On the EDge: Scouting will survive

May 14, 2018 Utah Channel 3

OPINION — The bully pulpit flexed its muscles again, this time lashing out at the Boy Scouts of America when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced last week that it was ending its partnership with Scouting and would be completely divorced from the organization by 2020.

It is a severe blow to Scout membership. Until now, young Mormon boys were automatically enrolled in the BSA. They made up nearly 20 percent of the group’s 2.3 million youth members.

Although they will still be eligible to sign up for Scouting on their own, young Mormons will soon, according to a church announcement, have an LDS youth organization designed to help “all girls and boys, young women and young men, discover their eternal identity, build character and resilience, develop life skills and fulfill their divine roles as daughters and sons of God.”

While this may be satisfying to church officials, I see nothing here about camping, hiking, fishing or any of the other endeavors that appealed to so many young men who were involved with Scouting over the years.

I was, as a child, interested in becoming a Boy Scout. It wasn’t the paramilitary uniforms or regimentation that appealed to me. I liked the idea of going out into the woods, hiking to the perfect spot, pitching a tent, fishing in the nearby stream for dinner and sleeping under the stars, which is what I thought Scouting would be all about.

That never happened, at least in my entry level Cub Scout world, where I questioned how a merit badge in stamp collecting or coin collecting or chess would help me survive in the wilderness or find my way out of the forest after roughing it for a few nights. I was working toward a Bear rank and was fairly disgusted when all I had to show for it was some silver arrows on my shirt for learning some stuff in the Scout book and one-day camp experience that was far too short and much too local.

The Scouting experience is more worldly now, which is why the LDS church has decided to separate itself from the BSA after a series of somewhat progressive decisions from the youth organization.

The split began three years ago when Scouting announced that it would accept gay troop leaders. LDS church officials were “deeply troubled” by the decision, but were soothed when the Boy Scouts assured them that they could appoint troop leaders who satisfied church requirements.

Then, last year, the Boy Scouts announced that they would allow girls to join and, by 2019, become Eagle Scouts.

This was all, of course, too progressive and liberal for the conservative-minded church officials who will now have their own program to administer and support.

I’m not quite sure what, other than religion and a fealty to conservative principles, will be on the agenda for the new church group, but I will guarantee that it will not embrace most of the 12 elements of the Scout Oath, which calls for a young member to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. If you are going to snub a person simply because of sexual orientation or gender identification, I fail to see how you can uphold all of these ideals.

You cannot be trustworthy if you are forced into the shadows and deny who you are because the organization doesn’t like or approve of “your kind.”

You have no loyalty if you choose to deny family members who are part of the LGBTQ culture, as some children are being forced to do.

You are not helpful if you make life more difficult for those who do not fit into some preconceived notion of the so-called mainstream.

It is neither friendly, courteous nor kind to discriminate period.

You are not being obedient if you flaunt the laws of state and nation and deny basic human rights to all.

You cannot have a cheerful countenance if you are harassing another because they have different beliefs.

Bravery and heroism? That means stepping up for all humanity regardless of race, religion or sexual identification or orientation.

Cleanliness has many manifestations, including healthy attitudes and interactions with all people.

And then there is this business about reverence, perhaps the most important aspect of all of this.

Reverence is not simply hauling yourself into your place of worship every Sunday and playing video games or checking text messages or Facebook while the person at the pulpit preaches their particular message of salvation.

Reverence is not a matter of how loudly you sing your hymns, proclaim “Amen!” or how much you tithe. It is about how you treat one another, it’s about what is in your heart and mind, how selfless you are, how willing you are to sacrifice for others. Reverence isn’t the selfish, silly notion that only certain members of a particular club are entitled to the blessings of God, Allah or whichever deity you believe in. It is the understanding that we are all in this together so we should probably do our best to comfort, encourage and support one another and not look for any little reason to hammer somebody psychologically, emotionally or physically for some ill-perceived offense or difference.

Reverence does not allow for noninclusive behavior.

Scouting will do just fine without the LDS memberships.

It may find it a little tough to replace the economic support and to make up for the decline in membership, but it is to be applauded for actually employing some of those basic tenets of Scouting by allowing gay troop leaders and embracing the fact that, well, perhaps there are young ladies who identify as young boys or, believe it or not, that there are some young ladies who would like to go beyond the limits of being a Girl Scout.

I’m not quite sure how the LDS church will deal with all of this as it becomes more and more reluctant to find its place in a greater world where ideals are broader and much more universal.

Perhaps there will be a revelation?

Or, perhaps the church will remain in the grip of a pathological ideology that is alienating it from many members trying to reconcile church values with what they feel in their hearts.

No bad days!

Ed Kociela is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: edkociela.mx@gmail.com

Twitter: @STGnews, @EdKociela