DanKroh

We had our pack meeting Friday night, following the Down on the Farm theme. We visited the small farm of one of our den leaders. The boys learned about and got to pet goats, a miniature horse, ducks, and see a bee hive. Lots of hands on stuff (tasting goat cheese, and honey straight from the hive). The Wolves did a joke skit, and the Tigers led us in a rousing rendition of "Old MacDonald". Man, a pack meeting just doesn't get any better than that. Saturday was also our University of Scouting, and I taught CPR and First Aid to a group of about a dozen leaders and older scouts. Everyone pas

"I wouldn''''t allow him to become a leader nor would I allow him to attend meetings or outtings" Keep in mind that this is Cub Scouts. If a parent can''t come on an outing, that generally means that the Cub doesn''t get to go. I''m assuming that the boy is not a Tiger, and that the father isn''t trying to get registered as his adult partner, so he isn''t required to be at every meeting (although some packs, like ours, still encourage parents to attend meetings). I would imagine he certainly couldn''t pass muster to become registered as a leader, but as just a Cub Scout parent, I thi

oh, how I miss those dulcet tones. None of it seems to work as well when Dad says it....

There is also a thread already going about this in the Cub Scout Subforum.

There is also a notice about it on the Scout Stuff website: http://scoutstuff.org/bsasupply/info.aspx?page=cskit

Ed, I''m glad to hear that you would be ok with a public prayer to Thor. So what would *you* do during that prayer if it was said at a public event you were attending? I''m still a little unclear, though, on what prayers would and would not be ok in a public school. Ed, could you share your vision of how you would see public prayer implemented if the SCOTUS ruled tomorrow that public prayer in public schools was now ok? Just leaving out the atheists for a moment (sorry, Merlyn), how would you accommodate the diversity of religions (and subsequently, the diversity of gods to be prayed

Hey Ed, If the person making the public prayer before the school football game happens to be an Asatru and starts it with "Oh great and all-powerful Thor..." would you still support their right to public prayer? anyone else get deja vu of Pong when reading the last page or so of this thread? Or Steve Martin from Roxanne.... hypnotic, isn''t it?

Hey Lisabob, In case anyone hasn''t told you this lately, you are a totally class act. Nicely said.

one thing that''s not usually on the packing list that I found invaluable.... a coffee mug Have fun! "a good ole owl"

"Except, the adults did have cell phones - and they didn''t work because the weren''t in range of a cell phone tower - and that''s as it should be in the woods." The other thing I''ve noticed lately is a tendancy of some folks to think that cell phone possession is an adequate substitute for knowing basic life saving procedures and first aid and having a first aid kit available (not in Scouts per se, but more in the general public). This is a good example of why relying on your cell phone alone in an emergency situation is always a bad idea.

"Color me naive, but the idea that "lawsuits are used to to establish that (the law)" means that judges write the laws" Actually, I believe the antecendent that "that" was refering to was "following the law", not "making the law". At least, that''s the way I interpreted Merlyn''s statement, that lawsuits are used to enforce laws, not make them.

"The ''great'' flood of the bible is a myth, same as many of the other stories (miracles, mostly). But ''terrible'' floods happen with surprising frequency." Yes, well, *you* think that, and *I* think that, be there are quite a number of biblical literalists (on this forum even) who would disagree with that. If you want some fascinating reading, check out the fairly recent research of the Burkle crater in the Indian Ocean and theories on it''s role in the development of the "Great Flood Myth", which is present in just about every culture globally.

well, the banner ad at the top of this page is right now for an online Pagan store. I guess my work here is done.... snap, Trev. I must have been typing while you posted.

"If it''''s a manufactured fairy tale, unrooted in any facts, then it''''s "reality" is PRECISELY what I can, and do, deny. Such a ''''foundation'''' is just exactly -- by definition! -- nothing more than fiction." Except that what Trev and Merlyn are trying to say, if I may interpret for them, is that one religion''s fairy tale IS another religion''s facts. The "foundation" of ANY religion cannot be proven or disproven by objective means (at least, in the absence of a time machine). All we have are the "stories" of our respective holy books that tell us what our own particular "facts" ar

