"On Faith" Column: Scouts Policy Should Be Seen for What It Is - A Reaffirmation of Core Values

Writing in the Washington Post "On Faith" column this week, Michael Otterson, managing director of Public Affairs for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explained how the Church viewed the Boy Scouts of America decision:

What has been largely missing from the mainstream media coverage of all the lobbying, placard waving and rhetoric on that day in Grapevine, Texas, was one fact that should have been inescapable. Rather than representing another episode of slippage in a very long culture war, as some religionists claimed, or a “step in the right direction,” as some gay advocates defined it, BSA in reality reintroduced and reinforced some of its century-old core values and nailed those colors firmly to the mast in an unmistakable message. And it was that reaffirmation of principle, plainly restated in the Membership Standards Resolution, that enabled some of Scouting’s traditional supporters — including America’s largest sponsor of Scouting, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — to back the new membership policy.

Those principles, as Otterson explains, were addressed directly by the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a keynote address to a well-attended assembly of Scout leaders.

Read more in the Washington Post.

This article is provided because of significant interest in this subject amongst some media and opinion leaders in Australia, particularly regarding the impact of the policies of the Boy Scouts of America on the Church's youth programs in that country. It should be noted that the policies of the Boy Scouts of America are different to those of the organisation in Australia. The Church here does not have any formal association with the Australian scouting movement.