Good Lord this thread is a train wreck. I had a great experience in the Boy Scouts, made some life-long friends and learned a lot. That said I would encourage my future kid(s) to participate but I'd make sure to be personally involved so as to lessen the chances of some sicko taking advantage.

That seems like a good plan with anything that involves your children these days.

The quality of Boy Scout groups varies widely, and it has everything to do with the particular scoutmaster. I've heard mostly good stories*, but you do get some douchebags in the mix just like with every other institution. No firsthand stories of pedophilia, mind you, but I did hear a firsthand account of rampant anti-Semitism in one particular group. As a general rule, the douchy groups tend to get weeded out, because there is no larger hierarchy moving Scoutmasters around to different troops, and there are always several troops in any given area for parents to choose from.

*Little known fact: every single person I have ever dated has been either an Eagle Scout, or a son of clergy. Mr. Clod was the only one who was both. :)

:) Clod, there are now a hundred men googling "how to become an eagle scout" you know, just in case...

since you made it public ... 99.

Well then you're just a chicken scout! ;)

It was never intentional. I'd meet a guy, and silently be thinking to myself, "Okay, there's no way in hell this one is an Eagle Scout, and I know for a fact that his father couldn't be a pastor..." And then a few weeks into the relationship, he'd casually mention that his father was actually a rabbi.

To paraphrase Aldous Huxley, "of all the sexual perversions, celibacy is the most unnatural."

It could be worse. Mrs.Nutkin and I have a friend who is unaware that he is gay. (we and nearly everyone who knows him, thinks this.)

His last two or three (lost track) girlfriends have dated him on the rebound of having their husbands leave them for another man...

Ouch, I know that guy.

btw-Welcome back HLJ!

Thanks Griff.

I hope you weren't making a connection.