From: lippard@skyblu.ccit.arizona.edu (James J. Lippard)
Newsgroups: rec.scouting
Subject: Re: B.S.A. Belief in God Requirement (and UW)
Date: 16 Apr 92 04:04:00 GMT
 <21244@hacgate.UUCP><1992Apr15.172536.20553@m.cs.uiuc.edu> <GOEHRING.92Apr15190646@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Followup-To: rec.scouting
Distribution: usa,local
Organization: University of Arizona

In article <GOEHRING.92Apr15190646@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>, goehring@mentor.cc.purdue.edu writes...
>ckennedy@sleepy.helios.nd.edu (chris kennedy) writes:
> 
>>The Boy Scouts also tend to want their boys to (gasp) say the pledge
>>of allegiance.  The pledge of allegiance says (gaps), one nation
>>under GOD, indivisable, with liberty and justice for all.
> 
>Please note, however, that the words "under God" were added but
>recently (sometime in the 70s, as I recall).  Although I never
>personally say the Pledge, were I to I would be silent for those two
>words, or omit them altogether if I was saying it alone.

"Under God" was added by Congress in the 1950's (around '54, I think).

On the issue of just what the Scout Oath is all about, I just dug
out of my files a letter dated October 28, 1985 from E. Earl "Sonny"
Hayes, Scout Executive of the Theodore Roosevelt Council in Arizona.
He wrote this letter after Boy Scout Paul Trout of Virginia was
prevented from receiving his Life Award because of his atheism.
The letter reads, in part,

   [...] We have all suffered a great injustice by the incorrect,
   uncaring and inadequate reporting of the recent Reaffirmation
   of the "Duty to God" principle of the Boy Scouts of America.  If
   you read what I did, you would conclude that the Boy Scouts of
   America has changed the meaning of the Scout Oath and Law and
   no longer requires its members to subscribe to the "Duty to God"
   concept.  THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE.

   [...] On October 10, the National Executive Board of the Boy
   Scouts of America (volunteers just like you), at its regularly
   scheduled meeting in Irving, Texas, approved a Reaffirmation of
   the position of the Boy Scouts of America on "Duty to God."  Part
   of the resolution reads:  "While not intending to define what
   constitutes belief in God, the Boy Scouts of America is proud to
   reaffirm the Scout Oath and its declaration of Duty to God."

   [...] Members of the volunteer national committee on Religious
   Relationships have, through contact with Paul, his family, and
   local Scouters from his council, determined that Paul Trout does,
   indeed, subscribe to the Scout Oath and Law.  After this
   determination, Paul was presented his Life award.

   _Let me say here, this case received major news coverage even though
   it contains the same elements of concern for the individual which
   Scouting exercises each time it helps a young person grow in
   understanding of any of the principles, values, and skills of life.
   Let me ask you, fellow Scouter, do you "kick 'em out" when they
   fail, or do you work and help them grow?_

   The fact is, human concern for the individual is not as sensational
   as "Scouts Order Reinstatement of Teen Atheist."

   [Here the letter reprints the full text of the BSA National Board
   resolution, which includes a quotation from the first BSA _Handbook
   for Boys_ (Aug. 1911) which reads "...no boy can grow into the best
   kind of citizenship without recognizing his obligation to God." (p. 215)

   The letter then calls for Scouting families to "Say a prayer and ask
   God for His continued guidance on the Boy Scouts of America."]

>--
>As to Jesus of Nazareth.... I think the system of Morals and his religion, as
>he left them to us, the best the world has saw or is likely to see; but I
>apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of
>the dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity.  -- Ben Franklin

Jim Lippard              Lippard@CCIT.ARIZONA.EDU
Dept. of Philosophy      Lippard@ARIZVMS.BITNET
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721