Men, did you ever feel uncomfortable in Boy Scouts due to your religious (or non) beleifs?

Question

my half brother had a hard time because he was the only jewish kid in his town, just wondering if anyone else had any bad experiences.

Answer 1

well, as you can see, i'm not a guy, but i was in girl scouts for 11 years. But I am an atheist. there were many points where i did feel a bit left out. everything has god attached to it. we even pray before we eat. Tell your brother that he has to be the strong one here. He has to be able to stand up for himself no matter what the other people say. I feel for him. There are actually more atheists in this country than Jews. Being a minority is hard, but it doesn't make it bad or wrong. I hope he doesn't have a hard time in Boy Scouts, it's supposed to be fun for the kids!

Answer 2

Yes.
The "comfort level" depends a lot on the local scout leader -- if he's an open-minded, tolerant type everything would probably be fine. Unfortunately, a lot of scout leaders are hard-core christian fundamentalists who believe it's their duty to "shape young minds" in their own beliefs, and tolerate nothing else. Those types can make a troop miserable.
While there is a lot that's good in scouting, their absolute demand that anyone who joins believe in the christian god makes them flat-out a fundamentalist christian organization. I didn't like that when I was a kid, and I won't let my son join now. They're closed-minded, homophobic, bigoted fools. They took the good idea that formed scouting and turned it into a christian brain-washing operation. There are better options out there for boys to learn skills from, by far.

Answer 3

Little Elfkin,
I am a Christian and a former scout leader. I NEVER pushed religious views or prayer on my scouts. Some of the individual leaders were a bit more GOD-based in their instruction then I was comfortable with. We had members from all religious and non-religious walks of life in our troop even though it was a Church-sponsored group. I would have excused him from any activities that made him uncomfortable. We had a number of individuals who were excused from some activities for one reason or another. The parents and their children were all told that I NEVER wanted them to feel different and they were always allowed to be excused from any activity that they wanted to be excused from. We never attempted to discriminate for any reason (religious, lack of interest, or dislike). I hope that this makes sense. Have a great week!
Thanks,
Eds

Answer 4

I don't remember any religious overtones when I was a Cub Scout. Of course, I was a Christian at the time, so I may just not have noticed.

Answer 5

i do no longer 'pontificate' my faith to others even with the undeniable fact that being a Wiccan i think of at circumstances some human beings have been uncomfortable around me even nevertheless i've got no longer given them any reason to be. fairly some the time i do no longer gown any in any different case than all and sundry else so except you notice my pentacle putting around my neck it is complicated to work out i'm Wiccan purely by using looking. by using no ability in my strikes did I intend or attempt to make all and sundry sense like much less of a man or woman.. i'm no longer that way. i understand that as quickly as my first niece became born and my brother's pastor got here visiting he became visibly uncomfortable around me even nevertheless i became completely friendly and did no longer even talk something faith oriented for the time of his bypass to.

Answer 6

i felt uncomfortable in girl scouts because it was very "god oriented" and i am pagan. i have just recently found out about a group called spiral scouts which is pagan/nature based. i will be starting up this group in my area for my kids and others

Answer 7

I saw a south park about that. lol Kyle was at Jew Scouts and he brought Stan....they treated him badly.

Answer 8

Yes because the scoutmaster was a pedophile and homosexual. He is dead now thank GOD.