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American Heritage Girls


skeptic

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Ah Rooster

 

You don't see any Buddist, Muslim, Hindu, or foreign born girls in it now do you, thats because they are not open to them or to any girl not born in the USA. That is just plain racist, that is why my friend pulled his daughter out PDQ. To have any BSA unit associating with them is a violation of our own DRP. There again we are aware of your own intolerant Pentacostal religious position Rooster. The AHG sponsoring organization is a biased, intolerant religious cult that has no place in modern society , neither does the AHG. If anyone doesn't know what they are talking about it is you Rooster.

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I am not a Pentacostal. But don't let that hinder your personal attacks.

 

It is true that AHG is a Christian organization. So it should not surprise you to see its membership limited to Christians. But that does not make them bigotted or hateful.

 

Do you go to a chess club to play checkers?

 

There's a time to celebrate differences. There's also a time to celebrate commonality - whether that be faith, hertiage, or something else that one believes in and/or has passion for.

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Ya BP,

 

I think we are in a Post-Modern society, so your Modernist black-and-white exclusion of certain narratives won't be tolerated. ;)

 

The BSA's declaration of religious principle gets them in a lot of doors. But that doesn't mean that we don't work with groups whose aims are more narrow.

 

I can see a fundamentalist CO sponsoring both AHG and BSA units and everyone walking in lock-step for a large part of the program. (Until they join a forum like this and someone throws stones.)

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I *so* wanted my daughters' time in Girl Scouts to be as memorable as what I had growing up. However, as a leader in both BSA and a volunteer in GSUSA, I saw two very different organizational structures.

 

My daughters sold thousands of boxes of cookies for GSUSA... and yet the benefits that came back to their troop were minimal. My son sold popcorn and saw lots of benefits back to his pack, and then later into his scout account in the troop.

 

Because I worked near the GSUSA local council office, I often picked up patches, etc. for the troop leaders. I saw this big shiny (*expensive*!) council office, and knew where that cookie money went. However, I rarely even *saw* anyone outside of the store, let alone interacted with them. A coworker of mine helped his daughter's troop... and was treated like a pariah when he'd go in, as if he didn't have a clue. (He was actually the "cookie mom" for a couple of years.)

 

Then I'd go to the BSA council office to pick up patches, etc. for the pack or troop. Our council office was cramped, a bit run down, but full of life. I knew the majority of our scout executives by name, and they always would say "hi" and ask how the unit was doing. And looking at that office, I knew that my FOS donations were going to help out scouts and camps, not pay for a cushy office for the executives.

 

Had we known about AHG years ago, and had it been partnered with BSA at the time, my daughters' would likely have been members. They wanted a program run more like BSA, and now that they are old enough, they have quit Girl Scouts and are part of the Venture Crew.

 

GSUSA's secular, feminist vigilante viewpoint is a turnoff to many families, which is the niche that AHG is set to take over. I'd honestly prefer if AHG took a similar view to BSA in that a belief in a higher power was the religious requirement, but I respect their right to base their membership on their values. That is, after all, as American as it gets. Those who would demand otherwise are as intolerant as the people they are casting stones at.

 

 

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Welcome CopperCarla! Freedom of association is indeed as American as it can get. It's funny that those here who are throwing stones at AHG for not being "tolerant" are so intolerant themselves. AHG fills a niche, just like BSA does with their own exclusivity. Why people want to open up an organization that they vehemently disagree with or why it's existence is any skin off their teeth is beyond me.

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I think we are seeing another example about how the quality of leadership impacts the quality of program, and how the biases of those adults also play out. We all know good troops, bad, troops, indifferent troops. And then there are the higher headquarters. We all have stories.

 

There's something about calling your organization "American Heritage" and then excluding part of that heritage that I find noxious. To me it smacks of jingoism and nativism.

 

And no, I don't know the particulars of the AHG program because the handbook and leader books can only be purchased by members and a large part of their website is password protected. There's just not a lot of transparency in the organization.

 

 

 

 

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There's no secret decoder ring for AHG members. If you attend a couple of their meetings, you'll discover that they are indeed very similar to the BSA. Many, if not most, of their leaders had boys in the BSA and wanted something similar for their daughters.

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SR540

 

Look I have no problem with AHG exsisiting for those few it is open to, however equating it to the BSA or GSUSA is plain ridiculous. Doing joint activities between them and a BSA unit I feel is wrong because of their elitist exclusive nature. Rooster & SR540 the BSA and GSUSA are open to all boys and girls to have a safe place to have fun and learn about others. AHG teaches that non Christians are evil and should not be associated with, and publish that in their literature.

 

If you want to associate with that kind of group be my guest, but then that makes you part of their intolerant and prejudiced mindset, guilty by association.

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Ya know if a Muslim or Jewish wanted to start up a group and limit it it would be OK so why not AHG? It's not like it is the only game in town. Like someone said --Freedom of Association. Power of the marketplace and all that.

 

Do we cover freedom of association in Citizen in the Nation?

 

First time I heard it I thought it had something to do with American Girl Dolls or American Heritage Magazine.

 

I don't like a few things abut GSUSA and a few things about AHG's. I have met a handful of each and seemed OK.

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BadenP,

 

Those FEW it is open to? A quick Google search told me there are 74M Catholics and 171M Protestants in the US that the AHG Statement of Faith would apply to. 245,000,000 isn't a few. I already associate with many of this ilk at troop meetings.....and they seem to be fairly open, tolerant and caring people.

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I'm sure the majority of AHG leaders and families you meet are perfectly nice people, just like in every other youth organization.

 

As long as AHG is very upfront that they are a Christian ministry first and the evangelization of the girls is thier first priority, I'm fine with them doing thier thing. They do have a community to serve.

 

I just don't like AHG as they present themselves on their website and would not support it. Restricting handbooks to members? That's a little odd to me, though I suppose someone will probably tell me that Boy Scout and Girl Scout books used to be restricted.

 

And I checked: they don't appear to have troops in Europe yet so no getting to know them that way.

 

(This message has been edited by Nike)

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