Are the Boy Scouts ground zero in the culture wars?

The Associated Press

These boys might not know it, but they're on the front line of the culture wars.

Featured Topic | Posted 28 weeks 3 days ago

Are the Boy Scouts ground zero in the culture wars?

Rick Perry is an Eagle Scout who happens to be the governor of Texas. And he doesn't like the attacks on the Boy Scouts' core beliefs from the American Civil Liberties Union and others. He's written a new book, "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For."

Shouldn't the Boy Scouts have a First Amendment right to say who's in and who's out? Or should the Scouts get with the times and open membership to boys and men who might be gay and might not believe in God?

"The ACLU and its allies seemed determined to force the Boy Scouts to bend to their version of what is right and wrong," Perry writes. If intimidation and the threat of lawsuits succeed, he says, "the culture war will be lost before we know it. If that happens, we will find ourselves living in a world where moral relativism reigns and individualism runs amok."

Ben likes: Punishing the Boy Scouts

Nat Hentoff/Jewish World Review

The majority of the Supreme Court said it was aware that "homosexuality has gained societal acceptance," but went on to say that "This is scarcely an argument for denying First Amendment protection to those who refuse to accept those views."

"We are not," the Court continued, "as we must not be, guided by our views as to whether the Boy Scouts' teachings with respect to homosexual conduct are right or wrong." The state "cannot compel the organization to accept members where such acceptance would derogate from the organization's expressive message."

I would hope that some teachers of social studies -- or American history -- in our schools will dare to explain why the Supreme Court acted as it did.

Joel likes: Scouting's merits

Jay Fernandez/Los Angeles Times

Years ago, the last time this gays-in-Scouting dust-up made it onto my radar, my brothers and I -- all three of us are Eagle Scouts -- fretted over the right expression of dissent. We considered sending back our Eagle badges, as others did, in protest. That we ultimately didn't says less about the extent of our outrage than our pride in achieving something fewer than 1% of Scouts manage. I worked hard for that -- suffered, even -- and, ashamedly in retrospect, I wasn't willing to give it up in the name of principle.

For me, the edification of Scouting came in the form of lifelong calls for strong community, an awareness of one's effect on the natural world, self-reliance and leadership skills. (Camping, however, remains just above waterboarding on my list of favorite activities.) To claim that these qualities are somehow reserved for heterosexuals, either as teachers or students, is to miss the point entirely.

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What ever happenend to tolerance?

Submitted on March 1st, 2008 by Take-a_chill_pill

Live and let live? Why are activists so darn determined to dismantle the Boy Scouts? Thousands, if not millions, of inner-city youth benefit from Scout-based after school programs and other activities that address the void created when some boys are left to grow grow up fatherless.
Don't these kids count? What are the activists willing to do to help these youngsters if they succeed in bringing down one of the most effective mentoring, anti-poverty programs in history?
Or is the fight more important than the collaterial damage?
Grow up and act your age!

The only way to fight this

Submitted on February 21st, 2008 by KansasGirl

Here's how the "culture war" should go: If the parents of this nation's next generation of campers have any sense, they'll find an after-school activity for their children that isn't discriminatory. Sure, the Boy Scouts can be as bigoted as they want. It's a free country, but that doesn't make it right. My hope is, their own attitudes will be death of their organization.