what point does prejudice codified by religious be

erickelley writes "To me, bringing those issues up that someone who is attracted to a particular gender may act on it and how do we mitigate that risk isnt irrational." And if that's what they were doing, that would be another thing entirely. By asking, for instance, "What is the chance of a homosexual man also being a pedophile/ephebophile? Would G2SS/Youth Protection precautions have to change if we had gay leaders?" That's a discussion starter. What onehouraweekmy did was a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" intimation of "the gays will molest our sons, they can't help themselves, are YOU

erickelly65, I agree that the term is overused; however, the comments that were made represent the textbook defnition of homophobia: irrational fear of homosexuality or homosexuals. The individuals who made the comments are trying to instill fear (of sexual abuse) using something that has no basis in reality (kind of the definition of "irrational"). I don't believe that promulgating such fear-mongering, irrational, inflammatory untruths advances the discussion either. By exposing these comments for what they are, I hope to keep the discussion from degenerating into further fear-mongering.

oh, joy. More homophobic intimations that homosexuals are pedophiles or ephebophiles. Sorry, but there's no evidence to support your concerns, onehouraweekmy and GoldWinger. In my book, that makes it fear-mongering, plain and simple. And the ignore user list just keeps growing....

Dang, Trev, why'd you have to go and point out that elephant sitting in the middle of the room? I'd love to see the hand-waving prestidigitation that went on that allowed that elephant in to begin with.

erickelly65 writes "So I assume then that to you there is no way to keep the "Duty to God" in the oath and Reverent in the scout law and not be an organization that is invidiously discriminatory." Actually, I think, and I bet Merlyn would agree, that you can maintain both elements and still allow atheists. Reverent is actually the easier of the two. There are many to be reverent without gods. One can revere nature, or the human spirit, or the fabulous complexity of the universe. Nope, no gods required there, although if you happen to think that gods are responsible for all that stuff

eolesen writes: "There are documented Wiccans who belong to BSA, which is about as far away as theist as you can get, but they don't have a recognized religious emblem program (Wicca has no national organization to stand behind the program). That doesn't prevent a follower of Wicca from joining BSA, however. Unitarians, equally about as far away from being theist as organized religions get, are also active in BSA. Their religious emblem program was revoked when they added language inconsistent with BSA's policy on homosexualtiy into their "Religion in Life" handbook, but Unitarians are st

Brent, if you consider having your comments compared to what Ann Coulter spews a compliment, you're welcome.

eolesen writes: "There are thousands of church congregations who meet in public schools. That doesn't mean that those schools are endorsing the religion, or that they are imposing it. There's no valid argument that can be made for denying law abiding taxpayers access to facilities built and maintained by their tax dollars. That's why so many units still meet in public schools, even though the school district no longer directly charters them. Likewise with units sponsored by fire department auxillaries, As long as other groups aren't denied access to those same facilities, there's nothing

I hope that all the scouts and scouters from Southern California who frequent this board are safe today. I've had the news on in the background today while working on paperwork, and the situation is so dire there. Please say a prayer for all those who have lost their homes, their lives, or a loved one. May those who have been evacuated be well cared for, and may they have a home to return to, or may restoration come quickly to those who will return to find they have lost everything.

Wow, Brent, I've never seen anyone channel Ann Coulter so expertly. Do you have a show in Vegas yet?