Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Chairboy on August 04, 2006, 07:35:40 PM
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Just wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who helped out with my scouting question! We're pursuing Camp Fire USA first, then we'll check out some of the others.
Sorry some other folks threadjacked it and got it closed, but I'm glad they held off until after the rest of y'all helped out.
Anyhow, excellent community (the crazies aside) and I appreciate the help!
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Good luck.
About a decade ago, my son expressed an interest in the Boy Scouts and we went to a meeting. The religious aspect of it turned me off and we never went back.
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Which is the best possible outcome for everyone involved.
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Sure, BSA does have a religious aspect. But its not overbearing.
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My understanding is that it's different in every chapter. Some are really religious, some aren't. The skills taught are top notch, and it's a great organization for building character and teaching self reliance.
If any of y'all are interested in scouts but don't want "church with tents" :D, go and check out the various dens/packs and find the group of people that match what you want.
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I was in the cub scouts for a while and had a good time there, up until I got kicked out. I beat up the den mothers kid at her house. He decided to jump on me from the roof of the porch and slapped at me. I split his lip wide open while still on the ground. She came out and told me I couldn't be a scout any more. I never went back for the regular scouts.
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Originally posted by AquaShrimp
Sure, BSA does have a religious aspect. But its not overbearing.
Maybe not, but I didn't think it was a good idea to encourage my children to lie.
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Let us know how it works out. It'd be a shame to deprive any kid of those experiences, whether they learn them through BSA or another group.
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I was a scout. First in a chrisitan org then the non-religious sea scouts later. The first one was good, but abit too much bible reading and lectures for my taste, but the sea scouts was outstanding fun :)
You learn many neat little things that you actually can use in real life and have tons of fun. I hope your kid likes it Chairboy.
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Originally posted by Sandman
Maybe not, but I didn't think it was a good idea to encourage my children to lie.
Yeah, no need to pretend they have all that morality stuff...
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My scout troop was pretty mainstream and "cool" because nobody went in there and expected the troop to change just to fit their particular hangups.
Personally, I just inserted the word "my" in front of "God", and that was good enough for me. Nobody ever suspected that My God could have been a beer for all they knew, and I had a great time in the scouts.
Hard Core athiests are just as crazy as religious whackos, and IMHO neither of them need to be running scout troops. The more people get involved and simply insist on the scouts teaching a moral code of behavior, the better, because that can mean different things for each person and isn't tied to any particular religion, faith, or faith of disbelief.
And if anyone doesn't like it, they're perfectly free to start their own group. Freedom doesn't mean the right to force groups to cater to your own personal hangups.
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Never was a Scout to my regret. I was in the Order of Malta, no not as a Hospitaller knight. It was just a first aid organisation. Although from the amount of fighting we did on outings we might as well have been. Naturally there was a religious aspect to it given it's origins.
My brother though was in the former Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland. Naturally as you might expect there was a considerable religious and Catholic aspect. But amazingly the troop leaders were in a fact a couple of Jewish women:aok
Only in Ireland:rofl
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I was in scounts like 18 years ago and alot has changed since then. Mainly, the BSA is now run by the Morman church. Kinda sucks that some kids are denied the experience because of religious beleifs.
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Originally posted by eagl
My scout troop was pretty mainstream and "cool" because nobody went in there and expected the troop to change just to fit their particular hangups.
Personally, I just inserted the word "my" in front of "God", and that was good enough for me. Nobody ever suspected that My God could have been a beer for all they knew, and I had a great time in the scouts.
Hard Core athiests are just as crazy as religious whackos, and IMHO neither of them need to be running scout troops. The more people get involved and simply insist on the scouts teaching a moral code of behavior, the better, because that can mean different things for each person and isn't tied to any particular religion, faith, or faith of disbelief.
And if anyone doesn't like it, they're perfectly free to start their own group. Freedom doesn't mean the right to force groups to cater to your own personal hangups.
Word.
I was in the scouts and asides the Oath, recall no other religious aspect of it.
But each to their own. Even if we're mocked as crazies :cool:
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Originally posted by eagl
My scout troop was pretty mainstream and "cool" because nobody went in there and expected the troop to change just to fit their particular hangups.
Personally, I just inserted the word "my" in front of "God", and that was good enough for me. Nobody ever suspected that My God could have been a beer for all they knew, and I had a great time in the scouts.
Hard Core athiests are just as crazy as religious whackos, and IMHO neither of them need to be running scout troops. The more people get involved and simply insist on the scouts teaching a moral code of behavior, the better, because that can mean different things for each person and isn't tied to any particular religion, faith, or faith of disbelief.
And if anyone doesn't like it, they're perfectly free to start their own group. Freedom doesn't mean the right to force groups to cater to your own personal hangups.
"...One nation, zOMG, indivisible..." lol it teh works!!!!11
...is there any groups keeps out religon & still keeps out the queers also?
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I learned a lot of things from scouting.. religion wasn't one of them.
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Look fellas, I know some of you REALLY want to turn this into a "CHAIRBOY IS TEH EXTREMIST ATHEIST STALIN!!!!", but c'mon, use some self control. Folks like Lukster and Laser seem to be determined to "out" me as some sort of crazed, bloodthirsty monster who's trying to push an anti-christian agenda against the Boy Scouts, but they're just flat out wrong.
And once again, this is not an issue of my hangups, the BSA simply will not allow my child to join without lying under oath, and I'm not willing to teach my kids that that's ok. They are a private organization, and they have that right, and that's A-OK because this is the United States of America.
So, once again, thanks to the folks that actually helped and a big raspberry at the reactionists who swooped in to attack.
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Chairboy, another thing you and your son may wish to become involved with is sports. ie: baseball, hockey etc. I think t-ball starts around age 5. I have always believed sports was a grrrreat way to help kids develope athletic and interpersonal skills. For me it was hockey. When I became too old to play anymore, I went on to get my certification to coach. I had many years of ejoyment and satisfaction playing and coaching.
One thing I didn't do (because it wasn't around when I was a kid) was Outward Bound. I think OB is a terrific organization; It also throws alot of kids into a situation of 'facing their fears' whether it be repelling down a cliff face or spending 72 hours in the wilderness on your own. (any many other tasks) I have seen a couple of OB shows that were taped and it seems the kids come out of it with a sense of accomplishment and higher self esteem. Can't go wrong with either of those things.
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Originally posted by lasersailor184
Yeah, no need to pretend they have all that morality stuff...
The notion that religion makes one moral is an ignorant and misguided one.
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Originally posted by Sandman
The notion that religion makes one moral is an ignorant and misguided one.
I'll go you one better Sandman:
My experience is that the deeply religious are most often the worst offenders