"What I did say was that I couldn''t see any fundamental difference between a child''s, or teen''s imaginary play-reality, and a knowledge-free religion, like the version of Wiccan DanKroh described." Just to clarify, Wicca (that''s the name of the religion, btw, a Wiccan is one who follows it) is NOT an agnostic religion. The vast majority of Wiccans that I know (myself included) claim a personal gnosis of their gods, and feel that they were "called" by the gods, and are not just doing it "because it feels good". I was, however, positing that it *could be possible* for someone of ANY rel

eisely, pansexual is a term that acknowledges that some consider gender a "spectrum" rather than a binary system. While bisexual means that one is attracted to *both* genders, pansexual indicates that one is attracted to *all* genders. Edited to add: Another definition of pansexual is used to indicate that one is attracted to someone else without regard for their gender.(This message has been edited by DanKroh)

"Just to be accurate, if you are a male wearing a kilt, you had better not be wearin'''' panties nor any other hint of an undergarment if you know whats good for you (and you want to be historically accurate)" Funny you should mention that, OGE. I just came back from a weekend camping with medieval recreationists. You can tell the gents wearing their kilts in a historically accurate fashion because they are the ones walking rather gingerly by Sunday due to the chafing. Me, I spent the weekend in knee length tunics and tights.

So, GaHillBilly, by extension then, any person who professes belief in any religion while claiming to also be agnostic is also quite irrational? Interesting. I can''t say I agree, but thank you for the clarification.

GaHillBilly, You''ve presented an interesting thesis. However, I do think that it fails to take into account the true variability of both agnosticism and Wicca (or general Paganism), which you do mention, but don''t fully expound upon. First, I take it that you primarily have experience with "new-age, touchy-feely" Wiccans/Pagans. We are not all such. In fact, among my more hard-core co-religionists, such IRAB (I Read A Book) or "fluffy" Pagans are treated with much derision. Also, she may not be truly a "Wiccan", but some other flavor of Pagan. Many Pagans realize that Wicca is

Hunt asks: "I''''m curious about whether it''''s thought that the brain of a transgendered person is somehow physically or chemically different, or it the sense of being the "wrong" sex psychological? If there''''s a physical difference in the brain, then it''''s really not so different from the "intersexed" baby who has physical characteristics of both sexes. If it''''s psychological, then the issue gives me more pause." Although there have not been many studies done, those that have do show a difference in some section of the brains of transgendered people that resemble more closely tha

"We''''ve both gotten chuckles about the intrinsic irrationality of being "a Wiccan and an agnostic", as his first college literature teacher described herself." I''m curious as to why you believe that being "a Wiccan and an agnostic" is intrisically irrational....

I was unavailable for a while, so I''m going to hit several issues in one reply, if you will bear with me. acco40 writes: "What is the legal definition of male or female? Does it just involve reproductive organs? Does it just involve chromosome patterns? From my definition, the vast majority of "transgender" surgeries occurs within days of birth and parents have to make a determination of what sex they want their newborn to take. This makes me squirm, but it is much easier to "lop off" than to "add on" so to speak." Acco, like John, I believe what you are referencing are actually "in

eisely writes: "Coming to the question if a known transgendered person wanted to volunteer, I do not see any harm in that. One of the operative words here is "known" since I doubt that any volunteer presenting themselves as either a male or a female would say, "Oh by the way, last year I was something different." I don''''t know how this would be picked up as a discrepancy or anomaly (sp?) in a criminal background check. Since these are done at BSA national, I have no idea how they would deal with something like that." Thank you for your thoughts. It is very difficult for TG''s, espe

John, I''ll try here: "Are we talking about children who are geneticallymales, and have female functions? Equally, are we talking about geneticallyfemales, and have male functions? Both of those to me sound like birth defects. How and when you deal with the corrective surgery is a big ??? to me." Depends on what you mean by "functions". A transgendered person may have, for example, a normally functioning male body (a genetic male), but a brain that developed to believe that person is female. This is a male-to-female transgender, and if her gender disphoria is strong enough, she may d

"Setting aside for a moment the issue of the transgendered, what I (as an uneducated layman) take away from the Reimer case is that boys are boys and girls are girls -- those who think males and females are essentially the same and attribute any differences between "girlness" and "boyness" as the result of upbringing, culture and socialization need to consider the Reimer case. He too was in the "wrong" body, and no amount of socialization to the contrary could turn him into something he wasn''''t. Again, to a mere uneducated layman, that tells me gender, like sex, is biological, not socia