8 Jul 2011
Get Off My Honor!: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America
Author: admin | Filed under: For Boy ScoutsGet Off My Honor!: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America
Hans Zeiger may represent the hope for the future. He is not the typical postmodern young twenty something. You don't see his type portrayed on The Real World on MTV. But he isn't alone. He is part of a movement that is alive and well-and thriving. Nineteen-year-old Hans is a Boy Scout. More specifically, he is an Eagle Scout. And he is tired of the attack on the Boy Scouts by those who would like to see it assimilated into the politically correct culture that dominates many of our nation's institutions. Get Off My Honor! analyzes a half-century of events leading up to the present struggle for the soul of the Boy Scouts. Hans shows how those who wish to destroy the scouts are attacking it for what it represents at its core-Christian values. With biting commentary, Zeiger paints a picture in which the Boy Scouts have been spat upon and cursed by its critics. Groups as diverse as the United Way, ecumenical church denominations, unions, educational and medical organiztions, judges, members of the Clinton administration, and left-wing activists have labeled the Boy Scouts as bigots and homophobes. Hans Zeiger is ready to let the world know the truth about scouting and the truth behind those who wish to destroy it.
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Ironic, putting the Boy Scouts behind the Democrats, since the local Dems aren’t likely to support the scouts until the scouts suspend their discrimination policies.
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2 Responses to “Get Off My Honor!: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America”
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July 8th, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Getting Off The Point, Not Your Honor,
I am a 48 yr old Arrow of Light and Eagle Scout, Brotherhood member of the Order of the Arrow, current Den Leader and District Trainer, former Unit Commissioner and COPE Instructor, with approaching 20 years in the program. (Which only means I been around a while and may have something to say worth saying.)
I like much of what I read in this book.
1. I agree with Jay Malmstrom that Scouting is not and has never been a Christian organization. However, the BSA has _always_ insisted that all Scouts acknowledge a Higher Being. It does not have to be God as I understand God to be (a great relief to the Christian Scientists, I am sure.) Our Promise and our Law require at least a superficial statement of belief in this Higher Power and at least token participation in some form of religion. Let us not be carried away on the wings of conservative religio-political fervor. Scouting is not an Evangelical Christian nor Conservative Republican movement. It may, at times, share common goals with either, but it has room for my Jewish, Muslim, Hindu brothers and even Roman Catholic, Baptist, and Lutheran neighbors. The point is that with regard to faith, there is room in Scouting’s big tent for all people of good will. However, militant Athiests have started to pick a fight with us. They would assert their right to be free of religion to the point that we who believe anything can no longer feel free to practice and discuss our faith in public.
2. Our disagreements over homosexuality are more complex than can be presented in a book such as this. Hans does as good a job as he can to lay out the issues. Reviewer Jay Malmstrom would draw the distiction “between homosexuality and pedophilism” and complain that the BSA is alone in it’s confusion about the two. I would disagree, but it is beside the point. The bitter truth is that those men who sexually abuse boys are by definition homosexuals or bisexuals, even if most homosexuals are not pedophiles. Just as I would not have a troop of Girl Scouts go camping with a heterosexual man, I would not knowingly send a troup of boys camping with a homosexual. I AM disturbed when I hear people accuse the Scouts of thereby teaching hatred. (And I have often heard this.) I was never taught in Scouting to hate or to show disrespect to others. On the contrary, I was always taught to be friendly, courteous, kind, and cheerful towards others – to be helpful to those who needed help and not just the ones like me. Though I believe that homosexuality is wrong – I have friends who are homosexuals. If my friend called me in the middle of the night to say his car had broken down on the highway 50 miles away and could I come to get him, I would go get him if I could. I think he is wrong. He thinks I am wrong for thinking him wrong. We are friends and still struggle with each other to understand and be understood. We do not hate each other, even if I am intolerant on this issue regarding Scouting.
3. Our (Scouting’s) alignment and entanglement with government and other public institutions is the result of a long process of working together to the benefit of all. Those who would force Scouts out of the public places they have used, served, and often maintained for many decades are naive. The value that Scouting offers the community is considerable. In 2004 our council officially recorded over 300,000 Hours of Community Service performed, 250,000 Pounds of Food collected during Scouting for Food Campaign, and over 3,000,000 Hours of good old-fashioned Camping. My Cub Scout Den (7 boys aged 9-10) did at least 70 hours of unreported service projects last year. Are they saying this program is bad because of our stand on religion and homosexuality? Then where are the Athiest and homosexual-freindly groups that are providing this level of service to our communities?
My biggest complaint about the book is it’s “in-your-face” title and cover, which I feel is antagonistic. Now, I am not asking to build a bridge, that was not the purpose of the book, but the title is a bit harsh.
ALSO I felt it’s conventional conservative viewpoint was a weakness. It is a classic apologetic(apologia or defence of one’s beliefs, not apology) document and skillfully written. (No, I was not expecting “It Takes a Village”!) It marshals most, if not all, of the arguments we in Scouting have been kicking around for the last decade or so, and integrates them with the views of religious and social conservatives. Though written last year, it does not reflect the more recent failures of the Far Left, such as increasing United Way Support rather than dwindling to nothing. And while the last section on what we can do is interesting, I had hopes that there would be some spark from this new flint and steel that would light a fire to illuminate some of Scouting’s critics. But I cannot fault Hans for failing to do what none of the rest of us has been able to accomplish.
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|July 8th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
A Far-Reaching Battle,
Zeiger, a 19-year-old college student has done a splendid job of tracing the liberal assault on the Boy Scouts of America. He points out that all other scouting programs that have allowed themselves to be separated from the guiding principles and morals present when they were founded have floundered and ceased to be a dynamic force in building tomorrow’s leaders out of today’s youth. I love his references to Churchill on the place of Scouts in the future of Western Civilization.
The book is sobering in that it paints the stark reality that BSA programming is being injured because of the costs required to defend themselves on two simple matters of self-determinination, including reference to “God” in their motto.
I would almost get a little discouraged were it not for two facts: (a) Zeiger gives practical ways we can support the BSA and (b) the fact that an intelligent and articulate 19-year-old is sounding a clarion call for America to return to its moral roots in all areas of public life! Very encouraging.
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