Scouts Bar Life Awards Issued by Unitarians

The Boy Scouts of America has told the Unitarian Universalist Assn., a progressive Protestant denomination with roots in colonial Puritanism, to stop giving its Religion in Life award to Unitarian Scouts.

The dispute pits one of the country’s most theologically and socially liberal groups against one of its most traditional civic organizations and comes at a time when the 4.5-million-member Scouting movement is caught up in controversies and court cases from New Jersey to California over volatile social issues, including homosexuality and atheism.

Religion in Life awards are issued by numerous denominations to members who are Scouts. A similar award, known as the Love and Help emblem, is awarded to Cub Scouts. Although they are not the same as merit badges, the symbols can be worn on Boy Scout uniforms as a badge of honor designating proficiency in the tenets of one’s faith.

The dispute began May 7, when Boy Scout officials wrote a letter to the Boston headquarters of the Unitarians. The letter expressed disapproval of an instruction manual the church had distributed to Scouts seeking to earn the Religion in Life award.

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According to the letter, several statements in the manual “are inconsistent with Scouting’s values.” Scouting “requires belief in God and acknowledgment of duty to God by its members,” the letter noted. Moreover, the letter stated, the organization’s values include its “membership policies relating to known or avowed homosexuals.” The Boy Scouts refuse to allow homosexuals to serve in leadership positions.

The Unitarians, by contrast, express in their manual the faith’s “ongoing concern regarding the homophobic and discriminatory attitudes of the national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America.”

Objecting to such language, the Scouts’ letter said: “Until such time as the [Unitarian] materials can be redrafted to a form acceptable . . . youth may not be awarded Unitarian Universalist religious emblems in Scouting or wear the emblems on a Scout uniform.”

Scouting officials adhere to a traditional view, expecting members to profess their faith in the Deity. Unitarian-Universalist congregants, by contrast, are nothing if not spiritually eclectic.

A recent survey by the church showed that 46% of its members identified themselves as “humanist,” 19% as “Earth/nature centered,” 13% as “theist,” 9.5% as “Christian,” and smaller percentages as Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim.

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This religious diversity, combined with the basic doctrine that each congregation should be fully autonomous, results in wide-ranging church services that observe the Buddha’s birthday, discuss a humanist philosophical tract, or use Christian hymns and sermons.

The Unitarian Universalist denomination claims about 200,000 members and 1,050 congregations in the United States and has seen considerable growth in recent years. The organization was formed in 1961 by the merger of the Unitarian and Universalist churches. The churches trace their heritage to New England’s colonial-era Congregational and Puritan churches, but over the years have evolved into one of the nation’s most liberal denominations.

The Rev. John A. Buehrens, Unitarian president, said the Boy Scout policy on gays is discriminatory against both sexual minorities and the church, whose principles and purposes affirm “the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”

“We cannot be expected to ignore the question of discrimination against gay Scouts and leaders in our guidance to boys studying our religious principles and history,” Buehrens wrote in a letter replying to the Scouts.

Buehrens, a Life Scout, said he will meet in September or October with a Boy Scout representative. In the meantime, he said in his letter, “we will not stop providing Religion and Life awards and Love and Help emblems to Scouts and Scout leaders.”