Deal between scouts, religious group, collapses

By Tom Kirchofer
Associated Press Writer
May 19, 1999

BOSTON (AP) - The Boy Scouts of America have walked away from a deal with the Unitarian Universalist Association, saying the church group violated the agreement by vowing to keep teaching that the Scouts' stance against homosexuality was wrong.

The eclectic Boston-based association of churches agreed last month to stop advising boys in its manual for the ''Religion in Life'' medal that it has concerns about what it called the Boy Scouts' ''homophobic and discriminatory attitudes.''

Instead, the UUA had said it would give boys the same message in pamphlets mailed along with the manual.

However, Lawrence Ray Smith, a member of the scouts' Religious Relationships Committee, sent the UUA a letter saying such a move ''reopens the entire issue of using boys as a venue to air your differences with the policies of the Boy Scouts of America.''

The Boy Scouts do not allow homosexuals to participate in scouting as members or leaders.

Along with the Unitarian Universalists, the Roman Catholic Church and many Protestant, Jewish and Muslim denominations bestow religious medals on scouts. The awards are presented by the religions, not by the Boy Scouts.

The emblems differ from the merit badges that are earned for mastering a specific task, but can still be worn on scouts' uniforms as badges of honor.

The UUA maintains that in a meeting with Boy Scout officials, the two sides agreed to the compromise plan.

''What particularly distresses me is that we had a clear understanding in our meeting,'' said the Rev. John Buehrens, president of the UUA. ''I think the Boy Scouts perhaps can't agree internally. That would be a polite interpretation of what's going on.''

But the Boy Scouts' spokesman, Greg Shields, said Wednesday that the UUA was violating the agreement by providing boys with literature endorsing gay rights.

''This additional document was contrary to the spirit of the agreement with the UUA,'' he said, adding that the materials were ''inconsistent with scouting's values.''

In May 1998, the Boy Scouts informed the church group that it could no longer award the Religion in Life award to scouts. The two sides then wrangled for months before a compromise agreement was announced last month.

The Boy Scouts' conservative views of homosexuality have spawned a variety of lawsuits and wide debate over how much leeway the organization should have to dictate moral issues.

The UUA, has about 250,000 members who espouse widely varying beliefs, including forms of Buddhism and feminist-inspired ''Earth-centered spirituality.''

UUA/Scouts Main Page

Copyright © 1999 Associated Press

Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon St. | Boston, MA 02108 | 617-742-2100