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Boys' Life Bible Stories?


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A friend from the Sangha today handed me a copy of Boys' Life from November. It was his son's, a ten year old Webelos. My friend is an Eagle Scout and has been very active with Cubs. I very seldom see BL and then only to look at a specific item. In there was a page titled Bible Stories and featured a story about the Prophet Elijah. Had to do with a drought brought on by Elijah, with God's permission.

 

My questions are: first, what is this doing in there? Is Boys' Life a religious magazine? Second, does BL feature stories from the Quran? From writings of Buddah? From the Book of Mormon?

 

I know some of you will probably support those stories. They are non-Christian, per se, and could apply to Jewish, LDS or Christian Scouts, but why does BL see fit to put religious stuff in it?

 

I have been one of those who has supported the religious requirements and entanglements of the BSA, but I find this offensive. I also find it ill advised. With the kind of enemies the BSA faces, they don't need trouble in this quarter.

 

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I haven't been reading BL, that's for sure. I did read it back in the 60's, but Bible stories wouldn't have raised my antenna (or most people's) in those days. This is not then.

 

My question remains: what are they doing in there and does BL feature Quran stories or Book of Mormon stories?

 

I can pretty much guarantee BL has lost one subscriber on this one and am amazed it hasn't become controversial.(This message has been edited by Kahuna)

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Not arguing...I agree with you. But it's hard to believe that your friend is an Eagle scout and it's taken him this long to notice and object. The January issue has Part 1 of the story of Noah (of 5 parts).

 

I also wonder the same thing about the ads for "free" sheath knives, pre-made pinewood derby cars and "battle dress camo" clothing....all of which are discouraged by the BSA, but ironically advertised in their publication. Not to mention the video game featuring "blood and violence" courtesy of the US Army.

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I love Boys Life! A Scout in my Troop gives me his old ones to read.

 

What's the point here? Why shouldn't Boys Life have bible stories? These are real life events that really happened! Consider it a bit of history.

 

If you're offended by the bible stories, cancel your subscription. No one is forcing you to read this magazine.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

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Ed, "real life events that really happened"? You're kidding, right? :)

 

You know, I flip through BL when my boys get it, and I honestly don't remember seeing Bible stories in every issue. Doesn't matter. If BL is showing a preference to one religion over another, than I would think that it's violating the "non-sectarian" nature of Scouting. But, Scoutldr is right, BL, and "Scouting", for that matter, regularly carry ads for things that seem to be frowned upon by BSA. It's been pretty clear for years that the magazines have a Christian leaning to them in a subtle sort of way, but I just chalked that up to the obvious leanings of the powers that be at the national headquarters. (but, this gets into my theory about BSA just being used as a pawn by the religious right, and we probably don't want to go there again :)). I don't know that they purposely aim the magazine that way, or if it's just a matter of them publishing what they get that seems interesting and ads that bring in income. It could just be that they're not inundated with stories based on other religions ("Hi, Scouts, today we're going to talk about the Book of Mormon and polygamy. Oh, boy!" :))

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Scouts has a religious aspect to it. No surprise there, it always has and always will. If a troop is running their unit correctly, they should be having a "scouts own" on outings. I guess one way to look at it is a restaurant analogy. If I run a restaurant and 99% of my customers like mashed potatos while the other 2% likes beets, guess which one I'm going to serve most if not all the time? Boys Life presents Old Testament stories in an effort to apply to the broadest range of scouts and simply presents the story without preaching a particular message.

 

I can understand your concern about the Muslim and Bhuddist kids. They make up a very small minority in their community and in scouting and they are used to having to support their own beliefs and culture on their own and ignoring the parts of the community's culture they don't agree with. It isn't like the Boy's Life you are seeing is being shipped to India or Saudi Arabia.

 

All of that being said, many of the scouts I know never bother to read their Boys life magazine.

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I'm not a Christian but I think "bible stories" are an important part of our shared cultural heritage. I view these stories as literature. Everyone should know the story of Noah, of Daniel, of Job, just as they should know the stories of Odysseus, of Lear, of Tom Sawyer.

 

But Kahuna brings up an excellent point, why not add some spice to the mix by using Boy's Life as a venue to broaden our horizons? Why not some similar stories from the Islamic, Hindu or Buddhist traditions? BSA is certainly not trying to attempt religious instruction here, so there should be no objection to this excellent suggestion.

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Do you think there would be a controversy if BL published alternative religious philosophies outside of the mainstream? That's the test I would use for appropriateness. Since BSA is a non-denominational, multifaith organization, any article from any faith should be appropriate.

I however doubt that an article exploring the teachings of Wickens or Diests would be well accepted.

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Gern, I don't think these comic-book bible stories are "exploring the teachings" of Jews or Christians. They are simpling telling ancient stories.

 

You're right that less common faiths are viewed with wide misunderstanding, but Boy's Life is not the place to "teach" any faith. A panel on Coyote or on Brahma would be appropriate, as long as they don't preach.

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My point is that I perceive Christians (not all, but most in my experience) as not being open to exposing their children to alternate religious philosophies in a positive light. The comic book format is just one way to get the message across. If BL is focusing on old testament stories, they are playing to the Christian and Jewish audience. Some could even construe that they are attempting to legitimize or proselytize the Judeo/Christian philosophy, I'm not sure they intend to do this.

 

If you flipped the philosophy to say only stories about Mahumud and Islam were presented in BL, you would come away with the opinion that BL was a Mulsim oriented youth publication. I doubt Christians would stand idle for that, nor should they.

 

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Yes, you (and Kahuma) have a valid point about giving the perception of bias. I am certain that the Boy's Life editors do not mean to promote any religion over another (after all, that would be in clear violation of BSA policy). And, I am equally certain that they would eagerly accept similar content from other faith traditions, if such were offered. Maybe there are simply more Judeo-Christian cartoonists out there?

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Jesus rode into Jerusalem on an equus asinus. Let's can Pedro too! Someone, somewhere must surely be offended at the religious connotation of the use of such a noble steed (or the backhanded slap at Spanish-speaking peoples for using one of their common names as a moniker for an a**).

 

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