Mixed reactions to Boy Scouts' new policy on gay Scouts

Gay scouting furore spawns new crop of clubs

For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America has had something of a monopoly on neckerchiefs, knot-tying, merit badges and all manner of backcountry skills for boys, treating snakebite and frostbite alike.

No more. The protracted debate over whether to allow gay Scouts and Scout leaders has angered many church leaders and parents across the political and religious spectrums. The result is a surge of enrolments in alternative outdoor and character-building programs that cater to pagans and Pentecostals and everyone in between. Read more

Pa. Pastors Network Urges Boy Scouts Boycott; Says Nation's Moral Compass Is Going 'Haywire'

The Pennsylvania Pastors Network, a group of clergy seeking to uphold the moral principles of the Bible, is advising Christian parents to pull their children out of the Boy Scouts of America, following the organization's decision to lift its more than 100-year-old ban on gay members. Read more

Pastor Resigns From Utah Boys Scouts Board Charging New Membership Policy Endorses Sin

Neal Humphrey, pastor of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in north Utah, recently resigned as a member of the executive board of the Trapper Trails Council, charging that the Boy Scouts' new membership policy excludes evangelical churches and other Christian denominations. Read more

Catholic Committee Says Boy Scouts' Gay Ban Repeal Does 'Not Conflict' With Church Teaching

The chairman of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting recently said that the Boy Scouts' decision to lift its ban on openly gay members does not "conflict with Catholic teaching," and the church should use this policy change as an opportunity to ensure the Catholic faith "is taught, practiced and nurtured" within the 103-year-old youth organization. Read more

Baptists plan exodus from Boy Scouts

For Southern Baptist pastor Tim Reed, it was Scripture versus the Scouts.

“God’s word explicitly says homosexuality is a choice, a sin,” said Reed, pastor of First Baptist Church of Gravel Ridge in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Read more