Mormons drop Scout programs for older teens

[brooklynite]

Source: Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — The LDS Church, the oldest and largest charter organization of the Boy Scouts of America, will drop Scouting from its Young Men's program for boys ages 14 through 17.

Effective Jan. 1, the move will carve about 180,000 Mormon boys from the Varsity and Venturing Scout programs in the United States and Canada, replacing them with activities created for boys in those age groups by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The church will continue to sponsor Cub Scouts for boys 8 to 10 and Boy Scout programs for those 11 through 13 in those two countries, but statements released by the church about the announcement signaled that it may drop those programs in the future, too.

The overhaul is stunning, because Scouting has been an indelible, seemingly inseparable, part of the LDS Church's Young Men program for 104 years, but it isn't a major surprise. Church leaders quietly have considered dropping Scouting from its Young Men and Primary programs for many years.

Read more: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865679711/Mormons-drop-Scout-programs-for-older-teens.html

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Maybe the kids are reaching an age where they can't be effectively indoctrinated?

[Aristus]

1. I thought it was because it's hard to keep the Magic Underwear clean when camping.

[brooklynite]

2. UPDATE: It's the gays...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has long been both closely tied to the Boy Scouts of America and uneasy with the Boy Scouts’ increasingly liberal stance on gay and transgender men and boys, took a measured step Thursday toward distancing itself from Scouting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/05/11/the-mormon-church-sticks-with-the-boy-scouts-but-will-leave-scouts-teen-programs/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.f927156bfe3a

[m-lekktor]

3. yeah that is what popped into my head when I read the headline.

It had something to do with the gay thing.

[jmowreader]

4. They are attempting to get the BSA to change its stance on gays

According to http://www.sltrib.com/home/2778130-155/if-mormons-leave-scouting-bsa-will, about a third of the Boy Scouts of America's units are LDS-sponsored...they have 18 percent of the Scout population because of the way the Church spreads out its units.

[Gothmog]

6. The LDS church uses BSA for their male youth program

There are a disproportionate number of LDS units compared to the LDS general population. Many LDS boys are forced or encouraged to participate in the BSA program and this has caused problems. My troop showed up at a summer camp after the LDS troops had been there and there was a ton of vandalism that we had to deal with. Evidently a number of the LDS scouts were not happy about spending a week in 100+ degree summer temperatures.

The new policy evidently continues the BSA program through the Eagle Scout rank and is giving up on the explorer and varsity scout programs for older scouts. These programs are supposed to be co-ed and this may the issue

[Gothmog]

5. This only applies to the Explorers and varsity scouting programs

This is not necessarily about the LGBT issues. Under the current rules, each LDS church is a chartering organization and each chartering organization gets to select the leadership of its chartered scout program. I was active in my son's troop until he aged out and was the Chartered Organization Representative for the troop for several years. I can tell you that there are likely gay scout leaders at LDS troops but no one cares. Again, the chartering organization gets to approve the leadership of its scout troop which is fine. I know a number of gay leaders in scouting and the LGBT issues are not an issue for most chartering organizations.

The explorer and varsity scouting program are co-ed and this may be the real problem for LDS officials. The regular scouting program will remain in effect. Many LDS units encourage or push their youth into BSA and encourage them to get the Eagle Scout rank.

The explorer program is hard to manage at times. My troop tried to start a sea scout unity and it fell apart after a short time.