The ACLU Saves the Boy Scouts from God; let’s save the Boy Scouts from the ACLU

On November 15 this year the Department of Defense agreed to settle a case where the ACLU of Illinois argued that the Pentagon, via the Department of Defense (DOD), should stop sponsoring Boy Scouts events on military bases because the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) stand by their belief in God as a requirement of membership. As Mary Mostert points out, “To further its propaganda war, the ACLU reported it as a great victory and warned that it planned to halt the Boy Scout Jamborees on army bases.”

Since the BSA is not a federal organization, separation of church and state doesn’t apply, so the ACLU complained that government funds benefited the Boy Scouts. As the above article by Cinnamon Stillwell and Lee Kaplan explains,

It seems that the ACLU’s advocacy for children, if it can be called that, extends only to the perverse. Earlier this year, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in support of a proposed nudist camp for children in Virginia. Then there was the ACLU’s defense of NAMBLA, the North American Man Boy Love Association, in a wrongful-death suit brought by the parents of a 10-year-old Massachusetts boy murdered by a member. Add to that the organization’s perpetual indignation at the Scouts refusal to hire openly gay men, and you have a pattern of injecting sexuality where it does not belong. No wonder the ACLU chafes against the Boy Scouts’ Oath, which, along with a belief in God, asks boys to be “morally straight.”

It is for all these reasons that the ACLU’s continuing attacks on the Boy Scouts must be stopped, and thankfully, opponents are already gearing up for a fight. Just last week, the House, in a non-binding resolution that passed by a 391-3 vote “commended the Boy Scouts and condemned the legal effort to limit government ties to the group because of its requirement that members believe in God,” according to the Associated Press. Arizona Republican and former Eagle Scout Rep. J.D. Hayworth, along with veterans groups, penned a letter to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld asking him to reverse the DOD’s settlement with the ACLU. And although the measure did not pass, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist introduced the “Save Our Scouts” bill to allow federal support for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America.

The Wall Street Journal aks,

The question no one seems to be asking is, who’s better off as a result of these lawsuits? Surely not the 3.2 million Boy Scouts, whose venerable organization is part of the web of voluntary associations once considered the bedrock of American life. If anything, the purpose of the ACLU attacks is to paint Scouts as religious bigots. Other losers are communities themselves, which are forced to sever ties to an organization that helps to build character in young men.

It’s been 20 years since the ACLU brought its first suit against the Scouts. If there’s one thing we’ve learned by now, it’s that the ACLU offensive says more about the degraded status of the civil liberties group than it does about the Boy Scouts.

Here’s what you can do:

• Read the articles at the Boy Scouts of America Legal Issues Site.
• Spread the word. Tell all your friends about this. Email your entire mailing list.
• Write, call, and email both the national ACLU and your state ACLU offices protesting this current policies. Insist on being heard. To find your local office, navigate the national ACLU site to the right-bottom corner where it says “YOUR LOCAL ACLU” and you’ll find the states listed alphabetically.
• Register at the BSA website for updates, donate money to their legal defense fund. Join any of the supporting organizations, and add your organization to the supporting organizations roster.
• Laura Friedel and David Scott of the Schiff Hardin law firm are the lawyers assisting the ACLU in the Illinois law suit. If you’re their client, withdraw your business and tell them why.
• Call your representative in Congress and ask them to support the BSA. Call your Senator and ask him/her to support the BSA. Find out how they voted and insist that they support the Scouts.
• Write to your local papers supporting the Scouts.
• Call your local United Way and request that they support the Scouts. If they don’t, don’t support the United Way.

The Save Our Scouts bill will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress. We need to act now.