The religious ones all have one thing in common: They see their religion as a path for themselves, and not as something they need to assault their neighbors with.
You have been very fortunate with your neighbors.
Religion is by definition (nice Latin) a totalitarian regime? C'mon! There are a billion instances in history of religion being just the opposite. Do words and phrases like "mysticism" or "The Protestant Reformation" mean anything to you?
You don't know shit about the protestant reformation either. The wars between Lutherans and Calvinists over issues of doctrine? the way they would occasionally combine forces to destroy smaller sects that wished to live peacefully in a manner slightly different? Calvin's Geneva?
It shows that a lying psychopath will get a lot farther in life than an honest paragon. And that's one of the most important lessons in morality you can receive nowadays.
Unless things have changed since I got my "God and Community" ribbon in the 1980s, the religion awards have nothing to do with advancements. It's just an extra thing to brag about and sew on the uniform.
I got most of the stuff completed for "God and Country" too, but the pastor I was working with took things too much to heart and wanted to impose additional requirements of his own - so I had enough of that and let the matter drop. By that time I already had Eagle Scout, 9 palms (45 merit badges beyond the 21 required for Eagle), God and Community, Order of the Arrow (Brotherhood), and had attended the National Jamboree - among other things - so I had more than enough bling for my uniform.
For the record, I have ethical objections to the BSA's policy of discrimination against atheists and gays. However, I can at least understand why they discriminate against gays (even if it is based on ignorance and unjustified fear) whereas the discrimination against Atheists is just plain stupid in an organization that proudly accepts any religious belief.
The national policy is to discriminate against atheists and gays.
Some councils do not actively discriminate, and a boy won't have any problems unless he - as you say - makes waves.
In other councils, however, if those in charge discover that a boy is an atheist or gay, they will kick him out.
As a private organization, they have a right to do this. However, as long as they discriminate the government has a duty not to give them special favors.
In 1988 I applied to the Coast Guard Academy (run by the Federal government, of course) and on the application was a place to indicate if I was an Eagle Scout. Considering that this discriminates against atheists, I believe it was illegal and unethical to have this on the application. (For better or worse, the implied discrimination against gays was at least official for the armed services as well as the Boy Scouts at the time.)
The Boy Scouts have also received numerous benefits from the federal and state governments, that are not available to similar organizations that do not discriminate.
I do not agree with the BSA's discrimination against gays, but at least I can understand.
The BSA's discrimination against atheists makes no sense, considering that they will proudly accept any religious belief, except None of the Above. That's right: Christian, Buddhist, Animist, Muslim, Jew, Branch Davidian, Scientologist, Heaven's Gate, Daoist, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Satanist - it doesn't matter, as long as you got religion you're in. But if you're not comfortable with any religion and are principled enough to say so - you're out.
I earned the rank of Eagle Scout at the age of twelve, and then earned nine palms to go with it. It all means nothing to me now, so long as the Scouts continue to discriminate so stupidly.
This reform should have been done years ago, but this still doesn't go far enough.
I suppose it's meaningful that some folks in Congress are just now beginning to see that copyright is a very important issue in the information age.
Now, if they would just undo the copyright laws they've passed since 1995, that would be a good start. And then they can undo some more, until the copyright period is reasonable - somewhere between 10 and 30 years.
Once they get THAT done, THEN they can address trickier issues like accidental infringement.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, every organization that needed to raise funds sold Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They made it easy.
You have been very fortunate with your neighbors.
You don't know shit about the protestant reformation either. The wars between Lutherans and Calvinists over issues of doctrine? the way they would occasionally combine forces to destroy smaller sects that wished to live peacefully in a manner slightly different? Calvin's Geneva?
Get one (1) clue.
Unless things have changed since I got my "God and Community" ribbon in the 1980s, the religion awards have nothing to do with advancements. It's just an extra thing to brag about and sew on the uniform.
I got most of the stuff completed for "God and Country" too, but the pastor I was working with took things too much to heart and wanted to impose additional requirements of his own - so I had enough of that and let the matter drop. By that time I already had Eagle Scout, 9 palms (45 merit badges beyond the 21 required for Eagle), God and Community, Order of the Arrow (Brotherhood), and had attended the National Jamboree - among other things - so I had more than enough bling for my uniform.
For the record, I have ethical objections to the BSA's policy of discrimination against atheists and gays. However, I can at least understand why they discriminate against gays (even if it is based on ignorance and unjustified fear) whereas the discrimination against Atheists is just plain stupid in an organization that proudly accepts any religious belief.
The national policy is to discriminate against atheists and gays.
Some councils do not actively discriminate, and a boy won't have any problems unless he - as you say - makes waves.
In other councils, however, if those in charge discover that a boy is an atheist or gay, they will kick him out.
As a private organization, they have a right to do this. However, as long as they discriminate the government has a duty not to give them special favors.
In 1988 I applied to the Coast Guard Academy (run by the Federal government, of course) and on the application was a place to indicate if I was an Eagle Scout. Considering that this discriminates against atheists, I believe it was illegal and unethical to have this on the application. (For better or worse, the implied discrimination against gays was at least official for the armed services as well as the Boy Scouts at the time.)
The Boy Scouts have also received numerous benefits from the federal and state governments, that are not available to similar organizations that do not discriminate.
I do not agree with the BSA's discrimination against gays, but at least I can understand.
The BSA's discrimination against atheists makes no sense, considering that they will proudly accept any religious belief, except None of the Above. That's right: Christian, Buddhist, Animist, Muslim, Jew, Branch Davidian, Scientologist, Heaven's Gate, Daoist, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Satanist - it doesn't matter, as long as you got religion you're in. But if you're not comfortable with any religion and are principled enough to say so - you're out.
I earned the rank of Eagle Scout at the age of twelve, and then earned nine palms to go with it. It all means nothing to me now, so long as the Scouts continue to discriminate so stupidly.
This reform should have been done years ago, but this still doesn't go far enough.
I suppose it's meaningful that some folks in Congress are just now beginning to see that copyright is a very important issue in the information age.
Now, if they would just undo the copyright laws they've passed since 1995, that would be a good start. And then they can undo some more, until the copyright period is reasonable - somewhere between 10 and 30 years. Once they get THAT done, THEN they can address trickier issues like accidental infringement.