today:
39
yesterday:
170
Total:
999,345

칼럼

Baptists plan exodus from Boy Scouts

Admin 2013.06.02 16:44 Views : 5193

 

 

(CNN) – For Southern Baptist pastor Tim Reed, it was Scripture versus the Scouts.

“God’s word explicitly says homosexuality is a choice, a sin,” said Reed, pastor of First Baptist Church of Gravel Ridge in Jacksonville, Arkansas.

So when the Boy Scouts of America voted to lift its ban on openly gay youths on May 24, Reed said the church had no choice but to cut its charter with Troop 542.

“It’s not a hate thing here,” Reed told CNN affiliate Fox 16. “It’s a moral stance we must take as a Southern Baptist church.”

Southern Baptist leaders say Reed is not alone.

Baptist churches sponsor nearly 4,000 Scout units representing more than 100,000 youths, according to the Boy Scouts of America.

That number could drop precipitously.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, will soon urge its 45,000 congregations and 16 million members to cut ties with the Scouts, according to church leaders.

The denomination will vote on nonbinding but influential resolutions during a convention June 11-12 in Houston.

“There’s a 100% chance that there will be a resolution about disaffiliation at the convention,” said Richard Land, the longtime head of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, “and a 100% chance that 99% of people will vote for it.”

“Southern Baptists are going to be leaving the Boy Scouts en masse,” Land continued.

Roger “Sing” Oldham, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, emphasized that local congregations make their own decision on the Scouts.

But he, too, said he expects Baptist delegates, which the church calls “messengers,” to voice their disagreement with the BSA's decision to allow gay youths.

“With this policy change, the Boy Scouts’ values are contradictory to the basic values of our local churches,” Oldham said.

Several religious groups with strong Scouting ties support the new policy.

“We have heard from both those who support the amended policy and those who would have preferred it would not have changed,” said BSA spokesman Deron Smith.

Faith-based organizations charter more than 70% of Scout chapters, providing meeting space and leadership, according to the BSA.

“There have been some organizations that have decided not to renew their charters with Scouting," said Smith, "but we can’t quantify the impact of the amended policy."

The National Jewish Committee on Scouting, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors more Scout units than any other faith, all endorsed the change.

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting, which is run with oversight from a bishop, said Thursday that allowing gay youths in the Scouts does not conflict with church teaching. Each bishop will decide whether or not to allow churches in his diocese to charter Scout units, the committee added.

“We ask that Catholic Scouters and chartered organization heads not rush to judgment,” said Edward Martin, chairman of the National Catholic Committee on Scouting.

But the Rev. Derek Lappe, pastor of the Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Bremerton, Washington, has already made up his mind.

“I do not feel that it is possible for us to live out, and to teach, the authentic truth about human sexuality within the confines of the Boy Scout’s new policy,” said Lappe.

The priest told CNN affiliate FOX16 that his parish will part ways with the Scouts and develop its own programs.

There may soon be an alternative to the Scouts for social conservatives like Lappe.

John Stemberger, founder of On My Honor, a group that opposed the Scouts’ change in policy, plans to convene conservatives in Louisville, Kentucky, in June to consider forming a new Scout-like group, which could be up and running by the end of 2013.

“Churches and Scoutmasters are looking for leadership and direction,” said Stemberg, an attorney in Orlando, Florida.

A number of conservative religious denominations already sponsor their own groups.

For instance, the Southern Baptists have the Royal Ambassadors, an explicitly Christian program founded in 1908 for boys in first through sixth grade. (A similar group called Challengers equips older boys in “mission education.”)

The name comes from the New Testament, in which the Apostle Paul tells Christians to be “ambassadors for Christ.”

The estimated 31,000 Royal Ambassadors pledge “ to become a well-informed, responsible follower of Christ; to have a Christlike concern for all people; to learn how to carry the message of Christ around the world; to work with others in sharing Christ; and to keep myself clean and healthy in mind and body."

While not as outdoorsy as the Boy Scouts, Ambassadors do camp and play sports, said Land, who was a member of the group during the 1950s. But instead of merit badges for archery and bird study, young Ambassadors earn patches for memorizing Bible verses and mission work.

Southern Baptists said they are preparing for a surge of interest in the Royal Ambassadors at their upcoming convention in Houston.

“We really have an opportunity here to strengthen our RA programs,” the Rev. Ernest Easley, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, said in a sermon last Sunday, “and to get the boys in a program where they’re going to be protected, where there’s a high moral standard and where they will have an opportunity to learn about camping, missions, evangelism in the local church.”

No. Subject Views Date
342 National Day of Prayer Task Force 107 2015.04.05
341 [마가복음11:12-26] 3월19일(목) 묵상 110 2015.03.19
340 (Palm Sunday 2015)-종려 주일의삶 120 2015.03.28
339 EASTER 122 2015.04.05
338 [묵상] 예수님이 다시 오실때를 기다리며 어떻게 살아야 하나? 129 2015.03.26
337 알기쉬운 교회역사 1회 초대교회의 시작과 로마 박해의 시작 131 2015.03.01
336 교회역사 (2회) 이단의 출현과 기독교 정립 138 2015.03.01
335 랍비 조나선 칸 _ 미국에 마지막 경고를 하다! 143 2016.03.06
334 [마가복음10:46-52] 3월17일(화) 묵상-주님이 오늘 나를 부르신다. 155 2015.03.17
333 고난 주간의 첫날이 종려 주일로 ... 162 2015.03.28
332 성령의 은사(2) 169 2015.04.11
331 2016 사순절 174 2016.03.14
330 사순절 (Lent )이란 ? 175 2015.03.22
329 성령의 은사(3) 176 2015.04.11
328 예수님께서 친히 마지막때(종말)에 일어날 일들을 말씀하십니다. 177 2015.03.25
327 요시야가 있어요. 동성혼 합법화로 심난 하세요? 188 2015.06.27
326 [마가복음12:13-27] 3월21일 묵상 190 2015.03.22
325 성고난 주간 전후사역 204 2016.03.14
324 이해를 넘어서 실상을 경험하라!" -정원목사님 글 중에서 225 2015.09.05
323 위대한 기도 230 2015.04.11
322 사랑과생각 231 2017.02.14
321 존 오웬을 통해 보는 죄와 성화 2 - 김남준 목사 236 2014.12.08
320 (기도 하지 않은 우리들의 책임이다.)미국 대법원, 동성 결혼 허용 판결 243 2015.06.26
319 김양재 목사 - 부르심(사6:1-8) 247 2016.11.04
318 칩 잉그램 목사의 목회론-‘리빙온더에지’ 대표 247 2017.03.18
317 여수제일교회 신도들, 침통함 속 ‘무사 귀환’ 기도 258 2014.12.28
316 결혼 전에 확실히 해야 할 4가지- 존 파이퍼 282 2017.01.14
315 현재 길이 하나님의 뜻이 아님을 알 수 있는 5가지 신호- 기독일보 강혜진 기자 289 2017.01.14
314 존 오웬을 통해 보는 죄와 성화 1 - 김남준 목사님 291 2014.12.08
313 하나님 아버지와의 관계 치유와 친밀한 관계의 회복(1) 291 2017.01.14