BOY SCOUT WAR
The Unholy Alliance
Explaining the
Battle against the Boy Scouts
By Allan Dobras
The Boy Scouts of America recently held their ten-day Jamboree at Camp A.P.
Hill, Virginia, but this year's event may have marked the end of the
long-standing tradition. In a recent ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Blanche
Manning agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who claimed that
the Defense Department's sponsorship of the Jamboree violated the First
Amendment.
The Jamboree has been held every four years since 1937 (and at the present
location since 1981), but the Chicago judge concluded that the Boy Scouts are a
religious organization because the scout oath mentions "God."
Therefore, the involvement of a government agency "conveys a message of
endorsement of religion."
Surprisingly, the primary plaintiff in the suit was Reverend Eugene Winkler, a
retired former pastor of Chicago's First United Methodist Church. Reverend
Winkler, who is also an ACLU board member, was a co-plaintiff in a similar suit
in 1997. That year, the ACLU accused the city of Chicago of illegally offering
youth programs affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. They contended that
the Boy Scouts required a belief in God and discriminated against homosexuals.
In 1998, the two sides reached a binding settlement agreement: Chicago formally
ended all support for scouting programs "as long as the Boy Scouts of
America continue to discriminate on the basis of religious belief and sexual
orientation."
Some may wonder why an ordained Methodist minister would partner with perhaps
the most hostile anti-Christian organization in America. Especially since the
singular purpose of these lawsuits was to drive God out of the Boy Scouts in
order to force in open homosexuals. The answer lies in the remarkable nexus
among the ACLU, the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA), and the
United Methodist General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), which is headed by
MFSA member Jim Winkler, son of the Reverend Eugene Winkler.
Each of these organizations shares a common ancestor, common objectives, and,
for many years, they shared a common location. The GBCS occupies the Methodist
Building at 100 Maryland Avenue on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Until a
recent move to a nearby location, the ACLU Washington Legislative Office was
located behind the Methodist Building at 122 Maryland Avenue. The office of the
MFSA is a short distance away on East Capitol Street.
The History of the Nexus
Dr. Harry F. Ward, an ordained Methodist minister and professor at Union
Theological Seminary, founded the MFSA in 1908. At the time, the organization
was known as the Methodist Federation of Social Service, and it quickly became
immersed in the struggle for workers rights. During the Great Depression, the
MFSA was an advocate for "the necessity of replacing the struggle for
profit with the mutual cooperation of social economic planning." Soon, it
became embroiled in leftist ideologies.
Under the leadership of Dr. Ward, the MFSA also openly expressed admiration for
Stalinist communism. In 1953, the House Committee on Un-American Activities
named Dr. Ward a Communist Party member. Manning Johnson, a member of the
Communist Party, referred to Ward as "the chief architect for Communist
infiltration and subversion in the religious field." Similarly, the MFSA
was officially cited as a communist front organization.
In 1920, Dr. Ward helped found the ACLU and became its first chairman. For
years, the ACLU remained a relatively small organization. Then, in 1928, it
received national recognition during the famous John T. Scopes trial. Although
ACLU lawyer Clarence Darrow lost the case, he brought the ACLU (and Darwin's
evolution theory) national recognition.
Throughout the 1930s, communists infiltrated the ACLU. Finally, in 1940,
political pressure forced the ACLU board to pass a resolution removing anyone
"who is a member of any political organization which supports totalitarian
dictatorship in any country." As a result, Ward and several other
communists were purged from the organization. But in 1967, the board essentially
rescinded the 1940 Resolution, and the Union welcomed communists back into the
organization.
Delegates at the 1952 General Conference of the Methodist Church debated the
radicalism of the MFSA and decided the organization didn't serve the interests
of the church. Although they subsequently severed official ties with the MFSA,
they still wished to continue championing its social issues. So, the General
Conference created the Board of Social and Economic Relations (which would later
become the General Board of Church and Society with headquarters in the
Methodist Building on Capitol Hill.)
Today, the MFSA is no longer an "official" organization of the
Methodist Church, but it still influences church politics. The General Board of
Church and Society, the daughter organization of the MFSA, promotes religious
and political radicalism in the church.
The Nexus Reloaded
Considering the common origins of the Methodist Federation for Social Action,
the American Civil Liberties Union, and the General Board of Church and Society,
it is not surprising that these organizations are in lockstep with each another.
