Would You Allow Your Child to Join the Boy Scouts of America?

Absolutely not! I’d explain why and tell him we don’t support organizations who discriminate. I don’t view this any differently from walking in a “Pro-Life” charity walk or going to a “whites-only” restaurant.

There are other scouting groups that don’t discriminate. Campfire USA is now co-ed and and all-inclusive. However, here in my town in NW Arkansas, The Boy Scouts and other discriminatory activities (like Upward Basketball) seem to be the only groups available.

When I was a boy, my parents put me in The Christian Service Brigade. It was a place I could go to once a week to get a black eye and a swirlie. Aren’t Christians great?

I really have to recommend the Penn and Teller BS episode on the Boy Scouts, you’ll find out all kinds of crazy things about how they’ve come to be a private institution and at the same time a government funded branch of the military.

No.

The Boy Scouts may offer of experiences and learning but allowing your son to be a part of an organization that openly preaches and practices hate and discrimination is completely unacceptable.

Find an alternative group or go camping with your son and family, learn first aid, learn survival techniques, practice knots, volunteer in your community, and teach open mindedness and tolerance and you’ll be way ahead of the teachings of any boy scout group.

As an Eagle Scout and an atheist, I would probably let my hypothetical son join. The organization discriminates at a national level, this is true, but individual troops can be much more open. My troop, in particular, consciously avoided asking certain questions of the boys in the troop which would force a confrontation of the gay/atheist issues.

I sympathize with the perspective that a parent should just teach the scout skills independent of the organization, but you have to realize that the BSA has two major advantages over independent teaching – facilities and camaraderie. The BSA has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of acres of land with millions of dollars in facilities available for scouts to work with. Too, the experience of sharing all that with one’s parents is distinct from the experience of sharing it with age-peers.

The organization is flawed, yes, and the growing influence of the LDS church within the program may mean that by the time I have children able to participate I might answer this question differently. But for all its shortcomings, the organization provides a unique and valuable experience for young boys and I continue to believe that participation is a positive thing.

My son (age 7) joined the scouts (at the suggestion of my ex-wife) a couple months ago. Of my two children, he’s easily the most willing to believe in god, and he has a really hard time with the fact that I am an atheist when all his friends are Christians. (My daughter [age 9], on the other hand, independently came to the conclusion that all religions are ridiculous.)

So, I was a little leery of letting him join the scouts, but so far it’s been a good experience for him. The troupe leader is a fairly secular person (and a good friend of my ex-wife’s, who is ‘spiritual,’ but not religious), so I’ve not seen any overt religion being injected into the meetings.

I WAS very surprised that my ex-wife suggested that we put him in the scouts. She’s a VERY strong proponent of Gay Rights and is the last person that I’d ever expect to support anything related to the scouts. But, at this point, I think she’s of the opinion that the only way to change the scouts for the better is to actually be involved with them.

Who knows? Maybe if more atheists joined organizations like the scouts, we might actually be able to influence their policies for the better.

Would you patronize a business you knew had helped fund the Prop 8 stuff? When you ‘do business’ with a org that has such a black track record on discrimination and hatred, you are basically letting them know you support their behavior.

There’s a reason why before we accept new clients for computer work, we always do background research.

It’s peace of mind, if anything.

Like Bart I too was an Eagle Scout from Oregon, and my troop met in the Presbyterian church. (25 years ago, alas)

To be honest other than the usual teen age boy talk there was really no issue with homosexuality, and even the religious aspects were a vanishingly small part of it. It was all about the camping, hiking and merit badges. On of my best scout friends came out as gay in high school, but we didn’t really care since he was pretty cool. When we had “religious services” during camp outs I just sat quietly and enjoyed being in the great outdoors.

I agree that the group has become much more radical with time.

None of my children were interested in scouting past cub scouts, but I wouldn’t have trouble with them joining.

My son has asked and I told him no. I felt that supporting a group that discriminated against both atheists and homosexuals was not an acceptable place for him.

Hmm I can imagine a situation where I’d allow it, but it would be rather narrowly defined.

First there would have to be no other alternative and inclusive group in the area. I know they exist and if at all possible I’d want my child to be in an organization that wasn’t officially bigoted.

