My Boy Scouts of America Survey Inputs

Boy Scouts of America asked me to take a survey.  Here are some of the comments I left:

I forget the exact question, but it's something like, "I enjoy participating with my son...".  I ranked it fairly high, but not the top and left this comment:

I've been Cubmaster of a large and successful Cub Scouts pack for over two years now. Many months into my service, I learned that as someone who happens to not believe any gods exist, I'm not technically welcome to serve.

Or maybe I am.  The policy is unclear. There's something about believing in things larger than ourselves. Like humanity? physics? The universe? I've not made an issue of it, but it's a lingering concern and it weighs heavily on my willingness to volunteer in the future.  I sincerely hope BSA can adopt a policy of non-discrimination soon.

If there was one thing that I would suggest to improve my Scouting experience, it would be. . .

End policies which discriminate based on beliefs and sexuality. Scouting SHOULD be a safe place for all, not another opportunity to exclude the out-group.  These policies must extend to all people: adult leaders, not just scouts.  Our kids see the bigotry wrapped in "family values".  They notice when an organization practices school-yard style exclusion.  

Discriminatory policies are a vestige of old cultural ignorance of beliefs and sexuality.  It's time to end them.

Update on AiG's Frivolous Lawsuit

A Couple weeks ago, I posted a blog entry criticizing Answers in Genesis for filing a frivolous lawsuit in response to the Commonwealth of Kentucky denying their request for special Christian privileges. In short, AiG asserts they are entitled to special tax incentives for their first ever theme park to celebrate an act of mass-genocide (The Ark Encounter), despite the fact that as a bigoted religious organization, they intend to discriminate in employment based on religion, sex, and sexuality.

The intellectual dishonesty of AiG just pisses me off. It's one thing to have crazy religious beliefs. It's fine to build a theme park to genocide if that's what your horrific "god" demands of you. But to misrepresent the facts and accuse the state of "religious discrimination" is appalling. In a video released by the organization, Lawyer Mike Johnson, says, “Religious groups, ideas, and organizations can’t be treated with hostility by the government." Apparently, it's "hostility" to deny tax incentives to organizations that intend to discriminate?! This is Christian privilege and persecution complex at its finest.

Despite AiG's stated intention of serving only a select group of ignorant Christian conservatives within the Commonwealth of Kentucky, AiG apparently believes that Kentucky taxpayers should foot the bill for their theme-park-celebration-of-death. Just take a look at the artwork on their announcement page (right). It's a guy behind bars! As if to suggest that the "religious discrimination against Christians" is Kentucky is rounding up and arresting Christians?! The trumped-up persecution complex is just astonishing. How can anyone take this organization seriously?  It's not religious discrimination to reject your tax break when your organization plans to discriminate!

Tax breaks are for organizations that better the whole community, which AiG decidedly does not. Sorry AiG, but if you want the tax incentives, you'll need to serve everyone. Not just the heterosexuals; not just the protestant Christians. You'll have to hire and admit the the following groups of people to your theme-park-of-destruction:

• Gays
• Fornicators
• Catholics
• Jews
• Muslims
• Apostates
• Mormons
• even … Atheists (!!!)

How my Cub Scout Outed me as an Atheist to my Parents

My parents knew I doubted religion long before I left their home.  I was confirmed as a Presbyterian, but my "statement of faith" was weak.  I wonder if my mom still has it.  I attended church from time to time when I was away at college -- mostly to appease my mom.  Christmas, Easter, and the occasional special event.

My wife and I were married in my parents' church, but we'd likely make a different choice if we made it again. We chose the church for all the wrong reasons: tradition, family expectations, comfort.

For almost a decade after that, I was something of an apatheist. Of course I didn't believe there was a god, but I didn't really care much either.  But as my kids entered grade school and started to be able to ask coherent questions about religion, I realized they needed to be prepared for the sorts of indoctrination they would no-doubt get from their religious classmates here in the Bible Belt of Ohio.

I started taking an academic interest in atheism. I started watching debates, reading books, and listening to podcasts like The Thinking Atheist and Dogma Debate. For the first time, I discovered atheist authors like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens. I started talking with my kids about what I believe and why. My kids know what I believe and they know that I will love them no matter what they believe.

My kids know that their grandparents (my parents) hold Christian beliefs. And I've told my kids that they're welcome to ask and discuss with grandma and grandpa. So when my Cub Scout son was reading a Bible story in a Boy's Life magazine with my conservative Christian father, he simply said, "Dad doesn't believe in God". No biggie. Very matter-of-fact. He had no idea that I hadn't really discussed my atheism with my parents.

As I've come to hear more apostasy stories, I've learned that I'm pretty fortunate in how well my parents behaved.  My parents are Presbyterian, one of a handful of American churches that has taken the first steps to supporting same-sex marriage where it is legal. I never once thought that my parents would disown me for my beliefs. My relationship with my parents was somewhat awkward for a couple weeks, but in the en it started a more open dialogue. I took the opportunity to thank them for raising me to know that love is more important then faith. But after listening to a podcast titled Coming out Atheist by Seth Andrews and The Thinking Atheist, I learned that I shouldn't take such things for granted. Shunning is still quite common in fundamentalist religions. Extremist parents actually cut ties with their children who turn away from their religion. It's appalling to me to think that religion could trump family. Of course, that's what Jesus demanded, isn't it?

