Lots of kids in the South have something similar to boy scouts. Its called childhood. Hehe

(05-12-2017 09:28 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 04:03 PM)DaSaintFan Wrote:  

(05-12-2017 03:29 PM)Native Georgian Wrote:  I've heard that 1/6 of all Scouts are LDS. Regardless of the merits of this decision, that will be a major hit to membership/donations, etc.

Personally, I'd dispute that number. The Mormons may be major donors to the Boy Scouts... But 1/6th of the entire Scouting membership? I don't buy that number.

I dunno....

Back when I was in the Boy Scouts it seemed like what the LDS lacked in number of troops they more than made up for with numbers of actual Scouts. Their Troops were always huge. And it's not like SC is a hotbed for the Mormon religion.

That's odd, because I have seen the exact opposite in the West Coast. Most LDS troops are smaller - this is why about one-third of Boy Scouts troops are LDS sponsored, but LDS membership percentage is less than 20%.

The LDS Church will continue to sponsor Cub Scouts (ages 8-11) and Boy Scouts troops for ages 12-13. Young men 14+ can still associate with the younger troop if they desire to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, but there will no longer be LDS Varsity or Venture troops (groups for ages 14-15 and 16-18) starting in 2018. The LDS Church is making a similar transition with the Queen Scouts program in Canada.

The new LDS Young Men's program for young men ages 14-18 is a simplified program that focuses more on priesthood-related and spiritual activities and provides balanced personal growth and development. The stated reasons are that the scouting programs don't meet the needs of young men ages 14-18 and are difficult to implement on a local level. In practice, there has already been a large disconnect with scouting and the activities by many local congregations' activities for older youth. The announcement formalizes what is already occurring in many locations.

This move will affect 180K LDS young men in the US and Canada. There are 280K LDS youth that will continue in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts programs, as mentioned above. I'm not sure where those numbers fall as a percentage of total scouting numbers. Because 280K LDS youth will continue with the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and because of the already-occurring informal disconnect among older youth with scouting in many local congregations, I doubt the move will have a significant impact on LDS funding related to the BSA. The younger kids will still attend scout camps and day camps and we are still encouraged to support the Friends of Scouting fundraising program.

I also note that the LDS Church continues to permit gay members to serve in church assignments, including those related to the Boy Scouts, as long as they are living LDS standards, which means not acting on their same-sex attractions. Heterosexual members must also live LDS standards to serve in such assignments, which means not to act on extramarital attractions (yes, Tom, I realize there is a difference, but the principals here are the Law of Chastity and fidelity - not the philosophies of men - so we can agree to disagree).

(05-12-2017 09:28 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  I wonder if it has anything to do with their beliefs on self-reliance in disaster situations. I know when we were training the first few classes for our CERT team the LDS seemed to be far more represented than any other religion. They told us it was because their faith treats emergency preparedness as a religious discipline.

The LDS Church is huge on self-reliance and welfare. Local bishops oversee that fast offerings are distributed to those in need, but also that long-term self-reliance plans are made so that members aren't dependent on church welfare, sometimes including significant employment, economic or lifestyle changes.

Local congregations also have assignments/callings specifically for self-reliance and emergency preparedness and related issues. And there are frequent classes and seminars concerning such topics and emergency communications, food storage and survival, gardening, first aid, etc. as well as education, finances, and small business workshops.

https://providentliving.lds.org/?lang=eng