Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Cub/Boy Scouts?

How critical is the duty to god requirement? We aren't a religious family and I certainly want to instill respect for all religions in my son but I'm worried without us being church goers he'll be excluded. We are in the PNW if that makes a difference.

It probably depends on the pack, but in ours there is a mix of religions (and non religious) and there is no problem at all. In the handbook there is some religious wording but it is mainly couched as "your religion" not specifically Christian. We are Jewish and do not attend temple, but our sponsor is a church. I also wanted to add that at I agree in that I feel strongly in the need to respect all religions (and the choice to be non-religious) and I would have a very hard time in a heavily dogmatic situation.

You can be spiritual without being religious. We aren't super religious but we do belong to a local church. Last night, my kids volunteered at a homeless shelter our church sponsored. They got permission from our scout leader to volunteer there as part of a scouting volunteer thing - they wore their scout uniforms to the shelter.
That is kind of your "duty to god." 1/3 or more of scouts are Mormon, so that may be where a lot of that comes from.
Your church/temple may sponsor helping at a food bank, or they have a work day at the church/temple where you pull weeds. That is helping your community ad doing your "duty to god."
There are a lot of ways non-religious people can still be involved in scouting.

This is what our experience was in Boy Scouts. We also found that there are *so* many BS troops in our community - each with an different "group personality". I would talk to the adult leaders of troops you're considering, be up front with your question, ask questions about all the other things you're curious about (camping, community service, whatever) and also let your ds attend meetings at a few different troops.

Best wishes,

polarbear

In our house, the largest part of the education of our kids is to teach them how to think for themselves. This includes making their own decisions about religion. My kid choose to be agnostic/atheistic in spite of close family members who aren't (meaning that no one has inculcated them one way or another). They looked at the question from different perspectives and made up their own minds. IMO, teaching kids to weigh evidence before making any decision --- including whether or not to join the Boy Scouts --- is an essential part of any education, and it plays to the strengths of the gifted mind.

The Boy Scouts and their policy are blatantly discriminatory. Their official policy is that my kids can't join and be honest about their beliefs. If they had joined and hidden their beliefs, they would have been subjected to a message telling them they they weren't worthy. My kids understand this fact.

I'm deeply disturbed by an organization that tells children that they can't be "the best kind of citizens" if they don't believe in a god. I've talked to my kids about this kind of idea and the message it sends. We used it as a basis for talking about discrimination, and how people couch their prejudices in terms that describe the disfavored group as the one that's doing wrong, and is therefore deserving of discrimination or of being excluded ("he's a second-rate citizen because [insert random trait]"). We also discussed (still discuss) how this kind of thinking can lead people to justify all manner of harmful acts, from the mundane to the extreme ("can you think of other groups who were or are classified as not being the right kind of citizens, and what happened to them?"). Understanding how prejudice can drive behavior helps my kids understand the world they live in.

Personally, my feeling is that the scouting brand of prejudice inculcation is far from "wholesome," though it is a banal sort of thing. But that is my opinion.

The national policy is viewed as a problem by many both within and outside of Scouting.

Local practice, however, is another thing. Many troops are extremely flexible in their interpretation of the national policy, or even ignore certain elements of it in order to make Scouting as welcoming an experience as they can.

I think of the term "Boy Scouts" as shorthand for a whole bevy of youth organizations with an outdoor activity orientation. If the Boy Scouts are not one's cup of tea (for whatever reason) there are a lot of other (more obscure) alternatives (google turns up many many results).

At the 30,000 foot level for a gifted kid, a group (like scouts) with a range of ages and a lot of flexibility in terms of activities could be very positive (provided there is good adult leadership at the local level).

If you are interested in getting your children involved in scouting, but disagree with their discriminatory and bigoted positions, you should check out the Baden-Powell Service Association. It's secular and coed.

http://bpsa-us.org/

Just following up on this thread to say we are giving cub scouts a try and DS8 loves it. It is a really small group and early on DS really clicked with one of the other boys.

I had a chance to talk to the boy's parent and he is 2e and PG! The boys love playing together and will be doing a week long day camp together this summer.