Category: Christianity

The Boy Scouts of America was one of the most cherished organizations in the American culture. It seemed to sum what “a good American” was all about, and it captured the general outlook of our national character. It is what many people think of when they think of how to “just be a good person.” But, sadly, what was once only a rhetorical saying now has a new and literal meaning– there are no more Boy Scouts.

What killed the Boy Scouts was sex. They thought–wrongly–that everyone knew what sex was and how to use it responsibly. But this has been proven false. Three years ago, the Boy Scouts began to revise their position on human sexuality, eventually coming to admit homosexual members and even scout leaders. You can read about how that came about here. This week the Boy Scouts announced that they will allow transgender members. This has left many Americans who traditionally supported the Scouts for reasons of moral and spiritual formation dismayed and depressed. On a surface level it all seems rather absurd. After all, this is the BOY Scouts we are talking about. If boys no longer have to be boys, what’s left? But on a deeper level, what this reveals is that the Boy Scouts do not actually have a shared moral and spiritual foundation. Whatever they thought they once had is now definitively gone.