Calexico Girl Challenges Scout’s ‘Serve God’ Oath

A 6-year-old Calexico girl and her father filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Girl Scouts of America, challenging the group’s pledge to “serve God.”

Superior Court Judge Barbara Gamer issued a temporary restraining order late Tuesday allowing Nitzya Cuevas-Macias to participate in Scouting activities after she and her father, Salvador, alleged that a troop meeting was canceled to keep her out.

The suit against the national Scouting organization claims that the “Girl Scouts Promise”--a pledge that all new members must recite--is unconstitutional because it is a “religious test oath.”

The Imperial County family also alleges that the pledge violates a California anti-discrimination law known as the Unruh Act.

Cuevas-Macias said his daughter told him last week that “she doesn’t feel comfortable to be in the organization.”

He said he and his wife are educating their children “that God doesn’t exist.”

The suit was filed by Orange County attorney James Randall, who successfully sued the Boy Scouts of America on behalf of his two sons.

In a ruling June 30, Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr. said the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts cannot exclude the two Randall boys from fully participating in Scouting activities if they refuse to recite an oath containing the word God .

Randall said he filed the lawsuit against the Girl Scouts after the national organization did not change its policy following several weeks of negotiation.

According to the lawsuit, the girl’s parents “contend that their daughter does not know the meaning of the word God , and this causes considerable problems, including questioning whether one can promise to ‘serve God’ when one does not know who or what ‘God’ is.’ ”

The lawsuit contends that Girl Scout organizations in other countries--including France, Germany, the Netherlands and Pakistan--allow young members to avoid making pledges to God.

Attorneys from New York who represent the Girl Scouts of America did not attend Tuesday’s hearing. Randall said he notified them of the lawsuit Monday.

Guylyn Remmenga Cummins, who represents the San Diego-Imperial Council of the Girl Scouts, declined to comment after the temporary restraining order was issued, because the council is not a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“Since the Girl Scouts of America are the ones who set the policy, the person to be sued, the entity to be sued, is the Girl Scouts of America,” Randall said.

The Dool Elementary School student joined the Scouts in September. After she joined, her parents took issue with the wording of the pledge: “On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country, to help other people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout law.”

Scouting officials initially told the family the word God was required, then later told them it could be omitted, the lawsuit says.

But on Nov. 5, Frances Pozos, a Scouting official in Imperial County, and Marcela Uribe, an official with the San Diego-Imperial Council, told the family that the full pledge was mandatory, according to court documents.

The parents allege that within days, the Girl Scouts canceled a troop meeting and have since refused to tell them where other troop meetings are being held, according to the lawsuit.