It should be obvious why the Boy Scouts
don't allow gays or atheists into their ranks: They don't need the
training that scouting has to offer, and their outstanding moral
positions would prove to be a humiliating distraction to the rest of
the poor boys who struggle with the 12 tenets of the scout law.
For who can demonstrate loyalty better
than an atheist, who won't drop you as friend if he learns you
worship a different god? Or a gay boy, who won't torment you for
liking Sally or Billy, but accepts that liking someone and pledging
undying friendship, kindness and love is the height of being human?
Either can demonstrate trustworthiness,
thriftiness and cleanliness. And what of reverence? Being gay or
atheist is a life lesson in respecting institutions that support
connections between people, but rejecting any that smack of bigotry
or prejudice. Showing reverence for hate and fear is as wrong as
lacking any reverence.
With their extremely tolerant views of
others and willingness to offer the freedoms for others to pursue
goals as they want the freedom to pursue theirs, the presence of gays
and atheists within an intolerant, struggling group of Christian
Scouts would prove a constant embarrassment.
(And what of the members of the LDS,
who deemed the Book of Mormon insufficient for instilling moral
character into their boys, and added the canon of Lord Baden-Powell
alongside as the sole youth program for young men? Being bested in
the mastery of cheerfulness, helpfulness or bravery by one who didn't
consult either text might prove to be a debilitating demoralization!)
Instead of attempting to get in, gays
and atheists should rejoice that they have mastered what scouting
would teach them. They are the graduates.
And, never-mind that for a boy to fully
understand Friendliness (offering his friendship to people of all
races and nations, and respecting them even if their beliefs and
customs are different from his own.); Kindness (He treats others as
he wants to be treated. He does not harm), or many of the other 12
tenets without the inclusion of all people, without leaders and an
organization that lives those tenets and shows no prejudice, will, in
the end, cripple him and his understanding.
For, obviously, the inclusion of gays
and atheists within the ranks of scouting would prove too big a
challenge, too great a test for the remainder, and their failure to
live up to their tenets would become plain for all to see.
