Church announces date for complete split from BSA


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SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Tuesday night, that in 2019, it will end the long standing relationship with the Boy Scouts of America, in favor of a new church produced activity program, that will involve both boys and girls, ages 8 to 18.

The announcement was made in a joint statement by the LDS Church and the BSA, which reads, in part:

"We have jointly determined that, effective on December 31, 2019, the Church will conclude its relationship as a chartered organization with all Scouting programs around the world. Until that date, to allow for an orderly transition, the intention of the Church is to remain a fully engaged partner in Scouting for boys and young men ages 8–13 and encourages all youth, families, and leaders to continue their active participation and financial support."

https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=46316676&title=lds-church-announces-split-with-boy-scouts-of-america-new-youth-initiative

 

Originally it was only going to be for the older group but they have decided to completely break ties with the BSA for all ages.

 

 

 

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They are also doing away with the Personal Progress program for Young Women in favor of another program that will include both the girls and the boys.

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Saw this coming a mile away. Suprised about Personal Progress though. I am excited to see what the new program will be like!

Edited by miav
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Not surprised after the introduction of girls into boy scouts...and of course the meeting the scouts had that was scheduled during conflicting time for church leaders.

I am excited to see the new program. I hope there is still ample opportunities for the youth to be exposed to people of differing beliefs to foster good will with others. A strong emphasis for service in the community would accomplish this. Hopefully it will accomplish what masonry, and later boy scouting provided for a sense of unity and brotherhood. It also helps fix the murmuring of unequal funding between the youth groups.

 

Edited by Crypto
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I am mildly surprised that the Church isn’t releasing more details about how the new program is going to work.  They’ve presumably had quite a while to work out the finer details.

Young Women members and leaders who have traditionally complained about finding disparities between their program and the Boy Scouts, are going to be in for quite a shock when they suddenly realize they will have to share access to their camp facilities with, and coordinate calendars with, the Young Men who can no longer use BSA facilities.  

Unless camping isn’t going to be a component of the new program, and the Church divests itself of all those camps it owns . . .

Edited by Just_A_Guy
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3 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

I am mildly surprised that the Church isn’t releasing more details about how the new program is going to work.  They’ve presumably had quite a while to work out the finer details.

Not really.  They have probably only been discussing it at the Q12 and FP level for a couple of years. They probably first started talking about it after 2013 and had informal or formal discussions about it since then.  But I highly doubt it left the Q12 or FP level.  With MormonLeaks out there, I just don't see it possible for formal discussions to be had outside of the Q12 without that information being published. People can't keep a secret these days so . . .

They probably have some high-level ideas at the Q12 level, but to actually implement a program like this requires a significant amount of work-that includes committees, representatives, printing materials, deciding what materials to print, leadership structure, etc. etc. etc.  It's a lot of work. I guarantee you the moment they start to actually do the nitty gritty work required to actually develop a program, rumors would start to fly.  As soon as rumors fly then the current program is toast.

It's kind of like hiring a new football coach.  The administration has high level talks, puts out feelers, etc. but the moment it goes beyond that rumors fly and the current coach is toast.  So the administration always professes support for the current coach until they pull the trigger.  It has to be that way.

So the Church couldn't develop the finer details until the formal split.  You watch, YM for the next 1.5 years is going to be trash, why invest a whole lot of time and energy into it when you know it will change in 1.5 years.  I feel bad for the boys for the next year-but it was going to happen at some point.  If the Church did in the background develop a really fine program, then the rumors would fly and they would have to make an announcement as soon as the rumors flew.

Let's face it, the Church was never going to leave BSA until Monson passed away.  He was a silver beaver, highly integrated and respected in scouts. Less than 4 months after he dies, Church splits ways.  Easy to see, sure admitting girls was the last straw, but it should have been done in 2013, then in 2015 when they let homosexual leaders in, then in 2016-2017 with admitting of transgender.  Anyone could see this coming a mile away.

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1 minute ago, MormonGator said:

Were all kids required to be in the Boy/Girl Scouts? 

You mean in the church?

The church doesn't "require" anything.

And there's never been an association with the Girl Scouts.

Edited by The Folk Prophet
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34 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Were all kids required to be in the Boy/Girl Scouts? 

As far as I know the Church has never had a relationship with the Girl Scouts. You were not required to join the Boy Scouts as a young man, but a lot of Young Men's activities were combined with Scouting. So if you weren't interested in Scouting (like me, I tried to get into it, but it just never clicked with me) it meant a lot of your Young Men's meetings just weren't that interesting. I would have much preferred a more Gospel related program as a young man, so I am glad the Church is rolling one out to replace Scouting.

Edited by Midwest LDS
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Guest MormonGator
1 minute ago, Midwest LDS said:

As far as I know the Church has never had a relationship with the Girl Scouts. You were not required to join the Boy Scouts as a young man, but a lot of Young Men's activities were combined with Scouting. So if you weren't interested in Scouting (like me, I tried to get into it, but it just never clicked with me) it meant a lot of your Young Men's meetings just weren't that interesting. I would have much preferred a more Gospel related program as a young man, so I am glad the Church is rolling one out to replace Scouting.

Thanks bud. As an adult convert without kids I don't know how the programs worked.

I'm with you-I was never a Scout and Scouting held zero appeal to me when I was a kid. No, that's not an insult to anyone who was a Scout. To each their own. It was a more a torn thing than a church thing where I grew up, I think. 

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I am encouraged by this news, although it has been a long time coming.   That said, the church darn well better come up with a better name than "Children and Youth Development Initiative".  And it darn well better have a cooler website than https://www.lds.org/youth/childrenandyouth.  

