Boy Scouts Seek to Deny Eagle Rank to Twin Brothers Who Are Atheists

The Boy Scouts of America, which lost a bitter legal battle to ban twin brothers from being Cub Scouts because they are atheists, is now seeking to prevent the boys from receiving the group’s highest rank--Eagle Scout.

On Friday, Scouting officials asked the California Supreme Court to modify a lower court order that commanded them to advance Michael and William Randall up the Scouting ranks without requiring them to “promise to do their duty to God.”

In 1991, the Anaheim Hills twins, then 9, and their attorney father, James G. Randall, successfully sued the organization, arguing that their 1st Amendment rights were violated when they were ousted from the Scouts for refusing to swear an oath to God.

Scouting officials contend that their constitutional rights of freedom of association are being denied. They believe allowing atheists in the Scouts would undermine the founding principles of the organization.

The state Supreme Court voted to review the case in 1994, but has yet to issue its opinion.

Devon Dougherty, a spokesman for the group’s Orange County council, said the brothers, now 16, have not met all the requirements to become Eagle Scouts and should not receive the honor.

“We’ve waited patiently” for the Supreme Court to act, Dougherty said, noting that the case is among the oldest on the court’s docket. “We simply want to know if the twins should advance completely through the program without the case being decided.”