|
As some might not be familiar with the religious emblem program, we've taken the liberty of providing some important background on the emblem program,
before reviewing the controversy between the BSA and the UUA.
Religious Emblems
In 1941, BSA approved the wearing of the Ad Altare Dei religious emblem on the Boy Scout uniform. Ad Altare Dei was a religious emblem program developed by the Catholic Committee on Scouting to assist Catholic Scouts in the development of their faith. Since 1941, just about every major religious organization in the country has developed a religious emblem program for their youth in Scouting.
The religious emblem program has always been the responsibility of the religious organization. The BSA has always disavowed any involvement or supervision in the content of the programs, as the programs deal with theology,
for which BSA is not qualified to comment. The only control BSA has exerted in the emblem programs is on the design of the emblem itself. In fact, the restrictions on the design of the religious emblems is one that was only adopted in 1992. Prior to this, BSA had never exercised control over the design of an emblem, or for that matter, any other portion of the religious emblem programs.
Prior to the 1980's, the number of faiths that offered religious emblems were few. Most Protestant faiths used a generic Protestant program called God and County. It was not until the mid-late 1980's, as Scouting
increased in members, that other faiths decided to develop their own unique emblem program. Given the increasing religious diversity within our society, it would come as no surprise that there were Buddhists, Hindus, Moslems, Armenians,
Zoroastrians, Bah'ais, and many others involved in Scouting. Thus, these faiths decided to create their own program.
For the first time in BSA history, non-mainstream and non-traditional religious organizations were seeking
to provide a religious emblem to their youth. The first time this happened was in 1980, when The Salvation Army asked to have their religious emblem program recognized and included in BSA's literature. BSA refused because, in their
opinion, "the Salvation Army isn't a religion." Apparently, The Salvation Army was able to prove to the BSA that they were indeed a religious organization and their emblem programs are now promoted in BSA's literature.
The other problem BSA ran into were with the evangelical-based churches, like the AME and FME (African Methodist Evangelical and Free Methodist Evangelical) churches, "Free Will" churches, and churches based on
national ministers like Robert Schuller (The Crystal Cathedral), who were not associated with a national denomination. These churches and others wanted a religious emblem program, but did not want to use the generic and general Protestant God and County programs. To make matters worse for BSA (at least in their eyes), the Wiccans wanted recognition of the religious emblem program they developed called the Hart and Crescent (developed and promoted by the Covenant of the Goddess).
This was the last straw for both BSA and it's
Religious Relationship Committee (dominated by mainstream religions). Action was needed to head these non-traditional religions from gaining the recognition and acceptance that BSA would provide.
For the first time, BSA approved a policy pertaining to religious emblem programs requiring that there must be a minimum of 25 units chartered to the organization and that the organization must be national in scope. While the Wiccans called foul, as they had been meeting each obstacle BSA placed in their path, the AME and FME churches called BSA "racist" (the AME and FME churches are predominately black).
The new policy also stated that: "Any change in the standards and/or the design of a religious award must be submitted to the Religious Relationships Committee to ensure that the changes agree with the principles of the
BSA." As this policy was adopted in January 1993, it seems obvious that the intent of policy was to provide BSA a theological veto over religious programs, whose theology they did not agree with, like the UUA's Religion in Life.
 |
UUA Religion in Life Religious Emblem
 The UUA was the only BSA-related religious
organization which came forward to publicly defend Paul Trout and reprimand BSA for expelling him from Scouting in
1985. So it came as no surprise to any one when the UUA Board of Trustees passed a resolution expressing "its
disapproval of the Boy Scout of America's policy of discrimination against gay and atheist scouts and leaders." This resolution was passed in 1992, just after Tim Curran's trail and at the same time the Randall Twins were suing BSA to stay in Scouting.
Unfortunately for the UUA, included in the Resolution was the following statement: ". . . advise the Boy Scouts of America that the Unitarian Universalist Association has not been
and is not now a charter organization of the Boy Scouts of America, and ask that all written materials and Boy Scouts of America's records should be corrected immediately to remove any reference to
the Unitarian Universalist Association as a chartered organization." While technically correct, in that the UUA did not charter any units, its member congregations did hold unit charters from BSA. In BSA's
terminology, by virtue of UUA's member congregations chartering units, the UUA would be considered a National Partner. This resolution resulted in an exchange of letters between the UUA and the BSA in 1992 about the possibility of the UUA gaining a seat on the BSA Religious Relationships Committee.
Another statement in the same resolution went on to say that: ". . . the Religion and Life and Love and Help materials have been revised to include educational materials dealing with the conflict
between the values of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Boy Scouts of America; and that the awards be administered by local congregations. The Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender
Concerns shall provide additional educational materials about the Boy Scouts of America's objectionable policies on gay scouts and leaders and duty to God with the existing materials."
While the "charter issue" mentioned above was the focus of the trouble between the UUA and the BSA in 1992, the revision of the religious emblem programs to include the religious organization's
teachings on their objection to BSA's treatment of persons on the basis of faith and sexual orientation, would cause more serious problems in 1998.
|
After notifying BSA in 1992 of their intention of revising the Religion
in Life program to take into account the resolution adopted by their
organization, BSA, for some unknown reason, waited until 1998 before talking with the UUA about this situation.
In a May 7, 1998 letter to the UUA, the volunteer chair (Lawrence Ray Smith) of the BSA's Religious Relationships Committee stated
that: " It has come to our attention that the UUA apparently has been recommending a version of the Religion in Life manual which was never submitted to or approved by the Committee for use in
obtaining the Unitarian religious award in the Boy Scouting and Exploring programs."
