I'm also from a small town in SC, and I also had a pretty good experience in my troop. The religion and heterosexuality aspects were fairly downplayed and whil

I'm also from a small town in SC, and I also had a pretty good experience in my troop. The religion and heterosexuality aspects were fairly downplayed and while we went through the motions, my Scout Master told my mother explicitly that I could join as an Atheist as long as I didn't make a big deal out of it. This was about 10 years ago when I left. The leaders (adult and less adult) make or break a troop. They define the character of the group. For me, scouting became a lot less enjoyable when the Scout Master that started me off stopped being as active in the group. That's probably when I started losing interest in the experience, if I think back on it. I got all the way up to, but not quite, Eagle Scout. I was Order of Arrow, I filled various leadership roles, and I had almost every requirement except for the project. I lost interest before I went through with the project, however, so I never got Eagle. I have absolutely no regrets about that. I was partly jaded (lots of people did simple projects that seemed unworthy to me), partly lazy, partly annoyed with an organization which was defined by open bigotry, and partly disinterested without the strong leadership. It hasn't had a single recognizable impact on my life, and I don't know that I'd change anything if I could. I doubt I'd encourage any of my children to go to scouts now, although the experience was extremely valuable for me.