Boys Scouts Compulsory?

[BookofMormonLuvr]

Are Wards, in the USA, required to use the BSA program as the Young Men's program, or could a Bishop and his conselors along with the YM's Presidency decide to start a unit with the now quickly expanding Trail Life USA?

[Coreyb]

I have a friend who was a young men's leader in a small branch. They didn't have enough boys to have a troop, and he wasnt fond of the bsa anyways, so they just used the duty to god program. They still had camps, activities, awards and everything without the additional bureaucracy. He said everyone loved it, and felt that the church would eventually cut ties with the baby and go that way

[rpn]

Yes, wards are required to use the BSA program if they are using any program.  But there are wards that combine to make one troop for a city or a part of a community with several wards.

[Duncan]

Is joining Scouts compulsory? yes, just ask my Mum. This is why I am 35 and haven't been camping since I was 17 and am not about to start now, life is too short to waste sleeping outside-I can't speak for others but I work to prevent that from happening

[ERayR]

Is joining Scouts compulsory? yes, just ask my Mum. This is why I am 35 and haven't been camping since I was 17 and am not about to start now, life is too short to waste sleeping outside-I can't speak for others but I work to prevent that from happening

 

At my age I consider roughing it as black and white TV in a motel room.

[Duncan]

At my age I consider roughing it as black and white TV in a motel room.

 

 

seriously or when room service ends at 1030 and you call for pizza and huddle in front of the fireplace until it arrives

[strappinglad]

Is joining Scouts compulsory? yes, just ask my Mum. This is why I am 35 and haven't been camping since I was 17 and am not about to start now, life is too short to waste sleeping outside-I can't speak for others but I work to prevent that from happening

Beware Duncan, if the bishop gets wind of your reluctance to camp, you will soon be involved with scouts or venturers. On the Canadian Prairies you have the inexplicable joy of summer camps in a blizzard and winter camps in a February thaw. Edited March 9, 2014 by strappinglad

[Kenngo1969]

Is joining Scouts compulsory? yes, just ask my Mum. This is why I am 35 and haven't been camping since I was 17 and am not about to start now, life is too short to waste sleeping outside-I can't speak for others but I work to prevent that from happening

[Buzzard]

Scouting or not, I have to get my back up in defense of getting as close to the outdoors as possible. I did spend two years as a Scoutmaster in CA, but most of my adult life, my favorite vacation, be it for the day for for over a week, was to drive to the end of the road, put my house on my back, and start walking. Any time of the year, in fact, snowshoeing just thins out the crowds.

An awful lot of the relationship I have with my now grown daughter I ascribe to getting her into the Sierra Nevada or Utah backcountry for at least a week or two every summer that she was growing up. No phone, no TV, no friends, just her and dad and an autistic brother who didn't talk. So nothing to do but talk to dad all week, along with seeing things that most people never see, because they were two days walk from the road.

So now I find myself at 55, a bit pudgy, my kidney's on the downslope from all the chemo they have filtered these last few years, can't feel the bottom of my feet from the neuropathy, but I can still pick em up and put em down, and my daughter and I are planning an overnight snowshoe above Provo in a couple of weeks.

Do I ever take it easy? Sure. We will be car camping in Capital Reef next month, and may stay Friday night at a motel rather than set up camp in the dark. But whenever I can, I choose camping over hotels, and backcountry camping over car camping.

And a lot of that has to do with the adventures I found in the scouts as a youth, including a 50 mile hike less than a month after I tuned 12. I was unprepared, got soaked, dirty, hungry, and smelly. I had a blast.

[Storm Rider]

Some boys are just not meant for the outdoors, but I believe the vast majority when given the chance fall in love with it. To learn to be in the outdoors, respect it, admire the beauty, and become a part of it. That is what scouting was for me.  I remember my 36 Below badge in Alaska; the temperature fell below 36 degrees, but we were prepared for it. We knew how to build our lean-to, have the right sleeping bag, cover with boughs, and it worked great.  Going to scout camp at Blue Lake in the summer; these are some of my favorite memories of boyhood.

 

It saddens me all of those memories will denied to so many boys in the future. The Boy Scouts will be destroyed and become a shadow of itself because it dared to have standards. It just means that fathers will have more responsibility of providing those memories, but they will never be able to provide the same quality of a troop of boys learning to become men together. 

[thesometimesaint]

At my age I consider roughing it as black and white TV in a motel room.

 

Anything less than a 4 star hotel is roughing it.

