• Mormons drop Scout programs for older teens

    From Leroy N. Soetoro@21:1/5 to All on Fri May 12 02:28:55 2017
    XPost: alt.religion.mormon, sac.politics, alt.politics.homosexuality
    XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865679711/Mormons-drop-Scout-programs- for-older-teens.html

    SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church, the oldest and largest charter
    organization of the Boy Scouts of America, will drop Scouting from its
    Young Men's program for boys ages 14 through 17.

    Today, about 1 in 6 American Scouts is Mormon. Effective Jan. 1, the move
    will carve as many 180,000 Mormon boys from the Varsity and Venturing
    Scout programs in the United States and Canada, replacing them with
    activities created for boys in those age groups by The Church of Jesus
    Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    The church will continue to sponsor Cub Scouts for boys 8 to 10 and Boy
    Scout programs for those 11 through 13 in those two countries, but
    statements released by the church about the announcement signaled that it
    may drop those programs in the future, too.

    The overhaul is stunning, because Scouting has been an indelible,
    seemingly inseparable, part of the LDS Church's Young Men program for 104 years, but it isn't a major surprise. Church leaders quietly have
    considered dropping Scouting from its Young Men and Primary programs for
    many years for multiple reasons.

    Church leaders announced the change and the reasons for it via statements
    in a question-and-answer-style statement on mormonnewsroom.org early
    Thursday morning.

    Why?

    The church released a letter from the First Presidency that explained the decision is part of "the church's ongoing effort to evaluate and improve
    its service to families and young people worldwide."

    The mormonnewsroom.org statement shared more detail.

    "In most congregations in the United States and Canada, young men ages 14-
    18 are not being served well by the Varsity or Venturing programs, which
    have historically been difficult to implement within the church," the
    statement said. "This change will allow youth and leaders to implement a simplified program that meets local needs while providing activities that balance spiritual, social, physical and intellectual development goals for young men."

    The BSA released a statement on Thursday that said in part, "Although
    thousands of youth and leaders who participate in Venturing crews
    nationwide embrace and support the program, we recognize that not all
    programs are a perfect fit for all partners. We anticipate that many youth
    from the LDS Church will continue to participate in Scouting beyond the
    age of 14 as young men work to earn the Eagle Scout rank."

    Church leaders long have wrestled with concerns about inequity within the church caused by Scouting. Hundreds of thousands of LDS boys in other
    countries did not have access to Scouting, and the church has spent more
    on American boys than girls because of its financial commitment to the Boy Scouts of America.

    Discussions about those issues began before highly publicized
    controversies over BSA decisions to accept gay Scout leaders and gay and transgender Scouts and long before last week's news that Scouting has considered admitting girls to more of its programs. The church said
    Thursday those issues weren't part of the decision because "BSA has always allowed the Church to operate its programs in ways that are consistent
    with our standards and beliefs."

    Four years ago, when BSA voted to admit openly gay scouts into troops, LDS leaders noted that the church always admitted gay scouts and would
    continue to do so. However, when BSA voted to allow openly gay scout
    leaders in July 2015, the church publicly said for the first time that it
    was re-considering the Scouting program.

    "The church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless
    of sexual orientation," the statement said. "However, the admission of
    openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the church and
    what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America."

    That 2015 statement clearly stated that Scouting didn't meet the needs of
    most of the international church's young men.

    A month later, church leaders decided to continue with Scouting for
    American and Canadian boys and young men after BSA affirmed "the right of
    all religious chartered organizations to select their Scout leaders in accordance with their religious beliefs."

    Close partners

    The LDS Church has been a major part of the BSA since it became the first chartered BSA organization in 1913.

    "The church partnership with the BSA was a blessing to the relatively new Scouting organization," LDS-BSA relationships director Mark Francis said
    last month at the annual LDS-BSA Relationships Seminar in Salt Lake City.
    "In addition, the willingness of the BSA to accept the church as a
    chartered partner during a time when there was not a favorable view of the Mormons was also an act of goodwill. Collectively, we have the capacity to solve the toughest problems and find solutions to benefit everyone."

