Unitarian organization reaches
agreement with Boy Scouts
By TOM KIRCHOFER
Associated Press Writer
May 7, 1999
BOSTON (AP) - Although it still disagrees with the Boy
Scouts' conservative stance on homosexuality, the
Unitarian Universalist Association has reached an
agreement with the BSA that will allow the church
group to once again award religious medals to scouts.
In its manual for the "Religion in Life" award, the
eclectic Boston-based association of churches has
agreed to stop advising boys that it has concerns
about what it called the Boy Scouts' "homophobic and
discriminatory attitudes."
Instead, the UUA said it will give boys the same
message in pamphlets mailed along with the manual.
"We agreed to delete from our manual the language
that the Boy Scouts objected to," John Hurley, a
spokesman for the UUA, said Friday. "But we are still
going to be sending this material to scouts."
The agreement is largely technical, because neither
side has any plans to alter its stance on
homosexuality.
"We've always taught traditional family values. An
avowed homosexual wouldn't be a role model for those
values," said Boy Scout spokesman Greg Shields, who
said homosexuals cannot be members or leaders in the
BSA. "It's consistent with what the Boy Scouts have
taught since 1910."
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 recently resolved dispute between the Unitarians
and the Boy Scouts came to a head in May 1998, when
the Boy Scouts informed the church that it could no
longer award the Religion in Life award to scouts.
The two sides then wrangled over the issue for nearly
a year before the BSA agreed to the revised manual
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.
In a letter to church members describing the
arrangement with the scouts, UUA President John A.
Buehrens wrote that, "it is not homosexuality but
homophobia which is a sin."
Buehrens also wrote that he would begin negotiating
with the Boy Scouts to get a Unitarian Universalist on
the BSA Religious Relationships Committee, which
regulates religious groups' affiliations with the
scouts.
The UUA, whose 250,000 members espouse widely varying
beliefs including forms of Buddhism and
feminist-inspired "Earth-centered spirituality," has
agreed to disagree with the Boy Scouts.
"Many of the values of scouting are congruent with
the values of Unitarian Universalism," Hurley said.
"But some aren't."
UUA/Scouts Main Page
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
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