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A New Rank for the BSA? 
“Trustworthy” He keeps promises. He doesn’t justify his misconduct with word-games. “Loyal” Does loyalty include Scouters, parents and their sons, or are they less deserving of candor than Mr. Dale’s college crowd? “Helpful” Not harmful—if his self-serving attack does destroy BSA, Dale will likely photo-op his “regret that others caused this unfortunate outcome”—as honor-bound churches, civic groups, Scouters, parents and boys will have to withdraw from Scouting by hundreds of thousands. “Friendly” Not hostile. Friends don’t sue friends. If Dale is unhappy with the ideals of Scouting, he has a First Amendment “right to assemble” his own group. That is his remedy—not infringing on other peoples’ lives and institutions, or glutting the courts with a surfeit of baloney. Such litigants show their true colors—the Jolly Roger. Scorning others’ right of passage, they seize the Constitution as plunder, stripping booty of American liberty from its hold—Freedom of Assembly? Now! Religion? Soon! And all? One fine day! “Courteous” To abuse the generosity of BSA is rank discourtesy. Ignoring the Procrustean tortures by which a “driven” judiciary attempted to truncate a private charity like BSA into a “public accommodation,” let us consider the concept of “accommodation”—from Latin com (together) and modus (measure)—as “parties agreeing to mutual considerations.” In a business—say, a town’s only gas station, the owner needs to earn a living. He provides fuel, merchandise and facilities. Customers agree to pay for them and to respect his premises. If either party falters, the accommodation may diminish. The core product is the powerful fuel. Smoking near it is considered so dangerous that an offending person may be excluded from the premises. But suppose it is an employee caught smoking near the gas pumps. The owner, concerned about safety, and understanding human nature (“show me a liar and I’ll show you a thief”), no longer trusts the wisdom or integrity of his worker, and fires him. The disgruntled employee, knowing he has lied about smoking on his job application, disobeyed the rules of his training, and disregarded the posted “No Smoking” signs, presumptuously demands his job back, claiming (deceitfully or stupidly) that his smoking is not dangerous, and that it’s his business. The owner responds that it is his business when a trusted employee exhibits dangerous and dishonest conduct. The employee concocts a lawsuit, and after appeals, finds a panel of uniformly obtuse judges and returns with a court order for reinstatement. The astounded owner then seeks redress from the highest court. But suppose the highest court is despotic also, or morally too weak to resist the cannonades of specious advocacy, and rules for the employee. The owner, still unable to see “the king’s new clothes”(moral wrong as politically correct), finding only one honorable course, makes the heart-rending decision to close his business. The citizenry suffers too—loss of commerce, convenience and, most important, liberty—from one man’s unbridled vanity and the mischief of overreaching judiciary.
Civilized societies worldwide have considered heterosexuality to be honorable and homosexuality (like bestiality) to be evil, distancing the pack of vile behaviors. The decline of this ethic, has been a grim precursor of the death of civilizations. Citizens must do all in their power to stop the encroachment of diseased morality. Yet bigotry and the initiation of violence must not be tolerated and are as contemptible as passivity is cowardly and permissiveness corrupt. If Mr. Dale’s unjust lawsuit succeeds, a Pandora’s box of grisly defilements and heinous crimes may open upon the vulnerable youth of unwary parents if they continue in Scouting. The ensuing sentence of eternal Justice upon mortal Justices will be but rueful consolation. Paid for by Ralph & Judith Sheffield (parents of four
Eagle Scouts). If you can help with the extensive costs of national
publication, your contribution will be appreciated.
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NCREDIBLY, one James Dale, after he
was found to be homosexual, is suing the Boy Scouts of America to force
them to retain him as an assistant scoutmaster. (huh?)
Perhaps the dearth of intellect in his state’s current supreme court
has made him fantasize a Disneyland day at the Supreme Court of the
United States. If he spent less time posturing and more pondering, he
would grasp—he barred himself from Scouting by jettisoning its
Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan. Let us count (some of) the ways—trying
not to retch on effrontery: “On my honor” Isn’t honesty part
of honor? “I will... obey” Not betray, not dissemble.
