Fight over who merits a Boy Scout uniform an ongoing battle

Photo courtesy of Richard W. Rodriguez, AP

By Williams Cummings

The vote by the Boy Scouts of America’s board to lift the organization’s ban on gay scout leaders is just the latest chapter in a long history of controversy over who merits the right to wear the scout uniform.

Even as it shifts its policy on homosexual scout leaders, there are still millions of Americans today who do not meet one of the basic requirements to become scouts. Namely, those who does not hold religious beliefs.

Religion has always been at the center of the Boy Scouts, whose oath includes a pledge “To do my duty to God and my country.” And although the Boy Scouts of America is closely tied to the Protestant-based YMCA, the organization describes itself as “absolutely nonsectarian” and welcomes all faiths.

Those with no faith are a different matter.

---