 Committee statement affirms covenant with PCUSA scouts By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, June 6, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A committee of the General Assembly Council approved a statement June 6 that "affirmed our covenant agreement with the National Association of Presbyterian Scouts (NAPS) at the November 2000 meeting." The statement was crafted in an effort to deflect criticism that emerged after The Layman Online published a story based on a letter by a staff member of the Congregational Ministries Division to the Presbyterian scout leaders. Gina Yeager's letter reported that the Congregational Ministries Division had denied the NAPS request for a $7,000 grant. It also said the division would not allow the use the logo of the Presbyterian Youth Connection on Scout uniforms at the National Jamboree. Yeager referred to the Presbyterian Youth Connection policy that prohibits discrimination because of sexual orientation. She took note of the Boy Scouts of America policy that prohibits homosexuals from serving as troop leaders. The June 6 statement was written by the Christian Education and Leadership Committee of the General Assembly's Congregational Ministries Division Committee. The full Congregational Ministries Division Committee voted 8-4 in favor of the statement. Ed Craxton, a member of the staff of the Congregational Ministries Division, said Yeager's letter was not intended to indicate that the denomination was taking steps to dissociate from the Boy Scouts. "That was not true," he said. "It was never intended that way." However, Craxton also said a number of members of the Congregational Ministries Division Committee raised questions about the denomination's relationship with the National Association of Presbyterian Scouts. "When we received a request above budget from NAPS, Gina Yeager felt it important to check with the NMD whether to proceed with that grant," Craxton said, adding that the council of the National Ministries Division deemed it inadvisable to award the grant. "Because of that decision, somehow the letter was sent to the independent Presbyterian Layman." The Layman Online, an Internet publication at www.layman.org, published a story about the letter and dozens of irate Presbyterians responded with e-mail letters. Before its vote, the Congregational Ministries Division Committee considered two amendments in an attempt to put an additional spin on the statement. Jeff Bridgeman, the new moderator of the General Assembly Council, suggested that the statement use the word "reaffirm" instead of "affirm" in reference to the covenant with the National Association of Boy Scouts. But Freda Gardner, former moderator of the denomination's General Assembly, said she was "not comfortable with using "reaffirm" – or with the Boy Scouts. "We will be in conversation [with the National Association of Boy Scouts] over things that are not settled and need to be discussed," she said. "Unless there are circumstances unforeseen, I don't want to suggest that the 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." Another proposed amendment would have inserted a clause to declare that future reviews of the denomination's covenant with the National Association of Presbyterian Scouts would be "consistent with the church's pro-youth and anti-discrimination policy." That amendment was vetoed by voice vote. The text of the statement approved by the Congregational Ministries Division Committee reads:
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