Real Wellness: Blog

Don Ardell's Wellness Perspectives on Sex, Religion & Politics

President Obama - Do Not Associate With The Boy Scouts! They Are NOT Nice!

It's true - I'm guilty.  I was once a member of the Boy Scouts.  But, I plead innocent of complicity with the evil scout agenda.  I only wanted a chance to hang with my little friends, to go camping, to get a nifty uniform and to learn how to do that salute thing.  I know, I should have looked into the scouts a bit deeper than I did, but hey, I was only ten or eleven.  But Obama is an adult and he is also an American hero, even before he takes office, and thus there is no way he should even think about doing what I did as a tot, that is, affiliating with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). 

While Mr. Obama is not about to take the scout oath or wear the uniform, go camping or otherwise actually become a Boy Scout, the nefarious scout organization has invited our new leader to become its honorary president.  He must decline, because the scouts are an openly discriminatory group.  I join with The Center for Inquiry and the Council for Secular Humanism, in collaboration with the American Humanist Association and seventeen other non-theistic organizations, in calling on Mr. Obama to decline.

Specifically, the BSA does not permit children to join if they are unwilling to profess or pretend to believe in a supernatural being.  The BSA will expel any scout, even if otherwise in good standing, if he should decide that he no longer believes in a grand wazoo or other deity acceptable to the BSA.  The BSA goes even farther, offering a general insult to all citizens who do not embrace a god belief, with this declaration:  No member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.  Really?  What's the evidence for that assertion?  Why is that so?  The BSA refuses to clarify its bigotry.  
 
That the Boy Scouts discriminate is not disputed, and that should be sufficient to reject their offer, said Ronald A. Lindsay, Center for Inquiry president and CEO.  But significantly, the Boy Scouts discriminate based on the unfounded suspicion and fear of tens of millions of normal, ethical American citizens, who through their exercise of freedom of conscience doubt the existence of God. The claim of the Boy Scouts that nonbelievers cannot be good citizens is starkly at odds with President-elect Obama's message of inclusion.

As president, Mr. Obama should avoid entangling the religiously-neutral U.S. government with this or any other private religious organization. As The Center for Free Inquiry's Tom Flynn noted,accepting the title and role of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America would thus send the message that institutional discrimination against people who don't happen to believe in a god is acceptable... the BSA is clearly out of touch with the spirit of pluralism, tolerance, and inclusiveness that compose today's American values. By contrast, in 1993 the Girl Scouts of the United States of America adopted more inclusive policies.

I do hope my president will decline the title and role of honorary president of the Boy Scouts of America, at least until such time as the organization reforms its bylaws and practices to be non-discriminatory.