Month: May 2013

Last night was the night I have been dreading for many days. I finally responded to the Scout vote last week and sent in my resignation to my local Pack.

Before I wrote my resignation email, I sat down with my son and explained why he and daddy needed to leave Scouting. I tried to explain the vote in simple terms without getting into specifics. I told him that the Scouts had adopted policies that were contrary to what Jesus taught us. He was not satisfied with such a vague reason so I tried a different tack.

Then I said that marriage was between one man and one woman. He agreed with this. Then I asked him about the principal at the school where mommy worked. I said he is a man and is married to another man. My son understood that this was wrong. I said the Scouts have changed their policy to permit such behavior and said that this is OK.

At this point he began crying. I asked him why? His response was that he could never be an Eagle Scout and that would make it much harder to be President when he grows up.( He wants to be President so he can undo all the bad stuff that Obama has done to our country.) I told him that instead we would have “daddy scouts”; I would have to take him camping and fishing and do more stuff with him. I told him that some people were trying to organize a Christian replacement for Scouting but I don’t know how far they will get by the time school starts up next fall. He was happier with this explanation. Then I sent him to bed and sat down and wrote my letter to the Pack leader.

I told the Pack leader that I was leaving but offered to allow time for a second signer to be added to the checking account. As Treasurer I support the two signature rule on expenditure of funds. Yes I know I’m showing more grace to the Scouts than they showed to me but I don’t directly blame the local Pack for the turmoil caused by the national organization. In my letter I stated that we would be at the meeting tonight to watch my son advance to the rank of Bear. He earned it. (This advancement was supposed to be last week before the vote but was changed at the last minute.) Following the meeting tonight, I will be done with Scouts.

Today I sent a letter to my son’s private Christian school to ask them to prevent Scouts from using their facilities unless the Pack breaks away from the BSA. This will be interesting to see how the school and its sponsoring church handle this situation. The Pack has been permitted to use the school facilities as long as some members are from the school—many children in the Pack attend local public schools.

Prior to tonight’s meeting, I will see if I can find some information to give to parents about the vote. The national organization kept the local scout council in a virtual news blackout leading up to the vote and no information was circulated to them or to any of the local Packs. The policy change was engineered in secret because it was the only way that advocates could get it passed. This vote also flipped scouts from a grassroots organization to a top-down one. Look for the BSA to consolidate this power in the coming months.

Sometimes I forget that the only institution that will go on forever is the Church. Other institutions ordained by God like marriage and the United States of America have expiration dates.

Yesterday, another human institution that I valued greatly died. The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) committed suicide and barely anyone noticed. The silence of conservative pundits and the media leading up to yesterday’s vote was deafening. The passing of the Scouts from traditional and dare I say “biblical values” to the toxin of tolerance and openness cannot be undone. Moral relativism claimed another victim.

Scouting is dead. The national leadership is celebrating the passing of the old values. The death of Scouting as measured by declining membership will not be seen for several months. The Pack that I am leaving as Den Leader and Treasurer does not renew its membership until January of next year.

With so many other youth options where homosexual lifestyles are not forced on me or my son, I think we will do fine without BSA. I think I will be doing daddy activities with my son to fill the vacuum. I’m calling what I plan to do “daddy scouts”. We will join other youth activities and do some family camping.

The really sad part of all this is that the people that killed Scouting have no interest in making Scouting a better organization. They really hate any organization that holds to the belief that homosexuality is wrong and that children should have an environment where they are safe from being exposed to it.

The corpse of Boy Scouts may be around for several more years but the goodness and life that once animated it are gone. Maybe a representative of BSA can do a walk-on during the next season of “The Walking Dead”. A bullet in the writhing corpse would be a quicker end than the one we will see as this plays out.

Today might be the last day that the Boy Scouts of America can claim to be morally straight. Tomorrow, the institution that once exemplified the America of Norman Rockwell is expected to commit suicide in the name of political correctness. Like many, I think only divine intervention can stop this madness; however, God may not withhold His judgment from yet another fallen institution in a nation that has turned its back on Him.