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So which faith should I be loyal to please if I have none? And which universal „spiritual principles“ exist in the world that I could adhere to, except for „wha

So which faith should I be loyal to please if I have none? And which universal „spiritual principles“ exist in the world that I could adhere to, except for „whatever my religious leader says“ (of which I don‘t have any)? There‘s simply no logic in these sentences, which points back again to the boy scouts being a de facto religious organization.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
Most young people do grow up in some spiritual environment, at least in America. And all Scouts are required to respect others' faith. I call straw man - what specific problem is being referred to? An imaginary youth raised in a cave?
- lovich 8y ago
  Citation please. America has very diverse pockets. There's places where the average person wouldn't dream of missing church weekly, and there's others where people have never seen the inside of one. Stating that "most young people" grow up in a spiritual environment means that a kid who isn't spiritual must have been raised in a cave is disengenous
  - JoeAltmaier 8y ago
    Try google in general? Something between 80 and 90% of Americans for instance identify with some faith.
    - lovich 8y ago
      Yea, looks like 20% of americans have no religious identity[1]. That leads to roughly 69 million people. How does a population that large of non-religious people lead you to believe that a non religious child would have to be imaginary and raised in a cave? [1]https://news.gallup.com/poll/224642/2017-update-americans-religion.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/224642/2017-update-americans-re...
ams6110 8y ago
I was in Scouts for a couple of years. Religion was not really a focus at all. The message was that we should respect each others choices with regard to religion and spirituality and that was about it. Morals, good citizenship, and respect were otherwise discussed without much reference to religion.
- ryanmercer 8y ago
  >I was in Scouts for a couple of years. Religion was not really a focus at all. Same. Aside from having a Jehova's Witness as a scoutmaster (that never once brought up religion, in fact my family and that family were the only non-holiday church-going families in my dens and packs), there was absolutely nothing religious about my time from tiger cubs up to my father dying just shy of my 13th birthday and me leaving scouts.
- EvanAnderson 8y ago
  I was in Scouts, too, and I had a similar experience to you. That doesn't change the fact that organization has weighed-in on matters of religion[1] and affirmed themselves as being discriminatory toward atheists. [1] - https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/05/31/bsa-reaffirms-duty-to-god-aspect-of-all-programs-through-resolution-adopted-at-2018-national-annual-meeting/ https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/05/31/bsa-reaffirms-d...
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  It depends on the troop. I was in the Cub Scouts in Takoma Park, MD (which is where the hippies went who never stopped being hippies), and indeed religion was not a focus there. But in troops elsewhere, it definitely can be. And those troops are being given cover and explicit endorsement to do so by the national organization. Whereas if, say, a local dance class started injecting religion and making some people feel uncomfortable because it's not their religion, the national organization might step in and shut that all down, saying stick to dance instruction and leave religion in church.
- sneak 8y ago
  Chiming in just to offer some counter anecdata to what seems to be on display in this thread: I was edged out of my local scout troop for being an atheist. This was roughly around 1996-1997 though, so perhaps things have improved.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

Most young people do grow up in some spiritual environment, at least in America. And all Scouts are required to respect others' faith. I call straw man - what specific problem is being referred to? An imaginary youth raised in a cave?

lovich 8y ago
Citation please. America has very diverse pockets. There's places where the average person wouldn't dream of missing church weekly, and there's others where people have never seen the inside of one. Stating that "most young people" grow up in a spiritual environment means that a kid who isn't spiritual must have been raised in a cave is disengenous
- JoeAltmaier 8y ago
  Try google in general? Something between 80 and 90% of Americans for instance identify with some faith.
  - lovich 8y ago
    Yea, looks like 20% of americans have no religious identity[1]. That leads to roughly 69 million people. How does a population that large of non-religious people lead you to believe that a non religious child would have to be imaginary and raised in a cave? [1]https://news.gallup.com/poll/224642/2017-update-americans-religion.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/224642/2017-update-americans-re...

ams6110 8y ago

I was in Scouts for a couple of years. Religion was not really a focus at all. The message was that we should respect each others choices with regard to religion and spirituality and that was about it. Morals, good citizenship, and respect were otherwise discussed without much reference to religion.

ryanmercer 8y ago
>I was in Scouts for a couple of years. Religion was not really a focus at all. Same. Aside from having a Jehova's Witness as a scoutmaster (that never once brought up religion, in fact my family and that family were the only non-holiday church-going families in my dens and packs), there was absolutely nothing religious about my time from tiger cubs up to my father dying just shy of my 13th birthday and me leaving scouts.
EvanAnderson 8y ago
I was in Scouts, too, and I had a similar experience to you. That doesn't change the fact that organization has weighed-in on matters of religion[1] and affirmed themselves as being discriminatory toward atheists. [1] - https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/05/31/bsa-reaffirms-duty-to-god-aspect-of-all-programs-through-resolution-adopted-at-2018-national-annual-meeting/ https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/05/31/bsa-reaffirms-d...
CydeWeys 8y ago
It depends on the troop. I was in the Cub Scouts in Takoma Park, MD (which is where the hippies went who never stopped being hippies), and indeed religion was not a focus there. But in troops elsewhere, it definitely can be. And those troops are being given cover and explicit endorsement to do so by the national organization. Whereas if, say, a local dance class started injecting religion and making some people feel uncomfortable because it's not their religion, the national organization might step in and shut that all down, saying stick to dance instruction and leave religion in church.
sneak 8y ago
Chiming in just to offer some counter anecdata to what seems to be on display in this thread: I was edged out of my local scout troop for being an atheist. This was roughly around 1996-1997 though, so perhaps things have improved.