Since the UUA notified BSA in 1992 of their intention to immediately revise the Religion in Life program, the delay of some
six years of addressing this issue with the UUA seems suspect. This is especially troubling as the National Catholic Committee on Scouting had revised/developed three religious emblem programs after the January 1993 policy was adopted. None of the three were ever presented to the BSA Religious Relationships Committee for approval
. In fact, if it was known that BSA required final theological review of programs developed by religious organizations, most religious organizations would be extremely upset at such a notion. The
differing treatment by BSA of the UUA programs and the Catholic programs is an appalling example of religious discrimination.
Smith concluded his letter by stating that the "The current version of Religion in Life does not adhere to Scouting policies and is
inappropriate for distribution to Scouting youth in connection with the administration of the Religion in Life religious award. Until such time as the UUA materials can be redrafted to a form acceptable to the
Committee, youth may not be awarded a Unitarian Universalist religious emblems in Scouting or wear the emblem on a Scout uniform. This includes the Love and Help emblem as well."
As can be seen by the correspondence on this issue, the permission from BSA to allow the Religion in Life religious emblem to
be worn on a Boy Scout uniform went from no to yes then to no again. The two areas of concern for the BSA was the UUA's different theological interpretation on God (and how a Scout is to do his duty
to God) and the UUA's theological position of homosexuality.
|
In May 1999 the BSA agreed to restore the religious emblems after the UUA agreed to change the language in the program
booklets, and the BSA also agreed that UUA could provide Scouts with an independent communication about the issues of homosexuality and religion. But in the following month (June 1999)
the agreement fell apart when BSA learned about two pamphlets that would accompany the program books: When Others or You Say God, written by Rev. John Buehrens, President of UUA, describes religious
pluralism in a language accessible to youth; and, In Support of All People, by Rev. Keith Kron, Director of UUA's Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Concerns, addresses the dignity of all
people regardless of sexual orientation.
In his report to a 1999 General Assembly workshop focusing on the controversy, Rev. Buehrens said, "I remain proud of how we've
continued to stick to our principles and engage with the Boy Scouts civilly and with respect on an issue about which we disagree so strongly. But we have not been treated civilly or honorably by the BSA."
 Rev. Buehrens grew up in Scouting and earned the rank of Life Scout. He has said
that he is thankful for the many life skills he and other boys learned from Scouting. "Structured programs for teenage boys are desperately needed in a society where pressures on young males are more severe
than is sometimes recognized, and where there is still a role for single-gender programs," said Rev. Buehrens. He noted that while a minister at All Souls Unitarian Church in New York he
founded a Boy Scout Troop to serve the children in a nearby welfare hotel.
One person who offered his assistance to facilitate a resolution between the BSA and the UUA was Michael Healy.
Healy, a delegate from UU Area Church of Sherburne, Mass., also served as the president of Area 1 (the New England area) of the BSA. Healy, who has been involved both in UUism and in adult
volunteering in the Boy Scouts, in discussions with both parties emphasized the many similarities between the two organizations. In his mediation, he realized that every major denomination has a
committee that serves as liaison with the BSA, except for the UUA, and Healy suggested that UUA consider forming such a committee.
Healy reported that a big stumbling block between the two
organizations is the BSA's lack of understanding of Unitarian Universalism and of the role of the UUA.
"They don't realize the UUA's long tradition of involvement in
social issues, so they don't understand the background of our concern with gay rights. They don't understand the loose affiliation of UU congregations, which leads to our multiplicity of views," Healy said.
He noted that while the BSA does not welcome gay scouts or scout leaders, he asserted that BSA doesn't tolerate gay-bashing at any time, and teaches leaders to deal with gay parents of Scouts sensitively.
|
Healy made the following specific recommendations at a 1999 General Assembly Workshop:
- Encourage ongoing dialog between the UUA and the BSA.;
- Press for UUA membership on the BSA's National Religious Relationships Committee;
- Form a UU committee to handle the relationship with the BSA as other denominations do; and
- Support the St. Paul, MN (Indian Head Council) resolution to revisit membership requirements. This council has proposed "that the executive board of the National Council, BSA establish
a representative commission to examine the relevance and appropriateness of the present membership requirements for traditional BSA programs and report its findings to the executive board in the year 2000.
UU youth (and Eagle Scout) Jimmy Sheldon, from Los Gatos, Calif., had drafted a Resolution of Immediate Witness to be brought up
at the 1999 General Assembly. The resolution, which was accepted by
the General Assembly, encouraged the UUA to work with local troops, councils, and the national organizations.
Rev. Buehrens said, "I have increasingly come to feel that it is
inappropriate for UUA to be drawn into an organization-to-organization dispute with the BSA." He said that he supports establishment of a committee to work with the Boy Scouts on these and other issues.
He added, "It is clear that policy within the Boy Scouts is turning
them into what they have never been before, a religious, creedal, organization." He said that UU involvement could help the BSA and allow it to open up to a multiplicity of views. "But it is necessary for
us to recognize that we cannot do this work alone. It must be done from the grass roots, by those who are most concerned."
Mike Healy and John Buehrens both recommend that UU Scouts continue to work for and earn the Religion in Life religious emblem,
whether the BSA currently endorses it or not, noting that many troops continue to allow boys to wear the award, and expressing hope that the dispute with BSA will eventually be resolved.
|