In fact, they agree on most of the major social and political issues of the day:
Each organization is pro-choice, pro-homosexual rights, pro same-sex
"marriage," anti-Iraq war, and pro-religious pluralism. Both the MFSA
and GBCS advocate theological revisionism.
Into this mix of political activism stepped the Boy Scouts of America and their
"intolerant" Scout Oath. Boy scouts pledge, on their honor: "To
do my duty to God and country . . . and keep myself . . . morally
straight." To the scout leadership, that latter part means that a
self-identified, practicing homosexual is not eligible to be a scout or lead a
troop.
To the ACLU and its allies this was a declaration of war. After all, other youth
organizations such as the Girl Scouts, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the
National 4-H Council, Camp Fire Boys and Girls, Center for Youth as Resources,
Jewish Community Centers, and the YMCA had fallen into line. They don't
discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, so why should the Boy Scouts?
The ACLU initiated a number of lawsuits intended to harass the scouts, hoping to
intimidate them into revoking their "discriminatory" policy toward
homosexuals. In the landmark case James Dale vs. the Boy Scouts of America, the
ACLU thought it had finally won. In that case, the ACLU sued the scouts because
they had withdrawn the membership of a New Jersey scout after he publicly
announced his homosexuality. Claiming that the scouts had violated New Jersey's
public accommodation law, the ACLU won the case and the subsequent appeal before
the New Jersey Supreme Court.
But the Boy Scouts appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In January 2000,
when the justices agreed to hear the case, a number of liberal organizations
(including the General Board of Church and Society) filed amicus briefs in
support of Mr. Dale. A comparable number of conservative groups, however, filed
briefs in support of the scouts. In June 2000, the court ruled 5-4 in favor of
the Boy Scouts, holding that the New Jersey law violated the scouts right of
expressive association.
After the ACLU, GBCS, MFSA, and other homosexual-affirming organizations failed
to force homosexual acceptance onto the scouts, they decided to try a new
tactic-isolate them from their allies. Over the next several years, and
continuing to this day, these groups have effectively applied political,
economic, and legal pressure to organizations that support the scouts:
a.. Public schools in New York, Chicago, San Diego, San Francisco, Minneapolis,
Chapel Hill, NC, and many others have terminated their support of the scouts.
b.. Corporations like CVS, J.P. Morgan and Company, Knight-Ridder, Inc.,
Levi-Straus, and Wells Fargo have cut funding for the scouts.
c.. A large number of religious organizations including the Episcopal Church,
the Unitarian Universalist Association, the Religious Action Center of Reform
Judaism, the United Methodist GBCS, and a number of individual congregations
have called upon the Boy Scouts to end their "discrimination" policy
against homosexuals. Some have terminated their relationship with the Boy Scouts
altogether.
d.. Dozens of United Way chapters across the country have removed the Boy Scouts
from their lists of supporting charities.
e.. Public figures such as Steven Spielberg, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, and former President Bill Clinton
have publicly denounced the Boy Scout policy. The National Education Association
and the Communication Workers of America have followed suit.
The Internal Nexus
Like most mainline Christian denominations, a broad coalition of United
Methodists have drawn a line in the sand from which it will not retreat in its
desire to bring practicing homosexuals into the life of the church. However, the
General Conference-the denomination's governing body-has made it clear that
homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and has passed
resolutions prohibiting openly "gay" clergy from certification and
banned same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, homosexual activists act as if the laws
do not exist.
Within the United Methodist Church, the battle over the Boy Scouts rests
primarily between two agencies: the General Board of Church and Society and the
General Commission on United Methodist Men (GCUMM). The GCUMM administers the
scouting program and is perhaps the only United Methodist church agency without
a distinct left-wing agenda. In fact, it filed an amicus brief supporting the
scouts in the case of James Dale vs. The Boy Scouts of America. But the GBCS is
much larger and more heavily-funded than the GCUMM. The intention of the GBCS is
clear:
While the General Board of Church and Society would like to enthusiastically
affirm and encourage this continuing partnership of the church and scouting for
421,579 boys in scouting, we cannot due to the Boy Scouts of America's
discrimination against gays. This discrimination conflicts with our Social
Principles.
The stakes in this internal battle could not be higher. The United Methodist
Church supports more Boy Scout troops than any other mainline denomination,
sponsoring 12,200 units for over 400,000 boys (2003 statistics). The survival of
the national scout program may ultimately depend on the outcome of this
struggle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Al Dobras is a freelance writer on religious and cultural issues and an
electronics engineer. He lives in Springfield, Virginia.