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| From the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Official Statement titled Church Re-evaluating Scouting Program. I like this one because my Grandson and I are in it with Troop 110. |
For years,
the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has been under extreme pressure, from outside
and inside the organization, to accept openly gay individuals into leadership
positions throughout the BSA. On July 27th,
2015, under the new leadership of Robert Gates, for what general membership
understand was an effort to protect and sustain the BSA, the move was made by
the National Executive Board to create a new policy to allow Charter Organizations
(groups that sponsor Scouting units) to create and maintain their own policy
regarding leadership qualifications. In
doing so, the BSA removed itself from the position of standing forefront in the
battle over gay issues and placed the burden squarely on the shoulders of each
Charter Organization.
The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, its oldest and largest Charter Member,
reacted quickly to the news. Stating
that the BSA went forward on the issue in spite of their request to postpone
one month when church leaders would be back in session, that sexual-orientation
was never an issue for membership for boys, but that openly gay leadership was,
resulted in their release comment stating “the
century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined.”
Speculation
everywhere was rampant.
On the 26th
of August, 2015, the LDS Church released the following Press Release:
SALT LAKE CITY —
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints issued the following statement Wednesday from the Council of the
First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles regarding the Church’s
relationship with the Boy Scouts of America:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints appreciates the positive contributions Scouting has made over the years
to thousands of its young men and boys and to thousands of other youth. As
leaders of the Church, we want the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) to succeed in
its historic mission to instill leadership skills and high moral standards in
youth of all faiths and circumstances, thereby equipping them for greater
success in life and valuable service to their country.
In the resolution adopted on July 27, 2015,
and in subsequent verbal assurances to us, BSA has reiterated that it expects
those who sponsor Scouting units (such as the Church) to appoint Scout leaders
according to their religious and moral values “in word and deed and who will
best inculcate the organization’s values through the Scouting program.” At this
time, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will go forward as a
chartering organization of BSA, and as in the past, will appoint Scout leaders
and volunteers who uphold and exemplify Church doctrine, values, and standards.
With equal concern for the substantial number
of youth who live outside the United States and Canada, the Church will
continue to evaluate and refine program options that better meet its global
needs.
When this
happened, my email and phone blew up.
For several days my family and friends in and out of Scouting and Church
wanted to know my opinion of the event and share their own. My biggest surprise from this experience was
people’s reaction. I found that Scouters
not affiliated with the church were very relieved, smiling big and very happy
at the news. They had been genuinely
concerned and holding their collective breath waiting for the decision. With members of the church, I was surprised
to find out…how surprised I was! While
there were a small number that felt confident that the church would remain in
Scouting, I was not prepared for how many were willing to run away so quickly
and easily from it. In general, people
seemed fixated on the political issues and what they perceived as the moral
issue of the situation. Surely God could
create a better program for youth than Scouting, was the tenor.
This has
caused me great reflection. And so, I
present here one man’s thoughts and feelings on the subject of why the church
stayed in the hopes that readers may be inspired to ponder these things for
themselves and find themselves closer to God.
Why did the
church stay?
Because the
Prophet knows.
Sunday
School answer? Sure. But if you have quickly cast that aside,
desiring detailed data and statistics, wait.
Don’t dismiss that easily. Unsatisfying
as it may sound right now, you know it is true.
And while I will share my opinion on what I believe he knows and while
the members of the church and the world at large will debate and draw
conjecture for some time, in the end, it is the only answer that matters. Perhaps I should have stated it like this:
The Prophet has a testimony of Scouting.
What does that mean? I think it means at least these three things:
1.
The
Prophet knows Scouting is inspired and helps anyone that applies its principals
find God. Don’t get the BSA mixed up
with the program of Scouting. One
hundred years of primary data has proved that Scouting brings people to find
God where the church has been unsuccessful.
Scouting has an undeniable saving power.
