Several months ago, the Mormons drew another line in the sand over a controversial issue: if BSA units (the troops and packs sponsored by religious and other organizations) must accept homosexuals as leaders, the church would drop out and take its 400,000 scouts — about 12 percent of the BSA’s total membership — with it.

The other biggest sponsor is the catholic church. Churches are a major source of both funding and other support. And yes, there are welcoming and tolerant churches out there who protest the restriction and would be happy to see the BSA include the gay community, but those aren’t the major sources of their funding.

Is it any wonder they ban both gays and atheists?

If anyone else in interested in the history, I found this article which seems to be a fairly factual and impartial account of where the BSA went wrong.

By ‘impartial’ I mean that it mentions as well some christian organizations that oppose the BSA’s discriminatory practices against gays and have tried to get the BSA to change its policies. It doesn’t mention anything about atheists, but then the article is about what the BSA has against the gay community, so the author probably considered it a side issue.

Thank you for contacting the hotline on this issue. It is currently an ongoing investigation with the issues being currently addressed. Have a nice day.

This and my original message was all that was included.

I don’t know if that’s a true assumption – “grant-receiving group can discriminate against anyone who wants to use the service.” Pretty sure I’m too old to join the boy or girl scouts, i can’t go to public school (age discrimination?) I can’t seem to get any help from welfare… (wealth discrimination?) and can’t seem to get the pain meds I want… (what, now i’m being discriminated because I’m healthy?) They won’t let me play on the local high school basketball team – it really sucks… I don’t get any money from homeless shelters… they tell me to go back to my house… but for better or worse, there is obvious discrimination that takes place. The real question is of he nature of that discrimination.

You can be a scout leader. Public school graduate? You got your public education but you can go to public university. You can get welfare if you need it and won’t be discriminated against if you need it. Your doctor will prescribe necessary meds. You can try out for a NBA team and make the team if you are good enough. You can stay at a homeless shelter if you are in line early enough and weather conditions determine it needs to be open. The nature of the discrimination of the BSA? Superstitious bigotry.