Quote:
Originally Posted by driveway
FWIW I was raised completely atheist and was in Scouting for about eight years, Cubs and Scouts. I had a blast in both, largely because of the awesome troops I was part of (Triwood 4th Elks Cub Troop and the now defunct 107th St. David's Scout Troop). The only time there was ever any religiousness of any kind was the one time I had to attend a service at the Church our Scout troop met in. I carried a flag and sat in the front row in uniform. This was an arangement our troop had worked out with the church as part of our use of their space to hold meetings.
Scouting was AWESOME. It was by far one of the best experiences of my life, I did so many cool things in scouts: canoe trip down the red-deer river, regional camp in the badlands - landing before time it was called, anyone remember that? Alberta and Canada Jamborees, Biking camp to Kananaskis, crazy winter sleeping in snow caves camping... etc. etc.
My advice would be to sign your kids up and just send them off. If they come home complaining about either a) religious activities or b) too much emphasis on badge-getting, move them to another troop.
Badges should be incidental to the activities. You go do something because it's awesome and get a badge as a result - not simply doing everything in an effort to get badges.
Scouting rules.
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I agree, I was a Beaver and Cub for 6 years, never really pushed any religion on me, we did all our stuff in a Church, but I never thought they were pushing it, or even discussing it.
They do talk about God, but not that much.
Just to give you an idea, my dad is a scout leader and he is an athiest for the most part. I say most part because he is technically Catholic, but doesn't support it (praying, going to church, don't mention God).