    Since 1931, an LDS apostle has served on the BSA's National Executive
    Board. LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson, who holds Scouting's highest honor — the Silver Buffalo Award — has been a member of the BSA National Executive Board for 47 years. The BSA has honored his vast contributions
    to Scouting twice in the past year by naming buildings for him. In
    October, the Thomas S. Monson Lodge opened at the Hinckley Scout Ranch in
    Utah, and construction is underway on the BSA's Thomas S. Monson
    Leadership Excellence Complex at the Summit Bechtel Reserve in West
    Virginia.

    Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is currently
    on the BSA's national board along with Brother Stephen W. Owen, the
    general Young Men president, and Sister Joy D. Jones, the general Primary president.

    The current national commissioner of the BSA is Charles Dahlquist, a
    former general Young Men president in the church and a former member of
    the General Church Scouting Committee.

    "As much as I hate to see these young men move out of Scouting," Dahlquist said, "I have the belief that this will be a wonderful, unifying
    opportunity for Latter-day Saint youth, to be able to reach their
    potential in ways that we have not seen possible."

    What's next?

    The LDS Church makes an annual lump sum payment to BSA to help cover the participation of its boys and young men. The church will make the exact
    same payment to BSA in 2018 that it did this year so that BSA will not experience any immediate financial hit.

    The First Presidency said young men who want to continue to work toward
    "the rank of Eagle Scout or Queen Scout should be encouraged and supported
    and should be properly registered as Scouts."

    A Queen Scout is the Canadian equivalent to BSA's Eagle rank.

    The problem of creating a program for all of the church's boys and young
    men around the world remains. The church's Thursday statement alluded in multiple places to working toward programs that could replace Cub Scouts
    and Boy Scouts. For example, it said the church is sticking with the Cub
    Scout and Boy Scout programs because they "currently meet the development program needs of boys from ages 8 through 13." The statement noted that "previous statements have indicated that the church wants a program that
    serves all young men around the world." It also noted that "the church continues to look for ways to meet the spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual needs of young men around the world."

    While the church's Thursday statement said it hasn't completed "the global program" that will serve young men around the world, it does have
    activities prepared to replace the Varsity and Venturing programs. Those activities that can be seen at lds.org/youth/activities and ymactivities.lds.org. They have been in place since 2013 as a resource for youth and their leaders around the world.

    "When followed, these activities can provide better opportunities for spiritual, physical, emotional and intellectual growth," the church's
    statement said.

    Brother Owen, the general Young Men president, called leaders Monday at
    both the BSA and Scouts Canada, informing them of the church's decision.

    The changes address the disparity of funding and activities between the church’s Young Men and Young Women programs.

    "Church leaders have long been aware of this concern," the faith's
    statement said on Thursday morning. "This new program brings the spending
    into balance for youth ages 14 through 18. This will continue to be a
    factor in the ongoing exploration and creation of a worldwide youth
    program."

    Today, about 470,000 LDS boys and young men ages 8-13 participate in
    Scouting programs in the United States and Canada. As of August 2015, that represented nearly 17 percent of Boy Scouts in America.

    More than 280,000 LDS boys and young men are between the ages of 8-13 will remain associated with Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.


    --
    Donald J. Trump, 304 electoral votes to 227, defeated compulsive liar in
    denial Hillary Rodham Clinton on December 19th, 2016. The clown car
    parade of the democrat party has run out of gas.

    Congratulations President Trump. Thank you for ending the disaster of the Obama presidency.

    Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
    The World According To Garp.

    ObamaCare is a total 100% failure and no lie that can be put forth by its supporters can dispute that.

    Obama jobs, the result of ObamaCare. 12-15 working hours a week at minimum wage, no benefits and the primary revenue stream for ObamaCare. It can't
    be funded with money people don't have, yet liberals lie about how great
    it is.

    Obama increased total debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the eight
    years he was in office, and sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood queer
    liberal democrat donors.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)