I'm relatively certain the prophet reads mormonhub regularly, to get ideas for major policy decisions.  Therefore, I'd like to make a few suggestions for a name.  Feel free to add your own.

- The Anti-BSOA-Lehis
- Helaman's Teens
- Team MRNI (from Beacon academy)
- My Little Mormons: Discipleship is Magic
- Die Füllfederhalterarmee von Zil  (Stick it in a German to English translator)

Thoughts?

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4 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

I am encouraged by this news, although it has been a long time coming.   That said, the church darn well better come up with a better name than "Children and Youth Development Initiative".  And it darn well better have a cooler website than https://www.lds.org/youth/childrenandyouth.  

I'm relatively certain the prophet reads mormonhub regularly, to get ideas for major policy decisions.  Therefore, I'd like to make a few suggestions for a name.  Feel free to add your own.

- The Anti-BSOA-Lehis
- Helaman's Teens
- Team MRNI (from Beacon academy)
- My Little Mormons: Discipleship is Magic
- Die Füllfederhalterarmee von Zil  (Stick it in a German to English translator)

Thoughts? 

This is like the 5th thread on this topic here :rolleyes: and so I wasn't going to read it, but I scrolled down through.  Glad I stopped long enough to see a bunch of German und "Zil". :D

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9 hours ago, Crypto said:

Not surprised after the introduction of girls into boy scouts

 

5 hours ago, mgridle said:

Easy to see, sure admitting girls was the last straw,

Is it? As it currently stands, any ward or branch that is organized without scouting runs the same Activity Days program for the boys as it does the girls. This new program may very well do that. Is this what really convinces the Church to break off? When the BSA organizes itself closer to how the Church runs its own custom youth programs?

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42 minutes ago, mordorbund said:

Why? because I'm raising boys, not cows, and certainly not programs.

I agree, and I agree that you agree, just that it's human nature.  Why push boys to get xyz merit badge to get Life rank when the program is going away.  My guess is there will be an initial surge where motivated boys and their parents work on the BSA program, but certainly the last six months, nope.  Sure they will meet, go on campouts, etc (my guess is those things will be a part of the new program), there will just be very, very little interest this time next year in doing anything remotely associated with BSA.

I will probably put my son in Trail Life this fall.

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1 hour ago, mordorbund said:

 

Is it? As it currently stands, any ward or branch that is organized without scouting runs the same Activity Days program for the boys as it does the girls. This new program may very well do that. Is this what really convinces the Church to break off? When the BSA organizes itself closer to how the Church runs its own custom youth programs?

My thought process was along the lines of how both genders potentially having close proximity to each other during activities much like camping and not wanting to participate in the potential risks that follow. In my area at least for one week they are trying to fill a single boy scout camp with lds boy only troops. (quite a big area btw multi stake....)

I'm open to being incorrect, girls have been allowed in venturing for quite some time.

Edited by Crypto
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2 hours ago, MormonGator said:

Were all kids required to be in the Boy/Girl Scouts? 

No.  Traditionally speaking Boy Scouts was uber-conservative and Girl Scouts was uber-liberal-the Church a traditionally ultra conservative organization did not like the values promolugated by Girl Scouts.  Strange to see Girl Scouts be more conservative than BSA now . . .weird.

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6 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

Just remember to stay in the back of their trinitarian, sola scriptura bus; you heretic Mormon!

Lol, you know I'll try it out and let you know.  Honestly dude, I really don't care much anymore if they are trinitarian; in many ways they are more Christian than many Mormons are-especially the "God is just love" crowd and the First Great Commandment "Love God", really means "love your neighbor" crap. If they teach good Christian values, allow me and my son to participate-I think I can take care of any erroneous doctrine being taught to my son.

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4 minutes ago, Crypto said:

I'm open to being incorrect, girls have been allowed in venturing for quite some time.

Venturing was always small and the Church never really participated in it. The genders were always separate in Church sponsered scouting.

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1 hour ago, mordorbund said:

 

Is it? As it currently stands, any ward or branch that is organized without scouting runs the same Activity Days program for the boys as it does the girls. This new program may very well do that. Is this what really convinces the Church to break off? When the BSA organizes itself closer to how the Church runs its own custom youth programs?

No it doesn't run it closer to custom youth programs.  The genders are always separate and the activities are always tailored to the specific genders. Always! And Activity Days is really a joke, it has been around for a small amount of time with very little structure.

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2 hours ago, Midwest LDS said:

As far as I know the Church has never had a relationship with the Girl Scouts. You were not required to join the Boy Scouts as a young man, but a lot of Young Men's activities were combined with Scouting. So if you weren't interested in Scouting (like me, I tried to get into it, but it just never clicked with me) it meant a lot of your Young Men's meetings just weren't that interesting. I would have much preferred a more Gospel related program as a young man, so I am glad the Church is rolling one out to replace Scouting.

My understanding of the Boy Scout program is that it easily involves the gospel, and according to their bylaws requires religious participation. The scouting program teaching general principles and encourages each chartering organization to provide the religious support. The program method is more expansive than just camping. It's bad implementation that causes it to not be gospel related. 

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7 minutes ago, mgridle said:

Venturing was always small and the Church never really participated in it. The genders were always separate in Church sponsered scouting.

The Handbook for scouting units in the church prior to the new update recommended all priest age young men participate in the Venturing Scouting program.

All Teacher age young men were recommended to participate in the Varsity Scouting program (Sports division). All Deacon age young men were recommended to participate in the Troop. Most wards never ran the programs. From my discussions with others this dysfunction was prevalent from coast to coast.

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