Is the Boy Scouts THE MOST IMMORAL bunch of clowns in the US?

Yeah it is. Under investigation by the FBI for padding its rolls with FAKE NAMES. (Stealing from donors)

there are many churches far ahead of them in that line - and don't forget the GOP

...the GOP, the KKK, and the God Hates Fags crew are all far more vile. I don't like the Boy Scouts, but they're not quite there yet.

I've known many people who have gotten a whole lot out of it; my best friend included. Of course, he was kicked out shortly after getting his Eagle Scout badge for calling the scoutmaster's son, ummm, names. Personally I just never played well with paramilitary type groups. Well, I never played well with groups of any kind.

It's best, like with Christains and Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, not to confuse individual scouts or individual troops with the BSA.

The Boy Scouts are about as paramilitary as the Amish.

I'm biased on this subject, the Scouts didn't sit well with me. :-)

I had a very good experience...wish it could have been the same for you.

By the way, I respect the way you voice disagreement with the Scouts without resorting to blanket condemnation or comparing them to the Third Reich or whatever it is that's in fashion these days. You're quite right; individual experiences vary, and we draw large conclusions from small experiences only at our peril.

As I re-read your comments, I thought, wow, I'll look for more of this guy's posts, he has reasonable things to say and a reasonable way of saying them.

Tilts slightly in favor of the scouts...

anywho - my troop definitely had a paramilitary vibe - not in the Public Enemy sense (dudes in Camo with AKs parading around), but it was staffed by a bunch of questionally-stable vietnam vets (not 10 years after the war ended) who liked to play up the martial side of things.

I definetly felt a paramilitary vibe, tho others' experiences may vary...

It was disgusting.

They were playing "war games" when I wanted to learn about camping, while some of my friends brothers and sisters and fathers were fighting and dying over in Vietnam.

Paramilitary. You bet.

I was on a "brotherhood" (the one above the "Order of the Arrow") retreat one summer when this nazi wanna-be started making us march back and forth and do all sorts of military junk - I chewed him out and told him he could kiss my ass and that I would NOT participate in his ridiculuous war rituals in front of the whole group. I DARED him to make me or do something about it. He never did. Got applause from my friends and most of the others except for the other nazi types.

Got my "brotherhood" and stayed a another year - then quit.

It got real disgusting real fast.

It was a real shame. I enjoyed it up till that point. Was in scouting before I could be a scout - my mom was a girl scout master with my sister and cousins, and I was their mascot - we went all over the country on trips that I would not otherwise have seen. My father was assistant scout master - so was I before I got disgusted with the direction of the Niagara Frontier council. I loved every minute up to the end - learned a lot, enjoyed all the camping trips and stuff.

Would carefully recommend it to anyone - but would recommend the parent participate also to make sure their "mission" stayed with camping and stuff, and not degenerate like our troups seemed to do.

Had some of my best memories and fun times as a boy scout.

Before they can really start up BushYouth in earnest.

But it sounds like a problem at the national level.

The troop my sons were involved in were very good, and in the conversations I had with the leader he strongly disaproved of many national directives, especially the gay hating.

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Amway, for example. The biggest scam in the history of commerce.

The Boy Scouts are certainly moving up the "evil" list, though. First, it was homophobia, now it's theft by fraud. What's next? A sex scandal?

Boy Scout leaders, Christians who are always recruiting, and guys that shave their heads...

...I know quite a few people, myself included, that shave/shear their heads. What's the problem with that?

By the way, I was also a boy scout and it was responsible for instilling a love of the outdoors, and subsequent respect for the Earth, in me that likely wouldn't have occurred otherwise.

The scouting experience varies from troop to troop and leader to leader.

Maybe, rather than condemning scouting, more progressives should get involved in it to help give proper direction to kids. A lot of the principles stressed in scouting are in dire need in the world. Is there something wrong with the opportunity to instill honesty, fairness, responsible citizenship, adherence to democratic ideals, cooperation, charity, concern for others, service to community and stewardship for the environment in modern youth?

It didn't work because he was already interested in girls.

I hate that

"IS" the Boy Scouts'??????


how about "ARE" the boy scouts the most blah blah blah
or, you can say..
is the 'Boy Scouts', as an organization, the most blah blah blah....

oh, the English language....

sorry about that rant
but sometimes, I just lose it

I learned how to be a life-guard in the scouts, boating, swimming
canoeing, hiking, getting out in nature, tying knots and meeting lots
of kids parents. Frankly the ability to hang out with other kids parents
on the campouts was a real benefit, as it was a secular environment to
have a surrogate parent... that really was beneficial in my life.

Of course i'm biased as an eagle scout and scout life guard, but geesh
so much depends on the troop, as much as so much depends on a religious
leader of any cult organization... and some are benign, some bad and
some healthy and good.

This tarring all with a single brush stinks of the methods of the bush
clan, but certainly not liberalism.

What would you rather have, a bunch of teenagers bored on the streets
doing drugs and getting involved in gangs? Kids wll do something in
their urban teenage years, and perhaps keeping it constructive is more
than simply "paramilitary" as you say.

Indeed there is that "hitler youth" concern, but that is so much based
on the individuals... as we are a society of individuals as time i
checked.

just like any organization...

I was over on FR earlier - some of them were actually blaming the ACLU - saying they planted all the names on the list. Freepers are dangerous delusional morons.

My two brothers both made Eagle Scout. As for me, I regret that I got interested in church before I made Eagle. I was a "Life" Scout. "A Life Scout is a Scout for Life."

At the overall organization side, there may be some bad apples, but don't paint the entire organization with that brush.

Bake

Hated the Boy Scouts. Spent three months feeling out of place and unsure of my own identity, but DAMN sure the Scouts weren't a part of it. Still, it's not like the BSA is as bad as Focus on the Family.


There are larger, more immoral evils, right?

Or was there one on plate tectonics or Skull & Bones that was even dumber?