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"Scouters Fluke"
(My friend Keith is a competitive runner in his mid-70s. He's a freelance writer who's not afraid to say what he thinks - even if he makes a few enemies. Hell, he can outrun 'em! - Da Rev)
NOT MORALLY STRAIGHT? THINK AGAIN!
Guest Blogger KEITH TAYLOR is a retired Navy officer.
He can be
reached at [email protected].
Originally published Wednesday, Nov. 2,
2005 in The San Diego Voice
"Boy Scouts Ban Episcopalians." Can you imagine
the uproar if that headline greeted Mr. and Mrs. America tomorrow morning? San
Diegans would cut loose with a torrent of e-mail, faxes, phone calls and letters
to their congressional representatives raising (shall we say it?) holy hell. The
representatives in turn would rush to Capitol Hill to see who could shout
loudest to demand the Scouts repudiate such nonsense or they'd lose government
support.
But rest easy. The Boy Scouts didn't do that to Episcopalians.
They picked a couple of larger and much safer targets -- gays and atheists. In
fact the San Diego Unified School District just revoked a policy which charged
fees for the Scouts (and other religious groups) to use school
classrooms.
It's long been a tradition to give public support
to the Scouts. The president of our country has always been honorary leader of
the scouts. None has refused. Here in San Diego, the city leased 16 acres of
Balboa Park to the Scouts for $1 per year.
Possibly because the city has
all the money it needs, the lease was recently renewed for another 50 years
without even an adjustment for inflation. That bit of largesse was halted by a
court order but, like the cross on the mountain, is being appealed and will be
until the youngest of today's Cub Scouts are grandfathers.
The reasons
the Boy Scouts ban gays and atheists? Gays aren't considered morally straight
because they don't have sex in the approved manner, and atheists don't believe
in a supreme being.
Like Ronald Reagan before he discovered the value of
religion and bigotry, I don't really care how folks have sex as long as they
don't do it in the streets and scare the horses.
And as a dreaded
non-believer, I'm not morally straight? What in the hell are they talking about?
I served my country in uniform for nearly 23 years. I voted in practically every
election since Adlai ran against Ike. I worked the polls for some 15 straight
elections, and generally donated the pittance they paid us to charity. I have
actively supported candidates and causes I believed in. I have been married to
the same woman for 53 years. I haven't even been arrested for anything more than
traffic violations. (Emphasis added by Da Rev.)
Of course, there's the highly touted notion that we
all need a belief to keep us from running amok. Few studies have been done on
that. I'm guessing we'd see all sorts of studies if there were just one
statistic supporting this "run amok" stuff. As it is, a survey done in 1997
showed that out of a total federal prison population of 74,732 inmates, a mere
156 showed no religion.
And smart? Some of the smartest guys in the
country are also non-believers. The National Academy of Science admits only
those scientists who have made distinguished and continuing achievements in
original research. A recent survey showed that 97 percent of NAC guys did not
believe in a personal god, generally defined as one who answers
prayers.
Many think we're so few that we don't count. I keep receiving
e-mails stating that merely 14 percent of Americans don't believe in God. That
comes to about 40 million, or more than all the Episcopalians plus the
Presbyterians, Jews, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and a couple dozen smaller
congregations put together.
Still, for all that I will concede that much
of the Boy Scouts' goals are great ones. Who could be against an outfit that
urges young men to be trusted, loyal, useful and kind? What boy wouldn't be
better off for having such attributes? Why isn't such an outfit available to all
boys?
Oops, I asked one question too many. The last question has to be
answered in the starkest terms. The leaders of today's American Boy Scouts are
narrow-minded and bigoted. They didn't start out that way. Lord Baden-Powell,
the guy who founded them nearly 100 years ago, wrote, "A bad man who believes in
a creed is no more religious than the good man who does not."
Hypocrisy
isn't the sort of thing we ought to be teaching the next generation. There's
enough of it in this one. At the very least governments should stop subsidizing
the Boy Scouts and any other outfits that deliberately exclude those who choose
to think rather than believe.
Thanks, Keith. Carry on...
WesPAC GRASSROOTS VICTORY: WE GOT ED!
Dear Rev. Art,
I wanted to dash off a quick note to you with some exciting news. Today, we learned that the Ed Schultz Show will now be aired on Armed Forces Radio.
Ed Schultz stated, "I would like to thank General Wes Clark for his efforts to help bring the Ed Schultz Show to Armed Forces Radio Network. To have the support of one of the highest ranking military officers in the history of the country is an honor."
This is a tremendous victory for WesPAC grassroots. AND WE HELPED!
This is also great news for the members of our military and
their families. Armed Forces Radio honoring their promise to air the Ed Schultz
Show will ensure greater political balance in their programming.
WE GOT ED!
Listen to XM Satellite Radio Channel 165 Weekdays at 3pm
Listen to Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 146 Weekdays at 3pm and Weekends at 5pm
Stations in Ohio:
WCKY 1530 AM at 3:00pm - 6:00pm ET broadcasting out of Cincinnati, OH - coverage includes: Dayton and Southeast Ohio
WTPG 1230 AM at 3:00pm - 6:00pm ET broadcasting out of Columbus, OH - coverage includes: Central Ohio
WARF 1350 AM at 3:00pm - 6:00pm ET broadcasting out of Akron, OH - coverage includes: Cleveland Metro
WDTW 1310 AM at 3:00pm - 6:00pm ET broadcasting out of Detroit, MI covering, OH - coverage includes: Toledo
As you were, Soldier...
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