DigitalScout

"No pooping in the sandbox." That would be a great bumper sticker or t-shirt.

Non-Americans can take the Pledge of Allegiance just like a citizen; nothing excludes them in the pledge's language. We have non-citizens in our military who defend our country and I would expect them to pledge allegiance to our country.

The LDS got a ton of flack in California for backing Prop. 8 which banned same-sex marriage. LDS urged their members to give to a pro-Prop 8 and 45% of the money came from Utah. Many people were pretty pissed off at LDS for that. The backlash surprised LDS who has been reaching out to the gay community and make amends. LDS also has a reputation of not being very welcoming to African-Americans. Mormons are also very conservative. The Mormons I personally know are very decent folk.

The Outdoor Code As an American, I will do my best to - Be clean in my outdoor manners. Be careful with fire. Be considerate in the outdoors. Be conservation minded. Why does the Outdoor Code begin with "as an American ..." There is nothing specific in the code that one can only do as an American. I think that it is an inefficient use of language and should be removed. American citizenship is not a requirement for BSA membership so why include that phrase? There are a few scouts in our Troop who were born in India, New Zealand and the U.K. What the pr

With what I've seen from Trail Life USA, I can say that as a Catholic I would not want my sons to join. It seems like it is basically a Protestant organization. What's the history behind the tonsure?

I don't think anyone really cares what the TLUSA does; it's probably just fascination and something to debate for fun. Stosh - the liberties of one person often infringes on the liberties of another and that's where the conflict arises. I think people should be free to smoke. But I don't want to breathe their cancer-causing exhaust because that infringes on my rights. So who's liberty prevails? Conservatives talk big about freedom and liberty but they are right there getting into other peoples' business when two gay people want to marry or when someone needs marijuana for medical

Fighting racism is everyone's moral responsibility. Maybe you don't want to get involved or feel it's not your fight. But your silence is what racists count on to flourish. Racism is everyone's problem. If you don't speak up against it, then your silence condones it.

Follow me!

Nobody said that Trail Life is a racist group. They seem like a live-and-let live organization and want to do their own thing which is all well and good. I was merely pointing out that they have set up a qualification system to guarantee a very homogeneous group. An outsider may not feel very welcome. And I think that is the intention.

I don't mean to imply the TLUSA is some white supremacist group or anything like that. But they are creating a monochromatic environment which often breeds contempt for outsiders.

I find this humorous: on the Trail LIfe forum a Mormon asked that the Statement of Faith be modified because Mormons don't believe in the Trinity nor the divinity of Jesus. He was told in no uncertain terms "no", that he was welcome to participate but he couldn't be leader. It appears the sword of exclusion cuts both ways. Actually, I find it ironic, not humorous.

You're right! And he looks extremely glad to meet Mike Huckabee. I stand corrected - TLUSA is a model of diversity (wink, wink).

I just wanted to point out their hypocrisy of trying to come off like "everyone is welcome" because they aren't. It's a farce. The entire top-down leadership is white, evangelical/conservative Christian males. The purpose of their formation was so they can be with their own kind and I'm pretty sure that means no Jews, African-Americans, or immigrants. Here are some photos of their convention. It doesn't look like an "everyone is welcome" type of group. http://snapwidget.com/tags/?id=traillifeusa#.UjnadWTXg-h I'd have more respect for them if they just said that "Christian boys and their

After reading the TLUSA forums it is a conservative Christian scouting program open to everyone (wink, wink) but will only be charted through conservative Christian churches (those that still ban gay ministers and members). TLUSA leaders must believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity and be pure (permitted to have sex only if they are married and only with their biological-correct spouse of the opposite sex). They are essentially the boy version of American Heritage Girls and have even partnered up with AHG.

