let the eagle soar

By Todd Stadler · Friday, November 1, 2002 5:45pm

As an Eagle Scout and a Christian, I have to say that I think it's ridiculous that an Eagle Scout in Seattle is being forced to declare a belief in a supreme being or leave the Boy Scouts.

One has to wonder what the Boy Scouts think such a membership requirement will accomplish.

I mean, they could require adherence to a particular faith. This would seem to ensure that all Boy Scouts are that much more "morally straight", at least if you come from the perspective of that faith.

Of course, in this pluralistic age, such rigid definitions would not be popular, and would certainly decimate the population of the Boy Scouts, even if a particularly large faith like Catholicism were chosen.

But even more importantly, it's impossible to really determine adherence to a particular faith. You can check church attendance, but I know from experience that not everyone inside a church believes what's being preached.

And so the Boy Scouts find themselves merely asking people to declare a belief in something ? anything! "Mother Nature would be fine," says a Boy Scouts official.

But it's plain that watering down this requirement to such a level makes it absolutely pointless. If merely saying, "okay, fine, I believe in Mother Nature or whatever; now can I have the rank of Eagle Scout?" suffices, then why not simply get rid of the requirement completely? It obviously isn't changing the speaker's mind in any way, much less affecting his behavior.

The fact that the boy in the article was only given a week to make a choice that takes some people lifetimes only renders it even more laughable.

For most people I know (who are not religious), this only serves to point out how ridiculous some of the Boy Scouts' stances are. However, most of them would likely agree that overall it is a fine organization, and they might overlook such problems, should they or someone they know want to be a member.

Ironically, I and those who practice my particular take on Christianity agree that this tenet of the Boy Scouts is undesirable, but we disagree that it should be overlooked. It's hard to champion an organization that all but explicitly states "all religions are the same and of equal value" when one believes such a statement to be false.

For most people, I would expect this to be a minor point, but so it goes with me. And yes, I don't expect that most people who read Cock-a-hoop will know where I'm coming from on this one.