The second condition would concern the troop itself. I know that official orthodoxy and local orthodoxy are not always the same. If the boy scouts were the only available group and I could be personally assured that he would not be exposed to sanctioned homofobia or religious indoctrination then I’d consider it. I’m sure there are troops out there that quietly ignore the more stupid aspects of the scout rules.

I think there are plenty of other kids’ clubs that are more appropriate. My daughter wanted to join the Girls’ Brigade because some of her friends were in it. I was happy to let her have an after school club with friends. When I found out they sang Onward Christian Soldiers at the end of each meeting, I pulled her from it. No Christian Soldiers under my roof. Thankfully, she wasn’t too bothered about it and found the whole experience rather dull.

We enrolled her into Judo instead.

I don’t think it’s right to take an oath you don’t intend to/can’t follow and I’d explain about that to my (hypothetical) son.

If he still wanted to join, I’d approach the Troop Leader and ask if my son could use a modified version of the Scout Oath and Law (eg. substituting “respectful” for “reverent” or being silent during the “serve god” parts). I’d also ask if the leader could work with us to find ways for my son to accomplish any religiousy badge assignments from a secular point of view.

If any Scout Leaders in the area are willing to sidestep BSA rules this way (and many are), I wouldn’t have a problem. If none are, then I’d look for a secular scouting organization in my area.

Nope.

I don’t have a problem exposing my hypothetical kid to other worldviews. To that end, he can meet people of other faiths, befriend Boy Scouts if he desires, and even attend church occasionally if he desires (not with my parents, though). But I will not support an organization with that level of intolerance, whether certain local groups practice it or not.

Then again, I give money regularly to the Salvation Army… but only because they have the most efficient conversion rate of donations-to-output.

It really depends on the troop. I’m an Eagle Scout with palms as well, and was inducted into the Order of the Arrow. My troop met at a local junior high school, not in a church. My troop’s focus was more towards camping, outdoor skills, and other recreational activities, and far less on religious matters. In fact, I really don’t remember us doing much at all with regard to organized religious activities. Back to the question, if the troop was like the one I was in growing up, then sure. If, however, the troop was like some others, where everyone had to read the bible and routinely praise a god that’s just not there, then I’d say no.

While I am disappointed with BSA’s decisions with regard to gays and atheists, I still believe that scouting offers some great opportunities for young men. Looking beyond the religious comonent, I think that it offers many lessons and support systems that are important and helpful.

-jbm

Tom and Bart above have pretty much got it right, I think. It can be, and for thousands of kids [I was one — got me out of the city and into the forests and mountains and so gave me a life-time recreation I still now in my mid-sixties enjoy often]. I became a Scouting volunteer and an assistant scoutmaster when my own kids wanted to join. At no time when I was a scout did anyone ever ask me if I was gay or straight. At no time did anyone challenge me to avow I had been saved, or much of anything at all about religion. And I never, in about a decade as an adult leader, asked a kid if he believed in god or about his or anyone else’s sexual orientation. Never heard anyone else do it either.

The thing is, “national” is largely composed of extremely conservative right-wing holier-than-thous. The troops I was associated with generally ignored “national.” Most ignored “council” much of the time too. Spent most time getting the kids off to the mountains, out on rivers, and working on instilling as much self-reliance in them as we could.

Are there wing-nut troops and councils? Sure are. But there are also hundreds of troops run by sane and sensible people who have the intelligence and integrity to take what’s valuable in Scouting and make it available to the kids, and to flat ignore the rest. It’s what the troop I was in did and I wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world. It’s what the troops I worked as a volunteer in did as well. If you have a child who wants to join the Boy Scouts, find one. It’s worth the hunt.

“No! No! Never! No child of mine!” seems like throwing out the baby with the bathwater to me.

I’m a regional director of Scouting For All (which opposes the BSA’s discriminatory policies) and this is a perennial question.

On a day-to-day basis, scouting only operates at the pack/troop level, so it’s pretty much a reflection of whoever is running your particular group. Some ignore the exclusionary rules, some enforce them, so your mileage will vary. And if the local leadership changes, it’s another roll of the dice.

As has already been mentioned, there are other groups like CampFire and 4H that don’t discriminate, which might be an option. But they might not be active in your area, or your son’s friends might already be in scouts.

And yes, much of this idiocy can be laid right at the Mormons; they use the BSA program for their own youth program (basically requiring all Mormon boys to join) so they can get the BSA into doing anything they want by just threatening to pull out and start their own program. So no gays, no atheists, no recognized religious award for pagans, etc. The Catholic church is also partially responsible, though to a somewhat lesser extent.

