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For 108 years, the Boy Scouts of America were known as BSA---a premier boys program that taught responsibility with a motto of "Be Prepared."
Now the motto seems to be "Be Inclusive" and "Welcoming"--- welcoming homosexual boys first, then homosexual leaders.
Now girls.
Yesterday the Boy Scouts announced their new name.
Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh told the AP yesterday that "We wanted to land on something that evokes the past but also conveys the inclusive nature of the program going forward. We're trying to find the right way to say we're here for both young men and young women."
He says they considered all kinds of different names---the process "was incredibly fun."
The new "inclusive" name?
"Scouts BSA"
He said he thinks that "both boys and girls in Scouts BSA would refer to themselves simply as scouts, rather than adding "boy" or "girl."
These changes will take effect in February.
What's the motive for changing a boy's organization that's been with us for more than 100 years?
This, of course, is consistent with the notion of blurring the gender lines of distinction, which is the next step after including homosexuals over the past several years.
BSA has lost substantial numbers of boys from the program as a result of their "inclusive" and "welcoming" decisions.
Kevin Aldrich, a member-at-large with a Boy Scout council in central Indiana, told the Indianapolis Star, "There is every reason to be co-ed. The Future Farmers of America is co-ed. 4-H is co-ed, band is co-ed---Get over it."
From what I've read, Aldrich's attitude fairly accurately reflects the general feeling of BSA nationwide, however, I think he misses the point---many of us have sons and daughters, and we want the best for each. The BSA was such a special institution for boys for so many decades.
I understand current culture demands there is no difference between girls and boys, but in the attempt to be "inclusive," BSA is punishing both.
And most clear thinking adults know girls and boys are different. Both special and unique. But different.
Dr. James Dobson addressed this issue in the 1970s and consistently tells parents, "It is important for us as adults to understand our own sexual identities. If we don't know who we are, our kids will be doubly confused about who we are."
Recently on his "Family Talk" radio program, he said this:
What is obvious to most children and adults became the object of heated controversy in the 1970s, when a goofy new idea took root. A small but noisy band of feminists began insisting that the sexes were identical except for their reproductive apparatus, and that any uniqueness in temperament or behavior resulted from patriarchal cultural biases. It was a radical concept that lacked any scientific support, except that which was awed and politically motivated. Nevertheless, the campaign penetrated the entire culture. Suddenly, professors and professionals who should have known better began nodding in agreement. No doubt about it. Males and females were redundant. Parents had been wrong about their kids for at least five thousand years. The media ran with the notion and the word unisex found its way into the language of the enlightened. Anyone who challenged the new dogma, as I did in a 1975 book titled, "What Wives Wish Their Husbands Knew about Women," was branded as sexist or something worse.
It's especially disappointing when you know BSA's decision was made in an attempt to reverse the declining membership following the decision to first, put kids who say they're gay in tents with kids who are not--- who are not ready to have conversations about sexual orientation with friends rather than parents. Then secondly follow up by allowing homosexual adults to be troop leaders in the tent with the boys.
Travesty.
Dr. Eugene Gu, a physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, agrees with the decision telling people the "outrage is misplaced" ---his version of "Get over it."
"Here's the reason this is a good decision," he said on Twitter, "With declining membership, they need the girls or it will be called Bankrupt Scouts."
My point exactly. It's all about the money. And Dr. Gu should know better.
The Immediate Fall Out.
The Girl Scouts said they "were blindsided by the move" and they are gearing up for an aggressive campaign to recruit and retain girls as members they announced yesterday.
They say relations used to be good with the Boy Scouts, now they say, "They are chilly."
Girl Scouts have been loosing girls even before this blindside from the Boy Scouts.
Thousands of parents have been already pulling their daughters out of Girl Scouts because of the significant influence in the organization by Planned Parenthood and several homosexual activist organizations.
What's a parent to do?
I, along with many evangelical leaders, strongly recommend "Trail Life USA."
The organization was birthed as an alternative to Boy Scouts following the decision to put homosexual kids, then later homosexual adult leaders in the tents with the kids.
Mark Hancock, CEO of Trail Life, told One News Now, "About half our troops were formerly Boy Scout troops...We think boys and girls are different, and we think that boys need their own place to grow in character and leadership and to experience outdoor adventure."
What began just 4 years ago has grown to 27,000 members, and continues to grow. All the awards from Boy Scouts are transferable, because a lot of them are the same skills such as camping, hiking and outdoor skills.
About half the 27,000 are former Boy Scouts.
The difference between Trail Life and the Boy Scouts/Scouts BSA is simply that Trail Life is a "Christ centered, boy-focused character leadership and adventure organization for young men."
Boy Scouts has become humanistic centered, focused on "inclusion" rather than character. It is an environment in which I could not and would not place my son...or daughter. They have lost their way.
Some final thoughts regarding our children.
Dobson says,
I urge you to base your teachings [to your children] about sexuality on the Scriptures, which tell us, 'God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them' (Gen. 1:27). Jesus, who was the first Jewish leader to give dignity and status to women, said, 'Haven't you read...that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female', and 'for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. (Matthew 19:4,5). That is the divine plan. It leaves no doubt that the Creator made not one sex but two, each beautifully crafted to fit with and meet the needs of the other. Any effort to teach children differently is certain to produce turmoil in the soul of a child.
Be informed. Be Faithful. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.