Diversity is depleting scouting in Canada By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, September 1, 2004 Presbyterians need to look no further than Canada to see what can happen to scouting when "inclusiveness" becomes the order of the day and Scout units are required to accept self-acknowledged, practicing homosexuals as members and leaders. Scouting in Canada has become ultra-inclusive. Traditional Boy Scout troops have become coeducational. Homosexuals have been admitted as Scouts and leaders. Participation has dropped dramatically. Deficit spending has resulted. Scout camps have been closed and the land is being sold off at fire-sale prices. The entire scouting program in Canada is at peril. Hans Zeiger, 18, an Eagle Scout and a columnist for the Seattle Times, describes the Canadian situation in a column titled "The Death of Canadian Scouting." Zeiger details what has happened since 1998, when the Boy Scouts of Canada Board of Governors "decided to admit females, atheists, agnostics, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals into troops. Despite that established troops were not even allowed to remain all-male groups, Scouts Canada approved the establishment of the world's first all-homosexual troop in 1999. The troop marches in homosexual pride parades and loudly symbolizes what Scouts Canada calls its commitment to diversity." The Presbyterian Church (USA) – for the time being, anyway – recognizes the traditional views of the Boy Scouts of America and has a covenant relationship with the National Association of Presbyterian Scouters through its Congregational Ministries Division. But that relationship was strained in 2001, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Boy Scouts of America policy that says "homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the traditional values espoused in the Scout Oath and Law." That policy is reiterated in a resolution adopted by the national Boy Scout leaders in 2002. Gina Yeager, who is in charge of youth ministry in the Congregational Ministries Division, began to test the PCUSA-Boy Scout relationship when she decided to penalize the Presbyterian Boy Scouts for not being sufficiently inclusive. In her letter to Presbyterian scout leaders, she said a funding request had been denied because Boy Scouts are "in conflict with the basic theological foundations of the Presbyterian Youth Connection." Specifically, she said the scouts failed to reflect the church's inclusiveness policy. The Layman obtained a copy of her letter and broke the national story about the denomination's threat to dissociate from the Scouts. Hundreds of Presbyterians responded angrily to Yeager's threats. Eventually, the General Assembly Council, feeling the heat from the pews, continued its covenant agreement with the Scouts. But the covenant relationship is subject to annual reports and biennial reviews. And there remain many, including More Light Presbyterians, who want the denomination to either force Presbyterian scouting into greater diversity or end the covenant. "We will be in conversation [with the National Association of Boy Scouts] over things that are not settled and need to be discussed," Freda Gardner, a former General Assembly moderator, told the General Assembly Council in 2001. "Unless there are circumstances unforeseen, I don't want to suggest that the [council's Congregational Ministries] committee is totally comfortable with the action of the Boy Scouts of America. Fellow members of our church are being excluded from the leadership of the Boy Scouts and sometimes as members." Ironically, the Boy Scout policy on homosexual leadership essentially is the same as the Book of Order policy for officers in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Church officers are required to maintain fidelity in marriage and chastity in singleness. While the denomination does promote diversity – and welcoming practicing homosexuals into membership – there remain many Presbyterians who believe that stretches beyond acceptable limits. In public professions of faith, prospective members of Presbyterian congregations are required to profess their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior; renounce evil and affirm their reliance on God's grace; and declare their intention to participate actively and responsibly in the worship and mission of the church." Many evangelicals believe that a prospective member who is committed to a homosexual lifestyle cannot comply with any one of those three professions. Meanwhile, Zeiger's column on the conservative Renew America Web site is being widely circulated by boosters of traditional scouting as a warning sign that diversity can lead to ruin. "There are prices to be paid by the BSA for standing on traditional moral values, but none so severe as this eulogy of Scouts Canada," he said. "In America, United Way funding may be cut, cities and school districts may abandon the Scouts, courts may order the Scouts to leave public property. But so long as the Scout Oath and Law remain intact, the Boy Scouts of America can survive." Today, there are 6.2 million Boy Scouts in America. Canada has 130,000 in its scouting program, down from a high of 350,000.

Respond to this article

Home · Archives · The Layman · PLC Publications Presbyterian Lay Committee · Feedback · Links