A lot of members think the BSA will change eventually, but a lot of the damage is already done. They lost their largest sponsor (public schools) in 2005 when the ACLU threatened to sue any public school that excluded atheists; they are leaving Fort AP Hill after the next Jamboree and moving to their own property (in spite of winning a lawsuit challenging the government’s support on a technicality); they’ve lost nearly 1/4 of their cub scout age membership since the Dale decision 10 years ago; and with the recent economic problems, their nondiscriminatory Learning for Life program lost 1/4 of their membership just last year, probably due to school budget cuts.

I was in scouting for a few years myself before I discovered other interests in high school. (One of those other interests was named Lisa, but that’s beside the point)

I would echo what a lot of others here say. A lot of it depends on the troop. A number of local troops take a don’t ask don’t tell approach to gays and to atheism. They don’t really care about it and leave each to his own devices.

Apart from the dogma that atheists protest, Scouting (when done right) can teach very useful lessons about friendship, leadership, teamwork, and all sorts of skills that may be later useful in life.

I want to add three more points.

First, allowing your son to join a Boy Scout troop at his own request gives him a little bit of power in his life and signals to him that you’re ready to let him make some of his own decisions, esp. if he’s 12 to 14 years old. That empowerment can be very important to an adolescent.

Second, the Scouting experience itself can be an object lesson in life. In real life, you can’t go around refusing to associate with others because of such piddling matters as religious ideology. Diversity of all things, including belief, is part of the fabric of human society. If an adult runs around rejecting participation in local camping, hiking, and sewing clubs because they’re insufficiently atheist, that’s going to be one lonely atheist.

Finally, what if your child’s religious beliefs are different from yours? What if your child actually is a Christian, whether of the evangelical or non-evangelical stripe? For that child, participating in an organization that rejects atheism is no more unnatural that his wanting to be part of his church youth group? A number of atheists — myself included — “discovered” atheism at a young age and no doubt expected parents to respect that belief. Why should a child who “discovers” religion expect any differently?

The Boy scouts were a positive influence for me in my youth, so I have encouraged my boys to participate (they are young, so it’s cub scouts for them now). One has enjoyed it, the other dropped out after a few months.
We did switch dens early on, because the first one was run by a fundie who wanted to use the meetings as his personal church.
Examples:
opened and closed each meeting with a prayer
made the kids remove pauses when reciting the pledge and scout law….
not “one nation (pause) under god (pause) indivisible”,
but “one nation under god (pause) indivisble”.
Also, not this “on my honor (pause) I will do my duty (pause) to god and my country”,
but “on my honor (pause) I will do my duty to god (pause) and my country”. This modification throws the whole rhythm out of sync.
When we left that first meeting, my son said to me that it was too “churchy”.
So we switched to a different den, but he lost interest a few months later, and I was not going to force him to participate.
My other son has stayed active, and is benefiting from the experience. The scouts do instill the traits of responsibility, friendship, team work, goal setting, etc.

There are plenty of alternatives that do not indoctrinate or descriminate. If people choose to send their kids to these organisation above the scouts then the scouts will either disappear or change.

Also America is too far to commute to send my son to BSA.

My experience with Boy Scouts was something close to Lord of the Flies. Bullies with knives and sharp sticks and troop leaders who thought they were the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket.

It was never my choice to join, and I was glad when my parents let me quit.

There’s a whole lot more wrong with this organization than their discrimination.

Where are you people getting the idea that girl scouting is any different? My friend’s daughters joined girl scouts, and my friend was told in no uncertain terms that girl scouting was a Christian organization. And they met in a church. My daughter did not join girl scouts.

My son was a cub scout from Tigers through Arrow of Light, and did a year or two of boy scouts before deciding he’d lost interest. They met at the American Legion hall and never did anything in a church. They did have services at boy scout camp, which did not impress my son in the least. And at least one of the other kids who was boy scouts with him is gay.

The only difference I see in the mottoes is that girl scouts hem and haw about “When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word “God” with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.” (Copied directly from their website.)

It really does just depend on the group. Obviously if there had been any hate spouting going on, I would have pulled him out of scouting. But he had fun for a while, met some friends, and then grew out of it.

