I wrote this letter to the National Scouting Office, because I just reached a point where I couldn’t be quiet. At what point will an organization be allowed  to be what they wish to be, define their membership as they will?  And why do others need to compel me to call what they are doing “acceptable?”

Dear BSA National Council Leadership;

I think it’s time for me to write.

An oath or creed establishes one’s position. It is defining; a “line in the sand”. An organization such as the Boy Scouts of America, which, from its origin has had an oath for its membership, has a place where it stands. By its very definition and purpose, an oath is meant to be identifying: one chooses to be associated with it. Or one does not. It is the nature of taking a position, and the nature of choice. It self-selects.

It is not my intention to discuss the acceptability, nature, origin, or validity of homosexual lifestyle or activity. That is a completely separate subject. I will suffice it to state as fact that there currently exists a significant portion of our population that holds it not to be a good thing. It’s not everyone, by any means, but it’s not an insignificant number, either. There is not unanimity, by any measure.

And by “not… a good thing,” I mean among other things, not morally good.

There are three points to my position. First, if you want to be in an organization that holds all the beliefs and principles that you hold, go find one and join it; or, if one doesn’t exist, create it. To those who challenge the current foundation of Scouting, I offer the opportunity that the founder of the Boy Scouts of America faced himself, twice: Build an organization with your principles that succeeds. One can’t, however, expect an organization to change its stated position because one wants it to be different that what it is. The BSA has a set of standards by which it encourages young men to follow their duty to God and strive for a higher standard than the rest of the world around them. Those that subscribe to that standard are welcome. I know many boys who chose not to be scouts for many reasons – they didn’t want to work at earning merit badges or advancement in rank, they didn’t want to hike or carry gear, they didn’t like camping, they didn’t like the other members or leaders in a particular troop, they didn’t really have a desire to “help other people at all times…” It’s no surprise that there are fewer young men who stay in Scouting as they get older. It’s a narrow way. The combination of the standards, the activities, and the required effort, are not for everyone. If some decline to participate because they want to live a life that is not consistent with the stated standards, they are free to do so. But there is no reason that the Boy Scouts of America should change what it requires because some are not interested in the principles it holds. At that point you might just as well hand an Eagle to everyone. And at that point I will hand you mine. Until then, those standards have meaning, and value.

Second. Boys need those standards. A large portion of getting young men to be good young men involves both pushing them in ways that challenge them, and restraining natural inclinations of every sort which boys experience and have a tendency to act upon. Need I state the obvious? Left to themselves, boys do not always make good decisions, and groups of young men do not always target leadership and service as their purpose. I have tried to explain to my sons (if only to keep them from the experiential manner in which I have gained this knowledge), there is no honor, no great achievement, in giving in to your baser desires. On the contrary, it is only through significant effort that one keeps these things in check. Scouting teaches young men that to the degree that they subdue, restrain, and control their self-interest and self-focus, the greater degree they achieve the leadership and service for which Scouting is renown. The challenging nature of Scouting pushes you to do things you might not have thought you could do. You do these things because they are better. They bring greater success. And they are “right.”

Third, and most important for the organization of the Boy Scouts, is that, if a group cannot make a decision that something is right or wrong, then it is no longer in a position to call young men to an oath to keep themselves “physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight,” (emphasis mine). Morality is, by definition, a judgement. A decision. A set of standards. Scouting has, from the outset, identified a moral position. Lord Baden Powell stated that “A Scout is clean in thought, word, and deed. Decent Scouts look down upon silly youths who talk dirt, and they do not let themselves give way to temptation, either to talk it or to do anything dirty. A Scout is pure, and clean-minded, and manly.” (Scouting for Boys, 1912 edition) The Boy Scouts of America must retain its ability to make decisions about what is morally good if it is to keep its role in guiding young men, if it is to be itself. For the BSA to change from its current position means it is redefining what behavior it considers “morally straight.” For scouts saying the oath after that time, they are accepting BSA’s determination of that.

I just can’t believe that BSA would be willing to step out so boldly, when so much of scouting is associated with churches and organizations that don’t hold that position. The words of the oath are clear: morally straight.

I am an Eagle Scout (I was reminded regularly by a fellow Eagle and mentor that the achievement is not relinquished when you turn 18, so he always stated he IS, still and always will be, an Eagle). I attempt to live a trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent life. At times it has been more difficult than others. At times I have failed to live up to that standard. But those still have been my guiding principles, and have been the benchmark by which I have both measured myself and measured the intent and integrity of those around me: If this is who you are, who you want to be, I know, to a certain degree, what is inside you, simply because you attempted this. You didn’t have to want this. You didn’t have to choose this. But you did, and you do. You wanted this label. And you mean what you say, as I do, when I say:

On my honor, I will do my best

to do my duty to God and my country

and to obey the Scout Law;

to help other people at all times;

to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

This is not an oath all choose to take. But its continued meaning comes from the fact that there are those of us who do.

Philip J. Carollo

Eagle Scout

The reasons why people want validation from organizations that explicitly don’t endorse their behavior are not reasons that support principles of courtesy or looking out for others; those reasons are self-centered and not focused on the interest of the group that is already established. There is nothing stopping them from creating their own group. Scouting is not about getting larger troops; it is about the content and purpose of the organization.

I choose a group because they hold the beliefs that I hold; attempting to join something which adheres to something I do not believe does not make sense.