BSA Stay Strong

This is the message I sent to the BSA National Council regarding the announcement that the BSA was considering lifting its long-standing restrictions on homosexual leaders: I was extremely shocked to learn on Monday, January 28, 2013, that the BSA was considering "removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation." After learning that Scouting conducted a 2-year study and announced in July of last year that the policy would not change, I am very upset to hear this latest announcement. As an Eagle Scout (1970), the father of 2 Eagle Scouts (2003), a member of my district’s Eagle Board of Review, and an active leader in the unit, district and council levels for over 25 years, I submit that removing the restriction would be an extremely bad idea that would permanently damage the wonderful traditions of the program and of the Scouting movement. I ask you to maintain the restrictions. I will, if you choose to lift the restrictions, no longer be involved in the program that I have devoted so much of my time, effort and life promoting and living. In 2000, the Supreme Court upheld the BSA's right, as a private organization, to determine its membership requirements and criteria. There is no honorable reason for buckling under the pressure of such a small group, no matter how loud they are. Honor and character, two of the things the organization promotes and seeks to build in young men, dictate that you uphold the restriction and maintain the traditional values upon which Scouting was founded. The Duty to God we promise in the Oath means that we obey God's Law. God's Law does not tolerate the homosexual lifestyle or behavior. We cannot promise to do our duty to God, if we choose to violate God’s Law for what appears to be financial or public relations reasons. Buckling to the pressure from this small group shows cowardice. Bravery, which we try to instill in the scouts, means that we “do what is right in spite of what others might say” and that we “speak the truth.” The truth is that God’s moral law clearly condemns homosexuality of any kind. “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. . . . If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.” Leviticus 18:22, 20:13. The latest statistics I have been able to find show that homosexuals make up 3% of the population, and yet they are committing 47% of the pedophilia. The fact that such a small segment of the population is committing such a large number of these acts means that removing the current restriction increases the threat to the youth in Scouting. As an organization, Scouting has a moral and legal duty to protect the youth, not to expose them to harm. All of those involved in Scouting promise to keep themselves “morally straight.” Since homosexuality is an abomination and violates God’s law, the mere practice of it violates the Scout Oath. Removing the restrictions then would be an act of immorality on the part of the organization. That part of the Oath in which we promise to keep ourselves morally straight would become meaningless. One of the great things about Scouting, and the reason most parents want their sons involved in the program, is Scouting’s promotion of traditional values. In a world where everything is relative and where many of the foundational institutions of our country and culture stand only for what is popular or politically correct, Scouting has provided a safe harbor from the cultural decay. The move to remove the restrictions looks like “going along to get along” with a strident minority group and the businesses and organizations who refuse to stand on moral principles. The homosexual minority seek to force the rest of the nation to agree with its unnatural behavior by bullying people and businesses into submission. Scouting should continue to stand as a bulwark in support of the traditional values the movement has promoted in its 103-year history in the U.S. Scouting should stand up to this bullying by those whose only interest is to intimidate, vilify, and isolate anyone who disagrees with their agenda. I wonder which members of the board are pushing for the removal of the restrictions. It seems to me that those board members should be removed from the board since they seem to disagree with the position that Scouting has taken in this matter. It seems that those individuals would have disqualified themselves from membership or involvement with the organization, because they do not believe in or support the values of the organization. The argument that removing the restriction makes Scouting more “tolerant” is bogus. Tolerance means allowing another to live their life as they choose and respecting the choices that other person makes, even if they are different than ours. But the homosexual lobby does not tolerate any person or any group that believes and thinks differently than they do. The homosexual lobby has no respect for those who disagree with their lifestyle and behavior. They are not interested in getting along. They are not interested in tolerance. They are only interested in forcing everyone to agree with their position and lifestyle using any and all methods of intimidation they can bring to bear. To them, any and all means, no matter how intolerant, are justified to reach the goal of forcing everyone to agree with their lifestyle and behavior. They claim that they are only seeking fairness and freedom from bias and prejudice. Yet, the homosexual minority continues to treat those who disagree with them unfairly. They are biased and prejudiced against anyone who disagrees with them. They use discriminatory tactics to force submission to their belief system. And they, who practice no fairness or tolerance, are the ones who whine about bias, prejudice, discrimination, and the lack of fairness. It is interesting that in response to the increasing secular focus of existing organizations for girls, and in an effort to promote a Judeo-Christian focused organization for their daughters, a group of parents started their own group called America Heritage Girls. American Heritage Girls is “a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country.” According to Jody Token, national public relations coordinator, “American Heritage Girls was founded in 1995 in Cincinnati with 10 troops and 100 members. It now has more than 22,000 members in 48 states and four countries.” If the homosexual lobby does like what Scouting stands for, they are free to not join. They are free to start their own group based on their lifestyle and principles. Instead, the homosexual lobby insists that Scouting does not have the freedom to its own beliefs and practices. Instead of being tolerant of Scouting, the homosexual lobby demands that Scouting believe only those things that they believe. And, if Scouting will not believe what they believe, they seek to destroy the foundation of a group with which they disagree. That is very intolerant. Scouting has the God-given right to determine who can belong to the organization. Succumbing to the pressures from the homosexual lobby goes squarely against the principles of Scouting. Removing the restrictions would make Scouting complicit in the destruction of our culture. And, that is wrong.

In God We Trust

On MSNBC's web site there is a live vote being conducted which asks:

"Should the motto 'In God We Trust' be removed from U.S. currency? So far, the vote is 67% against removal of the motto ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/ ). I then posted the following in the section devoted to comments about the story:

Unless you are a history revisionist, you know that our Founding Fathers believed that God's hand was involved in the work that they were doing to create the grand experiment called the United States of America. They put their trust in God that He would counsel and guide them in their quest to create a free nation that recognized and upheld each citizen's unalienable, God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, among others.

They truly believed in the free exercise of one's religion, even in the public square, and even while serving in the government. References to God and other Biblical references are found in many of speeches they gave, in many of their writings, and in many of the monuments and buildings they built. They saw nothing wrong with, and in fact, considered it good governance to set aside places and times for prayer.

They truly believed that this experiment they were setting in motion would not succeed, and in fact would fail miserably, if God's guidance and blessings were not sought by the leaders of the nation. They knew that the government they were creating could not succeed unless the elected leaders were moral, God-fearing people. This is clearly stated in the Federalist Papers.

They knew that they could not succeed in throwing off the shackles of involuntary servitude to England and the King without God's intercession. They knew that they could not establish this free nation without God's guidance and blessings. As men of the Enlightenment, they had studied the great philosophers and historians. They studied and quoted the Bible. They knew the history of the Roman and Grecian Empires. They knew that the dark side of human nature tended toward either anarchy or tyranny. They had already experienced tyranny at the hands of the King of England. They knew that anarchy reigned in the last days of Rome and Greece.

They trusted in God to guide them to do the right things to create this new nation. They trusted in God to bless their efforts to create a nation founded on the idea that all men are created equal by God. In my view, it is because they and the majority of the citizens believed and trusted in God, that this country became the wealthiest and most powerful in the world as quickly as it did. It is not the establishment of a religion to recognize and memorialize the indisputable fact that our Founding Fathers did trust in God as they set about creating the greatest country that has ever existed in the history of man.

God Bless You.
God Bless America
God Bless the BSA.
God Bless our Troops.
Patriot Mark