Maybe having members and their parents who disagree with some of the BSA’s views would be the best thing to help change those views. All in all there is good things about the BSA and we don’t necessarily want to eliminate the organization.

As an ex-Scout, I don’t think the stuff in the oath about God had a particularly detrimental effect on me!

Now, as a father, my daughter has joined the Brownies. Interesing that, here in the UK, they promise to:

I promise that I will do my best:
To love my God,
To serve the Queen and my country,
To help other people
and
To keep the Brownie Guide Law.

The “my God” leaves plenty of scope for the Flying Spaghetti Monster, so I’m not worried 🙂

I think it depends on the local group’s opinion of homosexuality and atheism. I really think it varies depending on what part of the country you are in. I would try suggesting other activities that maybe his friends are into as well. (because friends is probably the motivation, not the scouts themselves) But if he still really wants to be, it might be beneficial for his socialization.

Before letting my child join, I would make sure to talk to the leaders and confirm no discrimination, teasing, or preaching will be done to my child. A child is vunerable and soaks up information like a sponge. I feel the need to protect them. As soon as I heard one negative story, Poof!, they will be pulled!

Girl Scouts is definitely different. The only connection the two groups have is that they were founded originally (a hundred years ago) by a husband and wife in Britain. Girl Scouts welcomes gays and lesbians, and you are never required to say anything that disavows your personal beliefs. (As an employee, I remain silent during that part of the promise, and teach the girls I work with that "serving God" can mean many things to many people) Many troops meet in churches because that is just where there is space--it can be hard to get clearance and time at public schools. Any troop that told you Girl Scouts was a Christian organization was lying,or perhaps meant that their group was largely Christian. Most groups that I've encountered are nondiscriminatory and welcoming, and I'm very sorry that yours was not one of them.

No. I also refuse to buy the girlscout cookies or the boyscout popcorn, even when it’s my best friend asking me to for the troop that she leads.

The popcorn tastes terrible, BTW, but even if it were the yummiest popcorn on the planet, I would not buy it.

I would allow it, after making it clear why I thought a group that discriminates in that way is not something I am at all happy about.

Well, I was in the Boy Scouts and although my troop had religious leanings, I still turned out atheist.

I say explain your grievances with the son but still allow his own choice in the matter.

Come to think of it… I became an Eagle Scout in the BSA, do you think they would take it away if I told them I have become an atheist?

This is one of our hurdles at the beginning of each school year. The Boy Scouts come into the school and tell the kids how fun it is and they throw a party full of fun activities. Our son gets really excited each year, but we’ve explained to him that the Boy Scouts is not an organization that we want to support. I’ve explained that the organization tells people who don’t believe in god and boys who love boys that they are not welcome. This subject was actually one of our first conversations about discrimination that he could relate to. I’ve offered to look into alternatives for him, but he usually loses interest once the Boy Scouts have finished their yearly recruiting.

My son asked to join, because his friends were in scouts, and I pointed out that they support hunting on their flier. He (chose to be a vegetarian because he doesn’t want to kill anything) then decided that he wanted nothing to do with BSA after that.

Yes, with a big caveat.

I attended a rather lackluster troop that met in the basement of the 1st Congregationalist church I attended as a kid in MA. Even with the apathetic leadership, I made it to Life before I got sick of the apathy.

Now twenty-five years later, I’m a liberal atheist living in the great state of VT.

This past year, I’ve been kicking around the idea of seeing if I can volunteer with my local troop. Why?

Maybe to fight the good fight from inside, lead by example and such.

Maybe because nothing is perfect and what is the ratio of good:bad? If scouting actively promotes things like environmental awareness, community service, racial equality and a good work ethic is it possible that it could offset a policy of discrimination against gays and atheists? As was said many times by former scouts: “each troop is different”. I don’t think that the BSA has an active hate program is churning out goose-stepping homophobic fundamentalist zealots by the truckload.

As long as the troop does not actively rail against gay rights or atheists, I would have no problem with it. I’d be willing to bet most troops have an unspoken ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy. If any of the leadership crosses the line, they’d get an earful before I stormed out.

Does the BSA need to change it’s outdated and stupid policies? Hells, yes! But, change can happen best from within and also you must be careful lest in casting out our demons we exorcise the best thing in us(apologies to Nietzsche).

