Religious Emblem Question

[WDleader 10]

My 1st year scout has decided that he wants to earn the Boy Scout Religious Emblem , my question is, the Church that we attend, has no association with a scout unit. How can I get the criteria so that he can fullfil the requirements. We a Baptists, and I do know that thwere is a program for this. Thanks in advance.

 

Robert L. DeWitt

ASM Troop 12

Chickasaw District

Georgia Carolina Council

Augusta, Ga

I used to be a good Ole Bear SR-691

[ScoutNut 147]

First, & most importantly, it is NOT a BOY SCOUT religious emblem.

 

The religious emblem program is created, & administered by, the individual religious institutions. The purpose is so the youth (boys & girls) of each religious institution can grown in THEIR OWN faith.

 

The Boy Scouts of America simply recognizes the programs & allows the medals to be worn on the BSA uniform. The BSA religious knot is a recognition of the fact that the boy has earned the religious emblem OF THEIR FAITH & done their "duty to god".

 

The program for Baptist youth in grades 6-8, would be the God & Church - Baptist program. You should talk to your pastor about this program. If they do not have the workbook at your church, you can either purchase it at your local BSA Scout Shop or order it from Pray Publishing at the following website:

 

http://www.praypub.org/

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

WDLeader,

 

By and large, I will endorse what ScoutNut said.

 

PRAY changed the curriculum for God and Church in late 2003. The "denominational supplements" no longer exist. Instead, the program is designed with specific points where the Scout must go and talk with his Pastor.

 

Those points come

- in unit 3, where the youth must be able to recite the particular denominations statement of belief from memory.

- in unit 5, where the youth must learn about the structure of the worship service, to include how the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper fit into his/her denominations doctrine and practice.

- in unit 7, wher the youth learns how a parish governs itself and relates to the outside world.

 

You say your son is a first year Scout. If he is still in the fifth grade, God and Me is the age-appropriate curriculum.

 

The curriculum should be available in your local Scout shop, if not, PRAY will send it out direct to you. Then, it's a matter of visiting your Pastor.

 

You may want to check with your District Relationships Committee. In my District, because of the number of unchurched youth we have, we run the 4 courses of PRAY annually. It turns out to be a pretty good evangelism tool

 

His Peace be with you.

 

John

A Good Old Owl Too(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[fgoodwin 23]

Scoutnut is correct.

 

Any youth can earn the religious emblem of their faith, because the medals are awarded by the youth's religious institution, not by the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or Campfire, etc. So, a youth does not have to be a member of any youth clubs in order to earn the religious medal.

 

And in your son's case, yes, Baptists follow the "God & Church" program for 6-8th grades (God & Life for high-school aged youth).

 

Now, having said all that, it is also true that once your son earns the medal through the God & Church program, he qualifies for the BSA youth religious knot (silver on purple), which IS awarded by the Troop.

 

Once he qualifies for the award (i.e., after you pastor has signed the workbook), he can be awarded the knot ("immediate recognition") in a Troop meeting. There's no need to wait six weeks for the medal to arrive for the formal medal awarding ceremony at your church.

 

Your Scout Shop should stock the religious knots. Some Councils are more strict than others regarding how to document your son's qualifications. My Scout shop sells them upon request, no questions asked.

 

YMMV

[BSAChaplain 10]

Great information shared all around. Here is my two cents worth as a pastor who has done the classes and as a Troop Chaplain.

 

1. Be prepared to have a pastor who is clueless about the process. You will be doing all of the Scouts in your congregation a service by introducing him or her to the Awards. You may suggest that your pastor poll the youth to see if there are any others who would like to go through the program together. (It is more phun as a group)

 

2. When the final paperwork is finished, make two copies of the application that gets mailed back to PRAY (or the denominational headquarters). Keep one and have your advancement chair submit the other to council. Each council is a little different, but most councils track the awards earned, record it on the Scout's file and some even publish the Scouts names in their newsletter.

 

3. Get a Unit Chaplain who will help all of the boys with this process.

[John-in-KC 311]

I have one edit to my earlier post:

 

The age appropriate curriculum for a Fifth Grader is God and Family!!!

 

I apologize for not looking before I hit the send key.

 

John