Scouts get pwned

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303280,00.html

Philadelphia Raises Boy Scouts' Rent $199,999 Over Gay Ba

PHILADELPHIA — The city has decided that the Boy Scouts chapter here must pay fair-market rent of $200,000 a year for its city-owned headquarters because it refuses to permit gay Scouts.

The organization's Cradle of Liberty Council, which currently pays $1 a year in rent, must pay the increased amount to remain in its downtown building past May 31, Fairmount Park Commission president Robert N.C. Nix said Wednesday.

City officials say they cannot legally rent taxpayer-owned property for a nominal sum to a private organization that discriminates. The city owns the land on which the council's 1928 Beaux Arts building sits.

Scouting officials will ask the city solicitor for details on the appraisals that yielded the $200,000 figure, said Jeff Jubelirer, spokesman for the Cradle of Liberty Council.

The higher rent money "would have to come from programs. That's 30 new Cub Scout packs, or 800 needy kids going to our summer camp," Jubelirer said. "It's disappointing, and it's certainly a threat."

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 that Scouts, as a private group, have a First Amendment right to bar gays from membership.

The council adopted a nondiscrimination policy in 2003 but was ordered to revoke it by the National Council, which said local chapters cannot deviate from national rules barring participation by anyone who is openly gay.

The Cradle of Liberty Council serves about 64,000 scouts in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

You wanna' be private & discriminate... BE private.
I SO hope this catches on!

[Aliantha]

Hmmm...interesting.

[Happy Monkey]

Good. I loved being a Scout, but the organization needs to shake off the Mormon takeover.

[DanaC]

The mormons took over the scouts?

Yeah, that kinda' threw me too.

[DanaC]

How did that happen? Is it just thatthey have a lot of people working as scout masters, or are they in control of the organisation at a national level?

Perhaps Scouts get their own planet after they die?

[Cloud]

Here's a blurb on it:

http://atheism.about.com/b/a/043769.htm

I read that too and seriously question it, whatever church is in your area is where your local troop will be.
So in an area with a lot of Mormons, there will be a lot of LDS control, where there are a lot of Lutherans, the same.
It just depends on where you live and the church demographic of that area.
I was active in leadership for a while and attended several Jamborees... this is what I saw and what is logical.
You are not going to have Mormon troops without Mormons, not possible.

[Sundae]

Certainly when I was in the Brownies (pre-Guides in the UK) I knew other Brownies in an all-Catholic pack. They held their meetings in the Catholic church hall and drew most of their girls from two Catholics schools. We lived ad went to school over the other side of town, so we just went to the local vaguely C of E pack.

[Happy Monkey]

It's true that local troops and councils will have varying (down to near-zero) amounts of Mormon control, and for the most part they are relatively independent, but the Mormons have great control of the national organization and 12% of the total Scout population.

If a local council, as in the example in the original post, does something that the National Council doesn't like, they can be smacked down.

[jinx]

It's spelled out pretty clearly right here

Mormons control a significant percentage of all Boy Scout troops; if policies change to treat gays and atheists equally, the Mormons will walk - taking all of their money with them.

I'm pretty sure I went to high school with the guy that wrote that... definitely know him from somewhere... that's gonna bug me...

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

It's true that local troops and councils will have varying (down to near-zero) amounts of Mormon control, and for the most part they are relatively independent, but the Mormons have great control of the national organization and 12% of the total Scout population.

If a local council, as in the example in the original post, does something that the National Council doesn't like, they can be smacked down.

If there are 0% or 5% Mormons in the area where the council is then the council is going to have 0 Mormons on the ruling committee and that is exactly how much control the Mormons are going to exact.
I live in Central Florida, Gulf Ridge Council, and I promise you there may be two Mormon churches with one VERY small troop with no seated representation on the Council.
The same is true of any sect.

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

It's true that local troops and councils will have varying (down to near-zero) amounts of Mormon control, and for the most part they are relatively independent, but the Mormons have great control of the national organization and 12% of the total Scout population.

If a local council, as in the example in the original post, does something that the National Council doesn't like, they can be smacked down.

If National ever finds out about it. 12% is not very impressive.
But, the Scouts are corrupt, I agree. If I told you my history with them you would not believe me and I am not because some will just use it anyway.

[Clodfobble]

Yes, many local councils will be completely Mormon-free. However, from Happy Monkey's link:

The Latter-day Saints constitute less than 2% of the U.S. population but 21% of the boys in the core Boy Scouts program, more than any other group...

The Latter-day Saints have been instrumental in helping defeat pro-gay initiatives in at least three states...

Today nearly 10% of the members of the Boy Scouts Advisory Council live in Salt Lake City, Utah...

Mormons have sway in the policies of National Council, and the National Council can overturn local council decisions, as they did in this recent Philly case:

The [local] council adopted a nondiscrimination policy in 2003 but was ordered to revoke it by the National Council, which said local chapters cannot deviate from national rules barring participation by anyone who is openly gay.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

If there are 0% or 5% Mormons in the area where the council is then the council is going to have 0 Mormons on the ruling committee and that is exactly how much control the Mormons are going to exact.

No, that's how much local control they'll exact. The national council will still have some, which is why I said "near zero".

If National ever finds out about it. 12% is not very impressive.

They did find out about it, and 12% is very impressive when they make a threat to pick up and leave.

If I told you my history with them you would not believe me

I probably would. I worked for them one summer.