A Once Proud Organization

I am the Committee Chair of a Cub Scout Pack.  I knew this was coming.  Nevertheless I find myself saddened not only by the decision, but by the fact that the decision was made public before it was disseminated to local Scout Leadership.  Whether this lack of communication is a failure at the National Council or my local council I do not know, but I do know that it is a failure.

The bigger failure, however, is the decision itself.

On my Honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the scout law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

A Scout Is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.

Whatever you believe about homosexuality, it is clear that homosexual behavior (separated by act of free will from homosexual urges or proclivities) is sin.  Indeed, being “openly gay,” is an active choice to live in sin – to engage in that homosexual behavior.

Whatever you believe about homosexuality, you cannot be doing your duty to God, you cannot be morally straight, and you cannot be reverent if you are choosing to engage in homosexual behavior.

Whatever you believe about homosexuality, those three things: duty to God, morality, and reverence are part of being a Scout.  It is one thing to allow openly homosexual children.  I believe it is sick on many levels to assume that children of 12 or 13 can *be* homosexual in any meaningful way, but allowances can and should be made for Scouts.  They are, after all, still learning about that duty to God.  Leadership, however, must be held to the strictest standards.

The Scouts do not allow consumption of alcoholic beverages at scout functions.  Why?  Is it because alcohol is morally wrong?  Is it because duty to God or Country requires one to abstain from drinking?  Certainly not.  The Scouts do not allow consumption of alcoholic beverages because it is unwise.

Openly homosexual leadership is beyond unwise.  It is undermining the very Oath and Law we expect these boys to uphold.  It is proving to them, in a way words will never be able to overcome, that the Oath and Law are “just words,” and have no meaning.  It is proving to them that morality is based on convenience, and duty to God ends at doors of the church building.

What is worse about this decision is this: the homosexual lobby will not stop with this success.  We already have proof of this.  It will not be enough that religious charter organizations can decide about their own leadership.  Ask Sweet Cakes in Oregon.  Ask Memories Pizza.  Ask any of dozens of photographers, bakers, and caterers who have been forced by the homosexual lobby with the assistance of the government to act in ways contrary to their consciences.  Ask the homosexual lobby itself- the lobby already calling for the end of tax-exempt status for churches which do not support homosexual unions.

The Boy Scouts of America had won in court many times – as a private organization, they were under no requirement to accept homosexual leadership.  Now they have thrown that away.  Obviously the Boy Scouts of America no longer find it necessary to their charter to restrict homosexual parents to non-leadership roles.  How much defense will local charter organizations and local packs have when the homosexual lobby comes again demanding acceptance?

This Has Got To Stop

So, a high school dropout racist loser shoots 9 people, and the country collectively loses it sh!t.  Seriously?

I’m not even going to bother with the racism disclaimer.  Assume it here.

The battle flag of the army of Northern Virginia did not cause this.  The civil war did not cause this.  Southern culture did not cause this.  What caused this was a high school dropout racist loser deciding to vent his loser frustrations on the innocent.  Since he’s a f*cking racist, he decided those innocents should be Black.  But the cause was his racist loserdom, not any other external factor.

So just stop it already.

No, the Confederate Battle Flag does not need to be removed from the State House grounds in South Carolina or any other government building.  Men fought and died honorably for a cause that is honorable – the right of self-determination, among other things.  Yes, that also means they were defending the right of the States to continue slavery, and that’s bad, but Real Life is messy, and by current standards (the ones to which we’re suddenly holding the Confederate warriors) one of the most celebrated Union generals – William Tecumseh Sherman – was a war criminal.  I won’t call him a war criminal (out loud) if you will similarly shut up about your belief that the CBF is somehow a “symbol of racism.”

No, monuments to various Confederate figures, including Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and others, do not need to be taken down.  They were honorable men who fought against (as they saw it) an invasion.  Go read some history, even if you don’t agree with them, at least try to understand why many Southerners still call it “The War of Northern Aggression.”

No, the CBF does not need to be removed from Civil War historical sites, museums, or stores.  Even if I accept that it “represents racism,” which I don’t, that doesn’t change the fact that in America people have the right to be racist.  You may not like it – I certainly don’t like it – but it’s the truth.  And what the CBF does represent is a commitment to fight for Freedom from an oppressive central government.  There may be a time when we want such symbols.

No, things that happen to incorporate the CBF do not need to be removed or forgotten.  Not video games, not TV shows, not books, not anything.  That is part of my culture you’re trying to consign to the flames.

Do you really want to have a “conversation about race?”  Okay, let’s have a conversation about race.

Black on black crime is much higher, per capita, than any other demographic.  Black on white crime is higher than white on black crime.  White on white crime is higher than black on white crime.  These are actual facts. 

Do you really believe “Black Lives Matter?”  I do.  So how about we stop young black men from killing each other.  That seems to be a much bigger danger to them than some high school dropout loser racist.

Do you really believe “Black Lives Matter?”  I do.  So how about we stop enabling a culture which encourages young black women to have sex and then have their babies murdered?  Black women, even controlling for income and social factors, are much more likely than whites to have an abortion.

Stop trying to blame history for today’s bad choices.  Stop trying to pretend that history doesn’t exist.  Stop trying to minimize it and put into some box labeled “Racism.”  Stop lashing out.

And start addressing the real problems.