My collection of 40 year-old Scout badges.
Secondly, I adored my time in scouts, now 40 years on, as well. Didn’t think much about exclusion while I was a member and I proudly wore my uniform to school for Scout Day. I learned a lot, much of which I still use regularly today.
So, when I had a son, I looked forward to not only enrolling him for the same experiences, but also becoming the “cool scout dad” that went on the trips, organized the snipe hunts and made everybody gag with Limburger and Sardine sandwiches (something my scout master introduced me too).
When he became old enough, shortly after we moved to Scranton, I went looking for a troop. Everybody was enthusiastic and welcoming… until they asked “What church do you belong too?” I explained that we don’t, that I was an atheist and that my kids were too young to decide. I was told that scouting didn’t permit atheists; that “no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God.”
Now, to be fair, several of these “best citizens” and God-fearing men told me that we could “fake it”, but as a heathen atheist I found that ethically repugnant. We were turned off by the entire exercise and my son never became a scout. As I’ve watched him grow into a better man than I ever was, I know this was their loss, not his.
Way back in the history times when I was a child in the suburbs of Buffalo, I had a small TV in my bedroom. With the bent rabbit ears, I could pick up a small handful of channels and the clearest was WNED PBS, channel 17. As part of their “cultural offerings”, the channel showed British Comedies each evening ending with an episode of “Benny Hill” at 10 and “Dave Allen at Large” at 10:30.