The entire reason Trail Life USA was created was because they are sick of liberalism, multicultralism, political correctness and alternative lifestyles "being shoved down their throats." Who is left after they alienate the Hispanics, African-Americans, Jews, Asians, Mormons, Hindus, Sikhs, and Catholics? Someone here attended the formation conference. How many non-white, non-Christians were in the room?

NeverAnEagle: That's a pretty strong reaction to having a Mormon in the pack. I'm surprised that the Pack parents would tolerate the CO behaving like that. But then again after what I heard from scouters during the gay issue debate, nothing surprises me.

Having been in Jewish and Christian services, the words "Lord" and "Amen" are commonly used by both religions. I'm not 100% sure about Muslim traditions but I believe they may use "Amen."

Trail Life USA is just playing a big joke on societal "political correctness." They say that anyone can join including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc. as long as they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And gay people can even join as long as nobody ever finds out that they are gay (i.e., stay in the closet). TL is actually being very clever. They would take a lot of heat and media backlash if they were blunt and said "Christians-only" and "no gays." So by saying "anyone can join" keeps the heat off.

It sounds like you need to build camaraderie in your pack. Here's what I did early on as CC. 1. I found a cub scout mom who was willing to watch 6-8 kids for about 90 minutes. She had a teen age son to help, a ping pong table and a trampoline, which made it easy to watch that number of kids. 2. I held the committee meeting at my house (no kids allowed), supplied a couple of bottles of wine, asked other parents to bring a cheese plate and brownies/cookies. Another parent brought a six-pack of craft beer. Meeting started at 7pm which gave working parents a chance to get home and ea

A good part of the success of the BSA is that historically any boy in America was able to join. But for the last several decades, as America has become more ethnically and culturally diverse and open, some very fundamentalist Christian groups have been trying to exclude more and more people from the BSA. Basically these groups want the BSA to be the same as it was in the 1950s. I don't see Trail Life USA becoming much more than another fringe scouting group. The BSA casts too large of a shadow.

My point is that the Supreme Court ruled against DOMA in part because they felt that children with gay parents would be stigmatized because their parents would be unable to get married. In that line of thinking, scouts would be stigmatized because their parents will be ineligible to be leaders. Considering that the overwhelming majority (~70%) of American adults are overwieght or obese, I don't think there is a stigma for the kids in that regard.

The BSA needs to do a better job communicating their value proposition to the American public. They need to explain why kids' time is better spent in scouting rather than playing sports, playing video games, watching TV, etc. I don't see the BSA doing any advertising on social media, online media, or traditional media. I would like to see the BSA counter the negative media news by touting all the positive aspects of scouting like outdoor adventure, state-of-the-art youth protection, and leadership training. The NatGeo show "Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout" is a great way to get kids in

I have found the the bsa-discrimination.org website to be fairly accurate. I would not call it a hate site. Its more like a watchdog site. Just spot checking, here's an article in the Topeka Capital Journal regarding the FBI investigation of the Greater Atlanta Council.. http://cjonline.com/stories/012605/pag_fbi.shtml

Packsaddle, just to clarify, I don't believe Illuminati conspiracy theories. Many people are perfectly willing to accept crazy explanations when things happen which they don't understand. People don't like not knowing. They will believe just about any explanation if it wraps it up in a nice tidy package. Mysterious lights in the sky ... must be aliens. Unidentified animal making strange sounds ... must be Bigfoot. 2000 years ago, if there was lightning in the sky ... it must be an angry Zeus. For some people, believing that two adult people of the same sex can love each other is cra

If the two books cited are the secret playbooks to the Great Homosexuality Conspiracy to increase the rights of gay people so they can lower the age of consent and "recruit" teenage boys, then they appear to be thinly read. "Towards Stonewall" has zero reviews on Amazon and "Gay Man's Worst Friend" has merely two reviews. The lack of critical reviews makes them suspect to say the least. And linking gay men to pedophilia is offensive and demeaning not to mention erroneous by a number of studies. Personally I am more amused by the conspiracy theory that the Illuminati is promoting homosexu