IF I have children, I couldn’t let any of them join…it would just be setting him up for later rejection when they find out about the nature of his family. I wouldn’t want that to happen. This is what Scouting for All is for…

My son is in Boy Scouts – we joined up before we knew much about the negative aspects -anti gay and the religious aspects. However, this troop has been much more liberal even in this conservative areas. I would put this all down to the scoutmaster. There are a lot of good things . I do worry about some of the other adults who may decide to take the troop further right ..

My son has been in Boy Scouts since 2nd grade, and will make Eagle in two years. I agree with a lot of the positive comments in this post, that’s it’s been mostly good. Yes, there are religious elements at times, but nothing we can’t shrug off.

We have had more issues of our son being vegetarian and eating properly on weekend camping trips and week long Boy Scout camps than any other thing.

We looked at other groups that he could join, and Boy Scouts has been one of the best organizations he could belong to, that allowed him to grow, learn and become a better person.

And, here’s something really important.

Yes, my husband and I are atheists, but we are using Richard Dawkins’s parenting concept of: my son is the child of atheists. He isn’t one, himself. He can make that proclamation when he is an adult, but for now, there is no hypocrisy of his involvement with Boy Scouts.

Also, my husband and I have been always very active within his troop. That’s the best way to make sure he is having a positive experience.

BTW, this summer will be the third time my son has been to a weekly Boy Scout summer camp and Camp Quest, within two weeks of each other. Talk about contrasts!

4-H. Still a lot of fundies involved in it, but the national, state, and local organizations are not religious and kids (boys and girls) can choose from a wide range of projects ranging from cake decorating to showing horses. When I was in 4-H, I did projects in entomology, vet science, photography, leadership, public speaking, and several others. There are also tons of opportunities to attend camp. I can’t say enough about it. 4-H is a wonderful alternative to scouting.

Never.

Whether the local leadership is friendly or not, IIRC, National will shut down any troop that has an openly gay leader. (Presumably, also an openly atheistic leader.)

Hi!
This is a tough question for me. My Nana was very strict with religion when my Father was young. So when I was a child he gave me the choice of going to church and ccd and all that fun stuff. Of course as a kid, i did what any kid would do and chose…absolutely not! It worked out well for me, but he didn’t give me a choice when it came cub scouts and then a boy scouts…I had to join. When I was around 12-13 I realized I did not believe in god and I was an atheist. I told my scout leader and he was actually fine with that. I learned so many values, and skills in boy scouts that have helped me through difficult parts of my life and grew a love for the outdoors and camping because of it. I learned how to swim, and plenty of first aid skills along with cpr and other lifesaving techniques. So I think I would not only allow my son to join the boy scouts, I would encourage it. They teach you more than most parents could teach a child. I would just keep a close eye on him and make sure they weren’t forcing religion on him and that he was honest with them about what he believed in. If they kicked him out for not believing in god, so be it. Atleast my son was honest, and it shows how religion can be cruel and intolerant sometimes

No, my sons are not allowed to join the BSA even though the nifty required recruiting meeting during school hours really made both of them want to join, as did the fact that many of their friends are in the organization. Much of that is because of their national policy of discrimination, and not just against my kids should they happen to be atheist. Until they change the policy, they don’t get a dime from me and they don’t get my kids. Our local troop (you know, the one with all their friends) meets in the local Baptist church and is run by a fundy, so it’s not friendly to kids of atheist parents anyway. There is a more liberal troop I know of, but there are still presentations on your family’s religious traditions and such that make it kind of hard to hide AND it’s not the one their friends are involved with anyway.

The boys still volunteer (oldest gathered a group of his friends, open to both genders, for that purpose), camp, and so on. The oldest will be able to join the school’s 4H group come fall. Another awesome thing they can do with their friends if they want to earn cool badges and stuff — the national park system and many of the state park systems have programs kids can participate in to earn Junior Ranger badges.

Let the kid join whatever group he wants. There are plenty of benefits to belonging to the Boy Scouts of America, and he should make his own decisions. If you stifle his participation, he might hold lifelong regrets and a hatred of his parents’ atheism.

Well, my son and I just had this talk when a flyer came home from school. I told him he’d have to believe in a god to join the boy scouts and asked which one he believes in. He laughed and said “none” so that was the end of that.

