Margaret Downey writes in the Fall 2000 issue of Free Inquiry:
By getting itself declared "private," the BSA has defeated the rationale for it to have public support, government gratuities, and a congressional charter. Nor will it be legitimate for BSA to receive money from United Way's unallocated fund, or to go into public schools to recruit, or to be given military and other government gratuities. BSA will have to rely on private donations exclusively. This will work against the troops and the boys.
Prejudiced zealots have seized control of BSA and will destroy all that has been good with their fear and loathing toward the gay and nontheist community. ... Recently BSA ruled that Unitarian Scouts will no longer be eligible to receive religious emblems. Unitarian rules do not fall in line with BSA's selective membership policy. Unitarians are too tolerant and too sympathetic toward gays, girls, and the godless.
Those same prejudiced zealots have been outraged at efforts to strip the Boy Scouts of their various sources of public funding and support. Either it just never occurred to them that a private, discriminatory organization shouldn't receive public support or they just didn't care; regardless, they have effectively adopted the position that private bigotry and discrimination cannot justifiably come with any social or political costs. They further insist that the Boy Scouts, by discriminating against gays and atheist and by depicting them as morally inferior, continues to serve the public good.
If the Boy Scouts engaged in similar bigotry and discrimination against other groups like Jews, Hispanics, Catholics, or liberals, there's no way that public agencies or charitable organizations would continue to support or help them. This is because it's generally accepted that discrimination against those groups is harmful; people don't yet quite understand that the same is true about discrimination against gays and atheists.
Understanding Atheism & Atheists:
- Atheism 101
- What is Atheism?
- Defining Atheism
- Is Atheism a Religion?
- Who Are Atheists?
- Why Don't Atheists Believe in God?
- Questions About Atheism
- Atheism Myths
- Polls on Atheism
Resources for Athiests:
Good luck finding people who believe the Boy scouts shouldn’t get public funding. It would really be a pity if people like you were to get the reigns of power and destroy this fine organization.
Actually, the movement to deny public funding and benefits to the Boy Scouts is generally successful.
So, you believe that without public funding, the Boy Scouts would be “destroyed” – that they only exist so long as they are able to receive funds and benefits from the government which we all pay for. You also seem to believe that the Boy Scouts should continue engage in discrimination and promote bigotry. So, this means that you believe that the Boy Scouts should receive funding from the government to do things which the government itself is legally forbidden from doing.
Were you aware that it’s illegal for the government to pay a private organization to do things which the government itself is not allowed to do?
I wonder why you believe it’s important for the government to pay to keep alive an organization just so it can discriminate against and promote bigotry against gays and atheists. If Boy Scout bigotry is so important to you, why don’t you fund it yourself out of your own pocket?
[Were you aware that it’s illegal for the government to pay a private organization to do things which the government itself is not allowed to do?]
Unless of course you are a religious organization receiving funds under George Bush’s faith base initiative (Which Obama still needs to clean up).
The Boy Scouts, as well as poster number one need to understand since the stand they took to openly show their ignorance and discriminate, which is their right, they are no longer allowed to have access to anything that is supported by public funds. It’s an easy concept.
When thinking about what they want to do, all they have to do is think “Would they let the Ku Klux Klan come in to this school, etc., and recruit”?
Before you get your panties in a twist, no I don’t think the Boy Scouts are anything like the KKK, but he principal is the same. They both have the right to exist and to take and refuse membership who they want and then suffer the consequences.
The boy scouts can continue to exist as a private organization as long as they can find enough close minded parents to enlist their kids. Just DO NOT ask me as a taxpayer to financially support them, period! It’s very simple, but then when has simple ever related to government?
Good luck finding people who believe the Boy scouts shouldn’t get public funding. — Zmflavius on April 21, 2009 at 10:27 am
My son has been a Boy Scout for years, but I do not believe the Boy Scouts should get public funding.
For one thing, the Boy Scouts are complacent about their very serious institutional bigotry.
For another thing, even if their record in such matters were entirely unblemished, not every worthwhile organization needs or should receive public funding.
The boy scouts can continue to exist as a private organization as long as they can find enough close minded parents to enlist their kids. — Marc on April 27, 2009 at 11:21 am
I think my ears are burning.
Perhaps you have good reason to think that parents who have sons in the Boy Scouts are more close-minded than parents who do not, but my own experience has been that they are close-minded at about the same rate.
As far as I have been able to tell, the main difference is that the sons in the first group are more likely to know how to build a camp fire without matches, to set a broken bone, or to identify the constellations.
I agree that the Boy Scouts should not receive taxpayer support — certainly not until they renounce their bigoted policies, and possibly not ever.