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I heard an interesting thought on a Christian radio talk show yesterday. The discussion was concerning BSAs moral stance and how the BSA should be commended for its stance and not battered (no argument here). The interesting thought came from a caller to the show. Maybe it has been presented in this forum before and I may have missed it. If it has I apologize. The callers point was; if funding is being withheld from the BSA for its moral stance, then maybe the BSA should be more selective from where it receives its funding. The BSA should refuse to receive funding from individuals, groups or even government agencys that do not have values in line with BSAs. I fully believe this source of funding would not be missed.

 

SM406

 

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And how do you propose that the BSA make up that funding if someone can't prove their moral "pureness"? Double the cost of uniforms? Close camps? $200 annual registration fees? Merge councils and lay off professionals? Get out your checkbook, because your FOS donation will need to have a coupla zeroes added.

 

Oh, and by the way...you need to find a new site for the National Jamboree...FT AP Hill is Federal property.

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And how do you propose that the BSA make up that funding if someone can't prove their moral "pureness"?

 

He didnt propose that all organizations and individual donors should have to prove anything. I think the idea was to reject the donations of those organizations and individuals that we know embrace values that contradict our own. For example, the BSA should probably reject donations from NAMBLA. On the other hand, I doubt that he is suggesting that some kind of background check be performed on the local American Legion.

 

Double the cost of uniforms? Close camps? $200 annual registration fees? Merge councils and lay off professionals? Get out your checkbook, because your FOS donation will need to have a coupla zeroes added.

 

I think you might be exaggerating just a wee bit.

 

Oh, and by the way...you need to find a new site for the National Jamboree...FT AP Hill is Federal property.

 

Does the United States Government embrace values that contradict the BSAs?

 

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Raise money by selling more Popcorn (snicker, snicker). The way to replace the money may not be apparent now, but good ol American ingenuity would find a way. Maybe the BSA has become comfortable and secure in its current sources of funding. Maybe if forced to evaluate the traditional, new imaginative sources would become available. We probably will not find out until forced to. This issue of where funding comes from and from what sources in concert with BSA values has been discussed in other threads. Mostly dealing at the Unit and CO level.

 

Concerning the Jamboree; the finding of a new location maybe forced on the BSA sooner than we would like. However is that such a bad thing? Having the Jamboree on the east coast has put additional expenses on those contingents from the west for years. Giving those contingents near the Jamboree site an economic advantage. The Jamboree moved around the country in the past, to do that again would not be such a bad thing in my view.

 

SM406

 

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Can't resist this Rooster...

 

Does the United States Government embrace values that contradict the BSAs?

 

Probably depends on who's President. The current one does, for sure.

 

The last one...? Well, that would be up for discussion...

 

I think the idea of the BSA being a bit more choosey about where their funding comes for is a fine idea. But, if I were a betting man, I'd bet that with funding being hard to come by at present, changing the way things are done would hurt if philanthropic interests who embrace the standards that the BSA doesn did not appear on the horizon with checkbook in hand. The unfortunate reality is that there aren't enough folks out there with either the deep pockets to write those checks, or the willingness in corporate America to face the BSA's opposition squarely and stand firm. The term 'boycott' comes to mind, and I'd bet few in corporate America want to take the chance.

 

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So which groups do you want to take off the donor list and what criteria are you using for removing them? What does an organization have to do or say to contradict BSA values?

 

Would this apply to chartered organizations which provide in-kind support or only cash contributions?

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The value that's being embraced by the federal government is - freedom - not atheism. The BSA embraces the same value when they chose not to associate with folks who chose to ignore God. So if you examine this carefully, you will discover that they in fact share the same value. The difference is, the federal governments charter is for all people within the domain of the United States, while the BSAs charter is simply for it members - people who chose to join and met the criteria for membership. Its all about freedom. You should study the Constitution one day. As a lawyer, you might find it to be fascinating.(This message has been edited by Rooster7)

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