“The Scout Law” Not whimsy, but a contractual
standard agreed to by those receiving the benefits and honors
of Scouting. “To keep myself...morally straight” Morality
nurtures life—and sexual honor is most of morality. The founders of
Scouting (early 1900’s) were keenly aware of this, but being people of
high manners and decent times (before the sex–drug–anarchy debauches of
the 60’s and afterward), they did not wish, even didactically, to
obtrude into Scouting manuals, so explicit a term as “sexual
perversion” (from Latin perversus—“thoroughly turned
from what is good”). But needing to teach the principle, they (in
Frost’s term) “taught by contraries,” broaching it from its
opposite—“morally straight,” instead. For millions in Scouting
(for nearly a century) this has been manifestly about sexual morality—especially
“sexual perversion,” because of (1) the clear denotation of the
words, (2) the other character virtues (honesty, friendship, thrift,
etc.) being represented elsewhere in the Scouting covenants, and (3)
the tradition of Scout leadership teaching this understanding. Only
recently, from those who have betrayed the oath, have we heard (after
they have been caught) ambiguous, twitching interpretations of it. Nor
is it surprising that the non-Scouting world absorbed the term
(“straight” as signifying “non-homosexual”) through the cultural
leavening of tens of millions of leading families, their sons
having been groomed through the ranks of Scouting (memorizing the Scout
Oath and Laws, etc.) then entering into society (with a weighted
influence). Thus, the word “straight” was in use a long time before
emerging rather quickly into wider public usage during the bluster of
homosexual agitation. “Gay” (ugh)...is new. 
HE vital “core product” of Scouting
is noble character. All else (badges, ranks, honors), though worthy, is
ancillary. And if not all young men allow Scouting programs to succeed
in their inner lives, it is their choice; and Mr. Dale’s
outrageous attempt to impose himself on Scouting is an “open
flame”—totally explosive to the “fuel” of godly character dispensed
into the lives of precious youth. It is a tribute to the wisdom and
integrity of past American jurisprudence that it has taken nearly two
centuries since Marbury v. Madison for persecuting
minorities—from Madalyn Murray and ACLU to Lambda Defense Fund—to
ferret out sufficient swanking judges to vaunt our once “least
dangerous” branch of government into what is becoming the most
dangerous. Jefferson foresaw this: “The germ of dissolution of our
federal government is in...[the] judiciary...advancing its noiseless
step like a thief...until all shall be usurped.” Tragically, this is
the stuff of revolution. “Kind” “Only by pride cometh
contention.” (Prov. 13:10) A litigious spirit is a vicious
spirit, foreign to kindness. “Obedient” Obedience—obeys. It
doesn’t betray trust or make up its own rules, demanding others to
submit. “Cheerful” Vindictiveness is antithetic to
cheerfulness, even if you smile while you injure. Apparently, those
least sensitive to guilt are most sensitive to embarrassment. Instead
of saying “I got caught—I’ll take my consequences,” they say, “I’ll
take my revenge.” Dale, and his legal chinches should be glad they are
not being sued by BSA! “Thrifty” Only amoebic consciences could
sue the Boy Scouts, draining their dues money, contributions of
struggling parents and others, and the pro bono sacrifices of
altruistic defenders against a nefarious action. “Brave”
“Browning said, “When the fight begins within himself, a man’s worth
something.” But Dale is like that infamous politician always warring
against justice, allegedly “to protect his family,” but won’t battle
his own libido to protect them. “Clean” Jesus taught, “Cleanse
first that which is within, that the outside may be clean also.” Those
who seek righteousness within will gain reputation without. But those
who seek image above integrity (by lies or lawsuit) will lose both. “Reverent”
Does the Almighty have any rights? Count on it! He has warned (Lev
20:13, I Cor. 6:9-10, Gen. 2:24, I Cor. 11:11, Matt. 19:17, etc.) that
those who pervert themselves shall not have lasting peace in this world
or eternal life in the world to come. It matters not who carps,
complains, or flatters otherwise—“Every one of us shall give account
to God.” (Rom.14: 12) “Be Prepared” If those who have
fallen into deviance would have “prepared” their minds ahead with the protective
power of decision to abide by Scout rules and the commandments of
God—“This, I will always do. That, I will never do,” etc. (fortified by
prayer, protected by courage, maintained by gratitude and vigilance)
they would have passed this “test of refusal.” The Messiah passed this very
test (among all others). We read, he “was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”(Heb. 4:15) People
entangled in homosexuality often recall a “sinking feeling” when they
first approached this evil. This was the voice of conscience—a Divine
gift to every person. If we obey our conscience, it becomes stronger
and so do we. If not, it weakens, and we will lose even the sense of
evil. If we will “be prepared” we are not likely to be surprised,
charmed, or intimidated into evil. “Do a good turn daily” Dale’s
apostasy from this ideal, evident in his treatment of BSA—secret
betrayal then brutal attack—seems hard to grasp. But when he preens
himself forward as “victim,” as “friend” of Scouting, it becomes almost
surreal. Are we entering uncharted realms of human guile?
Well, the ancients too, had encounters with stark evil—“Woe unto them
that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and
light for darkness!”(Isa. 5:20) 
