Unitarians and the Boy scouts' 'sin' of homophobia

from In Newsweekly

May 26, 1999
SHARPER Focus
BY Chuck Colbert, in newsweekly columnist

A month ago the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) and the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) reached a compromise in their dispute over homosexuality.

But apparently that compromise fell apart when the Scouts revoked the Unitarian's authority to grant religious awards, according to a breaking news story this week in The Boston Globe by religion reporter Diego Ribadeneira. The UUA intends to defy the BSA's latest order.

For more than a year now, the two organizations have been trying to resolve a very public disagreement over two differing views on homosexuality.

According to the 1911 Scout Oath a boy pledges to "keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight." In 1991 the Scouts reaffirmed that stance, stating that "homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the requirements in the Scout Oath" and that "avowed homosexuals" were not welcome.

Unitarian Universalists -- a progressive religious denomination with deep roots in American Protestantism -- stresses the "inherent worth and dignity of every person," and from that tenet flows the UUA's affirmation of gay rights. Unitarians teach that homophobia --not homosexuality -- is the sin.

Marking the first time a mainline religious denomination has made so public and so forceful its criticism of the anti-gay policy, the dispute made national headlines.

It was not just any religious organization taking on the Scouts, but one that has a very American history of supporting freedom, reason, and tolerance. Universal Unitarianism is the faith tradition of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, William Howard Taft, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams.

To resolve the dispute, the church deleted from its manual for the "Religion and Life" award a statement the Scouts found offensive.

That statement -- mentioning the UUA's "ongoing concern regarding the homophobic and discriminatory attitudes of the national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America" -- caused the BSA a year ago to order the denomination to stop giving out the award.

"Until . . . the [Unitarian] materials can be redrafted to a form acceptable to the Committee, youth may not be awarded Unitarian Universalists religious emblems in scouting or wear the emblem on a scout uniform," the chairman of the Scouts' Religious Relationships Committee wrote last May to the president of the UUA.

In reaching a compromise BSA unanimously approved the redrafted UUA manual and reauthorized the "awarding of the Religion in Life emblem [by the UUA] to Scouts and the wearing of the emblem on a Scout uniform," according to the chairman.

But while the church agreed to delete the statement offensive to the Scouts from the Unitarian manual, the UUA was unwilling to compromise its core religious beliefs. Consequently, along with each copy of the newly revised manual was to be provided a separate letter offering "resources appropriate to dealing with issues of homophobia and religious discrimination," according to John Buehrens, president of the 250,000-member denomination.

The Scouts, however, now say that the separate document was not mentioned as part of any compromise.

"That document reopens the whole issue of using boys as a venue to air the Unitarian Universalists Association's objection to scouting's commitment to God and to traditional family values," Gregg Shields of the BSA told the Globe.

While the Unitarian Universalists refused to temper their criticisms of the Scouts, they would like a Unitarian to serve on the BSA's religion committee. Buehrens explained why the church wanted representation:

First, "many of the values of scouting are congruent with our UU principles," he wrote last month.

Second, "BSA bylaws contain a statement about the nature of God which many good people in many traditions would find impossible to accept."

Third, "the BSA can and should adopt new policies with regard to volunteers, to membership and to homophobia." Continuing, he wrote, "Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation should not be allowed to continue as a national policy. It will ruin the organization...."

Buehrens has got that right. For some time now, legal and human rights organizations have challenged the Scouts policy -- not only on the issue of barring openly gay men and boys from the BSA, but also on issues of religious freedom and discrimination -- in court cases from California to New Jersey, from Washington to Illinois, and in the District of Columbia.

Just because more conservative churches -- Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Mormon -- charter most Scout troops does not mean that their sectarian religious traditions should unduly influence and set national policy for a secular organization like the Boy Scouts.

Openly gay Unitarians should be able to join the BSA and serve in leadership and volunteer positions. The UUA should be able to give out religious awards to its Boy Scouts.

What's so inspiring about the Unitarian Universalists is the example they set. For a change, the religious order prods the secular order to do the right thing -- instead of sitting on the sidelines waiting for social justice and equality to happen.

(Chuck Colbert's Sharper Focus is an in newsweekly column.)

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