Christians and Boy Scouts

I applaud the Boy Scouts for reconsidering its position on accepting gays. A recent article offered a message that a scout could not be gay and “morally straight” therefore he should not be a scout.
Churches have numerous outreach ministries serving alcoholics, drug addicts, domestic abusers and the homeless. We don’t endorse or advocate for the lifestyle; we do, however, advocate for the acceptance of the person whom God has claimed as his own. We are not concerned that these ministries will result in attacks against our churches, for in truth churches have been attacked for not doing more.
As a former Cub Scout leader, I watched my little scouts struggle with physical limitations and intellectual challenges, yet they were not rejected because they could not meet what now have become the criteria upon which scouts will be accepted. How do you teach a scout to help other people at all times after adopting an exclusionary rule rejecting his peers or parents?
To define “morally straight’ as a sexual orientation distracts from the important goal of developing young men and future leaders who have the character to make the right choice when it is not popular, to embrace those who are different, to reject narrow minded limitations and to lead with integrity.
My less-than-perfect scouts have now matured into law abiding, responsible adults who offer much to our community, and the fact that any one of them is gay does not diminish their contribution. I am confident that the scouting experience helped them overcome the limitations they each experienced so they could do their duty to God and country, help other people at all times, and keep physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. I want my grandsons to have the true inclusive Boy Scout experience, not the version based on fear and loathing.

Delia T. Crouch, Newnan


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