[Craig in Austin]

Probably not Trail Life USA.  They specifically ban Mormons, as well as Jews.  Although they state "All boys ages 5 through 17 are welcome irrespective of religion, race, national origin, or socio-economic status", their membership is limited to a compulsory  "Statement of Faith", which refers to a "Triune" God.  

[mfbukowski]

Probably not Trail Life USA.  They specifically ban Mormons, as well as Jews.  Although they state "All boys ages 5 through 17 are welcome irrespective of religion, race, national origin, or socio-economic status", their membership is limited to a compulsory  "Statement of Faith", which refers to a "Triune" God.  

Ooops.

 

Guess that settles that!

[mfbukowski]

In my opinion we should just emphasize the Duty to God and other Young Men's programs and forget scouting- meaning, make Scouts a worthwhile organization consistent (mostly ) with church values and each ward could have a troop if they desire.  There are other churches which sponsor scout troops on that basis- "Here it is, join if you like, or don't." 

 

I don't think it needs to be an "official" church program.

 

But I suppose there is a reason no one in authority has asked my opinion.    Maybe they didn't have my phone number.

[Tacenda]

In my opinion we should just emphasize the Duty to God and other Young Men's programs and forget scouting- meaning, make Scouts a worthwhile organization consistent (mostly ) with church values and each ward could have a troop if they desire. There are other churches which sponsor scout troops on that basis- "Here it is, join if you like, or don't."

I don't think it needs to be an "official" church program.

But I suppose there is a reason no one in authority has asked my opinion. Maybe they didn't have my phone number.

Yeah, maybe the church should run it like they do with YW's. The church doesn't sponsor the Girl Scouts. They have to go out and find a troop. Maybe it should be that way for the YM.

[cinepro]

Yeah, maybe the church should run it like they do with YW's. The church doesn't sponsor the Girl Scouts. They have to go out and find a troop. Maybe it should be that way for the YM.

No one sponsors the Girl Scouts. They are set up entirely differently, and don't use the "chartered organization" model that Boy Scouts does.

[The Nehor]

Monson loves the Scouts. Short of revelation hitting hard or core values being compromised I doubt we will shift our stance while he is prophet. Maybe in another decade or two.

[Avatar4321]

No one is forced to do anything in scouting. But It's an amazing program and we should be using it more than we are. Until I recently started up as a Den Leader I had forgotten how awesome Scouts had been.

[Tacenda]

No one sponsors the Girl Scouts. They are set up entirely differently, and don't use the "chartered organization" model that Boy Scouts does.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Girl Scout motto, not including a need for a belief in God or something?  I'll have to dig it up.  I do think Boy Scouts shouldn't be apart of church callings, but do believe in the scouting program.  I would think people would support scouting just as much if it weren't a part of the church, but could be wrong it may be that the program in church compels people to sign their boys up.  

[cinepro]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the Girl Scout motto, not including a need for a belief in God or something?  I'll have to dig it up.  I do think Boy Scouts shouldn't be apart of church callings, but do believe in the scouting program.  I would think people would support scouting just as much if it weren't a part of the church, but could be wrong it may be that the program in church compels people to sign their boys up.

 

If the LDS Church ever stops officially (and compulsorily) supporting the Boy Scouts of America, the BSA is totally screwed. 

 

But it would be interesting to look at the Scouting background of different Apostles and figure out which would be most likely to start scaling back Church involvement in the BSA when given the opportunity.  Obviously the BSA means about as much to President Uchtdorf as the Deutscher Pfadfinderverband means to us in the USA.

[Anijen]

Our ward is 32 miles away and have struggled maintaining a scout troop. A good leader comes and then gets released and the program goes down hill again. My sons have reached their Eagle ranks at the troop in the town I live. So even though our ward has a troop we have gone through the one in our town.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Anijen

[BCSpace]

Scouting is the young men's program of the Church.  The Duty to God program as constituted serves a different function though it could of course be expanded in the future to replace Scouting and may indeed be the framework the Church is using for when the BSA goes with gay leaders.

Edited March 10, 2014 by BCSpace

[sheilauk]

I assume scouting is only "compulsory" where the BSA exists. While we have scouts in the UK (Baden Powell was British and the first scouts were British!), they are not sponsored by the LDS church and troops are not connected to the LDS church. Most troops are connected to the Church of England or Methodists in England (don't know about Wales,Scotland & N Ireland). Somehow the YM still manage to operate a program and meet every Tuesday evening. They use Duty to God.

Are there scouting links anywhere else in the world (other than the US?)