c. 1998 Religion News Service

BOSTON _ The Boy Scouts of America has told the Unitarian Universalist Association, a progressive Protestant denomination with roots in colonial Puritanism, to stop giving its Religion in Life award to Unitarian scouts.

The dispute pits one of the most theologically and socially liberal groups against one of the most traditional civic organizations and comes at a time when the 4.5 million-member scouting movement is caught up in controversies and court cases from New Jersey to California over the volatile social issues of homosexuality and atheism.

The dispute with the 250,000 member UUA began May 7, when BSA wrote a letter to the Boston-based UUA expressing its disapproval of an instruction manual the UUA distributed to Scouts seeking to earn the Religion and Life award.

According to the BSA letter, several statements in the manual”are inconsistent with Scouting’s values.”Among those values, the letter said, are the fact that the BSA”requires belief in God and acknowledgment of duty to God by its members”and its”membership policies relating to known or avowed homosexuals.” The manual expresses the Unitarians'”ongoing concern regarding the homophobic and discriminatory attitudes of the national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America.” Objecting to such language, the Scouts’ letter said:”Until such time as the (Unitarian) materials can be redrafted to a form acceptable … youth may not be awarded Unitarian Universalist religious emblems in scouting or wear the emblems on a scout uniform.” The UUA has awarded hundreds of Religion in Life medals to Boy Scouts and Love and Help emblems to Cub Scouts in recent years, the Rev. John A. Buehrens, Unitarian president, said in a June 11 letter responding to the BSA. Other denominations and groups, including Roman Catholics, Jewish, Muslim and other Protestant denominations, in cooperation with the Scouts, award similar medals. Although they are not the same as merit badges, they are worn on Boy Scout uniforms as a badge of honor designating proficiency in the tenets of one’s faith group.

Buehrens said the BSA policy on gays is discriminatory against both sexual minorities and the UUA, whose Principles and Purposes of the Unitarian Universalist Association affirm”the inherent worth and dignity of every person.””We cannot be expected to ignore the question of discrimination against gay Scouts and leaders in our guidance to boys studying our religious principles and history,”Buehrens wrote.

Buehrens, himself a Life Scout, said he will meet in September or October with a BSA representative.

In the meantime, he said in his letter,”We will not stop providing Religion and Life awards and Love and Help emblems to Scouts and Scout leaders.” The BSA did not return calls seeking comment on its dispute with the Unitarians.

Although the dispute with the Unitarians has not escalated to the legal level, the BSA has faced court challenges before over similar gay-related issues.

Two court cases, both decided in March, show the lack of agreement among judges over whether the BSA is a private social organization, exempting it from civil rights laws, or a public group subject to state and federal laws forbidding discrimination.

The California Supreme Court ruled the BSA is a private social organization, while in New Jersey, an appeals court ruled the organization is public and must obey anti-discrimination laws.

DEA END LEBOWITZ