Scouts barrier

12:01pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in Letters By Reader's letter

I SEE that another young lad has been barred from the Scouts for expressing a disbelief in god (I use a small ‘‘g’’ as it seems that a belief in any god will do).

The lad, 11-year-old George Pratt, from Somerset, would have been OK if he had believed in a Muslim, Hindu or any other god, and has even been encouraged to lie about his lack of belief.

Surely the boy should be commended for his honesty?

I can see the argument that the founder of the Scouts wanted it to be a Christian organisation (albeit with rather sinister imperialist roots), but it seems that it opened its doors to other faiths to comply with religious discrimination requirements, but is happy to discriminate against the non-religious.

I shall think twice about supporting them in future when they come knocking on my door unless they review their policies.

Martin Henderson, Copmanthorpe, York.

Comments(6)

PinzaC55 says...
12:24pm Thu 25 Oct 12

I suppose at least the lad has learned a lesson about the true nature of religion. It (the lesson) will serve him well.

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Zetkin says...
12:48pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Makes me gladder than ever that my mother forbad me to join the Scouts - she really did know best.

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Seadog says...
7:22pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Despite my own Christian faith I'm inclined to agree with the letter writer up to a point; I've always been uneasy about insisting that children (or adults for that matter) make declarations of faith in order to do a particular thing. Faith must always be a
matter of choice for its own sake - not a "ticket" for acceptance. Advising this boy to lie about it is appalling.

I suppose he could always join the Woodcraft Folk who, I'm told, are non-credal.

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Friedrich Hayek says...
7:24pm Thu 25 Oct 12

I used to love the Cubs. Being bossed about by some fat broad named after a character from the Disney movie, the Jungle Book, and wearing a gay little tie made out of a teatowel was my idea of a sweet time.

But then I got into collecting Garbage Pail Kids stickers and I kicked that **** to the curb.

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PinzaC55 says...
8:41pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Its an example of the "Free Pass" religion gets. If the kid had been refused because he was black or a woman the Scouts would be in court tout de suite.

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BAJNY says...
11:52pm Thu 25 Oct 12

This kid will learn all he needs to know about religion from this episode.

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