Resolution of SBC on Boy Scouts

[William Thornton]

[Dave Roberts]

My question in all this is, "When did Boy Scouts start checking sexual orientation when boys enroll in scouting?" I worked in scouting in the past, and frankly, a lot of 11-year-olds didn't know what a sexual orientation was. I really don't think the policy changes anything. There has never been anything on the form to enroll about sexual orientation--maybe on the adult leader's form, but not on the boys' forms.

Actually, the resolution really doesn't say a lot. The committee seemed to try to say as little as possible.

[William Thornton]

[Haruo]

Russ Moore's statement that "... the Boy Scouts previously had an understanding of sexuality that was geared toward expression in marriage" seems to me to muddy the waters further, and especially so in a culture where the genders of marriage partners is undergoing redefinition. To the extent that his statement is true, it seems the new policy may help as much as hinder that understanding. (But not in a way he would approve of.) But I don't think "marriage" has been any more part of Scouting for Boys' Weltanschauung than "gender identity or perceived sexual orientation" has been.

[Sandy]

The genders of marriage partners in the culture may be undergoing revision, but the Biblical, Christian perspective of it is not. And that does have an effect on Southern Baptist churches that sponsor Boy Scout troops, when the parent organization endorses a position that isn't consistent with that of the church.

I think this resolution goes a long way toward recognizing that some churches will decide they can no longer support having a Boy Scout troop, while others will continue and take a position of opposition to the policy based on the Biblical text.

It's not quite what the SBC's critics and bashers were expecting.

[Haruo]

But the Boy Scouts are not a "Biblical, Christian" outfit. Even when I was a scout (mid-1960s) you could get a God & Country badge in a number of non-Christian religions (even at least one, Buddhism, that is non- if not necessarily exactly anti- theistic). And even among "Christian" sponsoring groups the largest is the not exactly Biblical LDS, whose position on the definition of marriage is most notoriously subject to change.

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]

[Haruo]

[Tim Bonney]

I think there is a big misunderstanding on what possession of a BSA charter by a church means. It does not mean that the church gets to decide the rules for BSA. BSA is a separate organization which has its own rules that you agree to follow when you accept one of their charters.

I know many churches help get leadership for BSA, that many troops that meet in churches get a lot of their leadership from the sponsoring church. But that does not mean that the Troop or the BSA live under the rules of that local church or that the Boy Scout program is synonymous with a program of the church.

[Dave Roberts]

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]