10 July 2008
And Now a Rant from the Right
Posted by admin under: Uncategorized .
I had been trying to avoid an opinion piece I saw because it reads a little right-wing wacko, but it keeps popping up which means people are interested in it so I’ll cover it here, too. Onenewsnow.com is clearly right-wing. Okay, they’ve got some things I agree with and the ACLU has some things I agree with, too, but they’re both way over the top. Onenewsnow’s Marcia Segelstein gave her perspective on how the Girl Scouts of the USA is becoming radically liberal.
One of her major points is that the Girl Scouts don’t require God to be said in the oath. She really gets bent out of shape, though, because religions that have nature as their focus (wiccans are specified) have programs that are recognized by the Girl Scouts. Like Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts don’t require any kind of specific religious belief. So, you don’t have to be Christian to be a Girl Scout. Scouting doesn’t even have a specific religious program. They just allow the Scouts to earn religious emblems from their own denominations and are allowed to display those awards on their uniforms. The most common program used is P.R.A.Y.(Programs of Religious Activities with Youth). While most of their programs are various Christian ones, there’s also Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish, and even Zoroastrian awards. No Wiccans, there, though.
Finally, she discusses the urban myth that Girl Scouts is a secret lesbian training program. She brings up the National Review article from eight years ago that cites a book published eleven years ago that says one-third of leaders are gay. Well, no. I know a lot of leaders and they aren’t gay so that statistic can’t be true. Even some leaders that I think might be gay I would never know for certain because the sexuality of adult leaders isn’t part of the Girl Scout program.
While I do think the organization has slid left and I’m not thrilled with that, the focus of today’s Girl Scouts is still the local troop program. You do not have to use any of the millions of pamphlets that the national office seems in love with publishing every year and some of which, according to the columnists, do not condemn homosexuality. The biggest problem with Girl Scouts, in my opinion, is not lesbians. It’s bureaucrats. Good grief. The amount of paperwork needed for things is ridiculous. And the maze of rules makes program planning tedious with research. We had to cancel our hot air balloon ride that went up and came straight back down because of the overlooked rule that you have to get council permission first (and our council pretty much says no to troop level stuff).
By the way, the American Heritage Girls that are promoted in the article as an alternative to Girl Scouts, and who are perfectly good and fine people I’m sure, has the following statement of faith: “We believe that there is One Triune God – Father, Jesus Christ His one and only Son, and the Holy Spirit – Creator of the universe and eternally existent”. That would have been a difficult sell for the Jewish members of our troop. For some reason that doesn’t seem to bother Ms. Segelstein.
- Disingenuous Note
- Girl Scouts Versus American Heritage Girls + Boy Scouts?
- Jawing About Journeys
- boyandgirlscouts.islam
- Jews or Jesus?
One Comment so far...
Boy Scouts Supports American Heritage Girls | BoyandGirlScouts.com - News, Opinion, Advice Says:
8 July 2009 at 9:15 pm.
[...] Boy Scouts of America has signed a memorandum of mutual support with the American Heritage Girls. I became aware of them just about one year ago and while I have no problem with competing girl organizations I was somewhat put off by their [...]
