Tillerson’s Assault on Scouting
February 5, 2017 in News by RBN Staff
Source: www.americanthinker.com
By Timothy Birdnow
When I was a boy I swore an oath, one I take seriously to this day. It went like this:
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
Inherent in this oath are not one, but two moral issues – my duty to God and my oath of remaining morally straight. These are inextricably linked, and both preclude sexual immorality, among other things. My duty to God is to obey the laws set down for us by Him.
And that was what Scouting was all about. While it was not sectarian in nature, it was deeply rooted in America and the Judeo-Christian heritage that informed our culture in bygone days. Lord Robert Baden-Powell, one of the founders of the Boy Scouts, stated:
Where does religion come in? Well, my reply is … it does not come in at all. It is already there. It is the fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding.
And in his 1908 book Scouting for Boys said, “No man is any good unless he believes in God.”
James West, who headed the organization in its early days, added:
Boy Scouts of America believes that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.
While there is no litmus test on how one believes in God, there is that matter of duty to Him. Now, all three Abrahamic religions hold that morally straight means sexually pure, or at least sexually restrained, and all three consider homosexuality an abomination. So does the Bahá’í faith. So too Zoroastrianism. Hinduism frowns on it, as do Buddhism and Sikhism. Unless one takes a “Progressive” view of his faith or adopts some fringe religion, homosexual activity is forbidden. If it is forbidden, how can one be “morally straight” or do one’s duty to God while embracing it?
President-Elect Donald J. Trump recently announced he is considering Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department. Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, was, among other things, the former head of the Boy Scouts of America and one of the people responsible for opening the BSA to homosexuals.
It was Tillerson who lobbied to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of the BSA. According to a Dallas News story:
Tillerson was instrumental in lobbying the Scouts’ board to accept openly gay youths, said John Hammer, president of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, of which Tillerson is a board member.
“I can’t get into the intimacy of these conversations. But he agonized over this. He prayed on it, and ultimately he came to the conclusion the only thing that can guide him here is what’s best for the young boys,” he said. “I think he became a key leader in helping the group come to a consensus.”
Tillerson pushed the change at the meeting.
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