IN-DEPTH: Will the Scouts withstand pressure?

Every four years more than 40,000 Boy Scouts and their leaders hold a National Jamboree. This year they are scheduled to gather in July at the new Summit Bechtel Reserve in West Virginia. They'll pitch tents, hike, tie knots, trade patches, and raise their right hands to affirm: "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout law, to help other people at all times, and to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

But the pastoral scene will belie a crisis in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), one related to that oath. What is "duty to God"? What does it mean to be "morally straight"? On April 19, the national BSA leadership announced a proposed change to its current policy of banning openly homosexual men and boys from participating in Scouting. The proposed policy would walk a tightrope by banning homosexual adult leaders but welcoming boys who identify as gay, while affirming that "Scouting is a youth program, and any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of Scouting age is contrary to the virtues of Scouting."

The proposed policy emerged after an online BSA survey garnered more than 200,000 responses, with most supporting the current policy of excluding homosexuals from leadership, but most also wanting the program to admit boys who define themselves as gay. Fervent debate over the proposal, though, shows neither proponents nor opponents of homosexuality satisfied with it. Read more

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