I have seen, time and time again, full grown men, with tears running
down their face, tell stories of how Scouting saved their lives and brought
them to God. Having found Him, they have
been much more open to embracing the full Gospel of Jesus Christ. God inspired Baden-Powell in developing
Scouting outside the Church for this very purpose. In the times to come, the BSA may fall. They may secede their moral high ground and
do any number of things that will cause the Church to separate this long
standing relationship, but what is true can never change and the program of
Scouting will always have the power to bring young men to find and remain true
to God.
I understand to some readers this may be a challenge to
believe. Please, read on. Bare with me for a minute.
2.
The
Prophet knows the Church needs Scouting.
The Church and the Saints need Scouting in so many ways it is impossible
to list them all here. And I’ll be the
first to say that I wouldn’t dare suppose that I know them all. What I do know is that because Scouting is
inspired and because it was brought to the Church the way it was, turning away
from it would be tantamount to deciding to remove from the Church tithing,
fasting, prayer or any other thing that provides us the opportunity to draw
nearer to God. President Ezra Taft
Benson said that the day of trial was over for Scouting. If it didn’t make better Saints, we wouldn’t
do it, but it does, so we embrace it.
Like the Church itself, Scouting
brings relationships to the Church, to its leadership, and to individual Saints
that we would never have otherwise. Like
the Church, Scouting brings like-minded individuals together from all walks of
life. And like the Church, we may have
different ideas, opinions, and methods, but we have common ideology, goals, and
ground to learn to work and love each other for the good of all.
By sponsoring Scout units the church magnifies its mission
to perfect the Saints and bring people to Christ. As Brother Eugene England might say, the very
conflict the gay issue brings to Scouting is its value to the Saints (see: http://www.eugeneengland.org/why-the-church-is-as-true-as-the-gospel). Through struggle and conflict we learn to be
more Christ-like than in any other way.
And isn’t that why we are here?
3.
The
Prophet knows that Scouting makes young men perfect vessels for the priesthood.
As a people, we are constantly asking the big question: how do we get more young men in the mission field? We do this because the Church knows that
statistically serving a mission is a key factor for life-long success. So is becoming an Eagle Scout. Statistically, greater than 95% of young men
that become Eagle Scouts and go on a mission, will return, marry in the temple
and lead successful LDS lives. We have
seen this as parents. So we spend a
great deal of time talking and planning and working to help youth the best we
can to attain these two goals of Eagle and Mission.
However, because we have
focused on these facts we have created an unfortunate tradition in the church
and done a huge disservice to our youth.
We have misunderstood the lesson in these statistics and raised young
men who are boys, made Eagle Scouts that cannot repeat the Scout Oath and sent
Elders on missions that are not missionaries.
We have done, and continue to do, our best instead of HIS best. Our pride has caused us to fail to recognize
that Scouting is the Lord’s secret weapon in the battle against the adversary,
especially during the critical teen years.
Because many leaders do
not exercise their faith in getting trained and do not run a proper program
they never see it work and they never get a testimony of the saving power of
Scouting in the Gospel. In doing so,
they have missed the important revelation that Scouting is not a program of
hiking and camping, but rather a program focused on the Scout Oath and Law. And when your program teaches young men honor
and then to pledge that honor to serve God, Country and neighbor alike, as the
Lord said about the priesthood, the virtue of Scouting distills upon them and
they truly become a priesthood holding Boy Scout. Such a young man becomes the perfect vessel
for the priesthood of God. To such a
young man it would never cross their mind not to serve a mission.
This is what the Prophet knows and in
light of the on-going struggle, do we not need such young men as these?
I hope
above all, whether you agree with these thoughts or not, that they have caused
you to ponder the Church, Scouting and your own life as you try to find your
way in this world. I hope that you come
to see, as I have, the hand of the Savior in His great work for the salvation
of all of God’s children and how it is everywhere. Yes, even in Scouting.
Thanks for
reading this.