At least for now. He’s only 6. LOL

Allison (or anyone else), can you tell me which school(s) in your area have Scout presentations where attendance is mandatory?

As far as spirituality, many scout troops probably don’t deal with it beyond the words in the oath. You might want to check out the Unitarian Universalist religious programs since the UUA accepts atheists. Note that their are two sets of awards. One approved by the Unitarian Universalist Association but not the Boy Scouts of America and one approved by the Boy Scouts of America but not by the Unitarian Universalist Association. The latter is available online at http://www.uuscouters.org/awards.htm but has probably bowed to pressure from the BSA on removing implied criticism of BSA’s policy on gays and atheists. The former has to be ordered.

I will soon be faced with this question and highly pressured by it.
I live in Utah, where Scouts and the LDS Church have married in a secret Temple ceremony of Church donations and support of the Scout Loath.

I wrote this post on LDS Scouts after a friend approached me for my opinion on this issue, so I did a little research to find where the scouts stand worldwide in relation to the Boy Scouts of America.

As it is, the BSA is falling behind the rest of the free world and the Mormon church has much to account for this.

LWM

What about our daughters? (Sorry to rip off someone else’s title) The Boy Scouts explicitly discriminate based on sex as well. Girls are not welcomed as members. And no, I would not let my child be a member or a group that discriminates based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, and religion (I’ve heard nasty stories about discrimination against the disabled as well, but as far as I know it’s not an official policy).

Brian, I probably overstated by saying it’s mandatory as I’ve not challenged it. However, the recruiting session for the BSA takes place during school hours and parents are not given any warning that it’s coming. It’s sure not treated as an opt-out activity. It takes place at the same time as the similar activity for the girl scouts. While I’d be crazy to give my kids’ school location out to a stranger on a public internet group, I will say that we’re in the state of Georgia. Since I see you said you’re with Scouting for All (good group, btw!), if you’re dealing with my region I could contact you. I’m personally not willing to make a huge stink about it at the school, as I’m already known as “one of those” parents for other reasons (trying to force the school to adhere to state law and district policy on another issue in hopes that it will benefit more kids than just my own). It’s not that I’m against scouting in general, it’s just that I can’t support the discriminatory policies and that I really do worry my kids would ultimately be made to feel unwelcome.

For someone like Frik, one of the things I want to point out here is that you’re faced with making this decision starting when your kid is five years old. At that age, what they pick up about the group is (1) you get to shoot a bow and arrow (awesome!), (2) they give you food, (3) your friends are there, and (4) it’s the good American thing to do. My oldest’s turning 9 yo soon and I wouldn’t prohibit him from joining at this age if he wanted to do so, although I would make sure he knows about the discrimination policy. My five year old? No, I don’t consider him old enough to make an informed decision on the matter. As I am his parent, you’re going to have to trust that I know about what the level of his reasoning is.

I will do this because I think service to Country outranks joining a social organization for young boys & men. However, it raises the difficult question – Am I being morally inconsistent? I don’t think so – but I would like to hear some other thoughts…

This isn’t moral inconsistency at all. Rather, it’s a resolution of competing moral beliefs. Nothing wrong with that.

Consider it analogous to a situation with two conflicting moral imperatives. In such a situation you would act on one imperative or the other; as long as you act on one of those imperatives, neither act can be considered objectively more “right” than the other.

Nothing wrong with scouting if you can find the right troop. In Kent, for instance, the local troop is based out of the United Church of Christ. Now, while still Christian, this faction is about as liberal as you can get. Their motto is “God is still speaking” meaning they could give two poops about if you’re gay or not, the local pastor is a gay guy and his partner is very active in the church. They don’t hide anything.

Second, hopefully if enough people can get active in scouting, it can be taken back from the religious. It’s so unreligious in England, it’s ridiculous. Most troops there still use the traditional law and oath from 1908.

In any case, yes, there are other great organizations out there. But be careful, you never know what they might be associated with. Like the group Youth for Western Civilization… not cool.

NEVER. I would find a similar, but non-bigoted group, and allow my child to join that instead.

If you raise your kids right, they’ll never request it.

My boy never asked.

Late to this, but I’d say no. I was an Eagle Scout, but returned my badge with a letter saying I wanted no part of an organization that won’t allow atheists or gays to be members. (I am not gay, but consider myself an Ally.) I think it would be wrong to allow one’s children to be a part of this immoral organization.