After the "event", I discussed boundaries with my parents. I said that they're welcome to share their beliefs with my kids, but threats of eternal damnation are off limits. They told me that they don't believe in hell. I was glad to hear that. I've come to believe more recently that people chose the Christian sects that agree with their personality.  The relationship may be reciprocal (with religion also influencing personality), but I suspect with the broad range of Christian Sects, from United Church of Christ to Westboro Baptist, there's a Christianity for everyone.

Overall, I think it's a good thing that my son just laid it all on the table like that. I've been able to share with them the challenges I face as an atheist in conservative Christian community. From my role as Cubmaster in an organization that openly rejects my conclusions about the nature of the universe to my career in a conservative business where most of my coworkers are Christian. 

Resources for Atheist Cub Scouts

As a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Cubmaster, father of a Webelos scout, and atheist, I'm frequently struggling with how to deal with the scout's bigoted policy regarding atheism and homosexuality. It's an unfortunate part of life that otherwise good organizations fall victim to the glorified bigotry of religion in an attempt to teach "values."  Rather than reject the whole organization over one disagreement, I've thus far decided to work within the organization.  Note that I discovered that atheists weren't welcome after I'd already accepted the Cubmaster position, and I've stayed on because the pack needs me.  Though our pack is sponsored by a church, they have been very hands-off, allowing us to run a secular pack that largely serves the local schools.  Few of our scouts members are members of the church that sponsors us and provides us with meeting space.  I can't help but wonder how they'd respond if they ever asked my religion -- I wouldn't lie, but it's never come up.

But this isn't about me. It's about my 10 year old son in Webelos Scouts.  Ten is too young to have a firm and defensible opinion on the nature of the universe. But since he's close to me and I talk about my beliefs with him often, he identifies as atheist. This could wind up being a problem for my him since BSA doesn't consider it an acceptable to admit honest, rational, and reasonably skeptical world views. I've been looking for a good solution, and I found a few useful tidbits to share.

Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowships are not merely tolerant of atheist world views; my atheism is welcomed as the perfectly rational worldview it is and there are many other open atheists in our local fellowship. I know that some atheists consider UU a religion, but I think of it more as a socially conscious club to which I'm a member. There's no dogma (no creed to join), and a very wide range of beliefs are welcome.

Why am I talking about "church"? Because to earn the Webelos badge, scouts MUST accomplish a religious requirement.  The Unitarian Universalist Scouters Organization UUSO Answers the mail for atheists by providing a comfortably secular perspective on scouting in their "Religion and Family" program (note the lack of "god" in the title).  They've done the hard work of getting a dogma-free curriculum through the scouts religion panel. http://www.uuscouters.org/ hosts PDFs of relatively simple workbook you and your scout can work through to complete his religious requirement without being brainwashed into accepting absurd and indefensible claims of magic sky wizards. The material focuses on values and the role of religion plays in society. By helping your son understand what other people mean when they say "God", it's possible to get all the valuable aspects out of scouting without the spiritual woo.

There are two main charitable organizations I regularly donate to that are working to solve this problem over the long haul. 

  Scouting for All: http://www.scoutingforall.org/

  Scouts for Equality: https://www.scoutsforequality.org/

Unfortunately, LDS, Catholic, and Baptist influences hold substantial sway and their closed-minded one True™ answer worldview makes them difficult to work with. 

Why My Family Attends a Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

This is how I inoculate my children against the glittering false promise of eternal life and the frightening empty threat of eternal torture.

There's a lot of people in the atheist community who bristle at anything which resembles a church. And I can sympathize with those feelings. However, since my wife and I have different religious views, it's important that I remain at least a little respectful towards the "I believe it because it makes me feel good" perspective.

My wife wanted a community where our kids would learn about different religions, where acceptance of all people would be a standard value that's taught.

On our first visit, the minister Amy, approached us and welcomed us to the community. She asked what we were specifically looking for, and my wife described our differing religious views. When my wife mentioned that I am an atheist, Amy said that this particular service included some prayer from the Christian tradition, and she hoped it wouldn't be off-putting for me. The mere thought of receiving such a warm welcome at my parents' Presbyterian Church is laughable.

During social time after the service, I have met a great many welcoming people of a wide range of faith traditions. All Have been welcoming of my atheist / humanist views, and a significant fraction share them. This isn't the "welcome" I might get from my parents' Presbyterian church, which is more of a "your wrong beliefs are welcome so we can try to fix them". Rather a sincere welcome as I am. Without the slightest inference there's anything wrong or that needs to be changed. The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is a small island where I can be open and honest about my views deep in the heart of the Ohio Bible belt.

When there was interest in volunteers to teach Sunday school, I was skeptical that out atheist such as myself would be welcome teaching religious education courses. My contributions were warmly welcomed, and I was pleasantly surprised by the particular curriculum being taught. There was no dogmatic "one true answer", rather there was a concerted effort to teach a broad range of different religious beliefs. This, in my view, it is one of the strongest defenses I can provide my children against the irrational beliefs of the various Christian (mostly) theologies that surround them here in Southwest Ohio.

After Sunday school, I discuss the lessons with my kids. We talk honestly about what was good and what wasn't. We talk about why some people believe and why other people don't. We talk about the failure of faith to result in consistent worldviews between the thousands of religions around the world and throughout time.

Secular Quotes for Chalice Lightings on Meaning and Purpose

I'm leading a Unitarian Universalist parent group this morning.  We're reading Parenting Beyond Belief,   and the class is mostly atheist, with a few skeptical believers  mixed in.  I am leading chapter 5: "Values, Virtues, Meaning, and Purpose".  So I needed to find something that expresses our general view that meaning and purpose in life don't come from a higher authority.  I thought I'd share the resources I found in the process in the hopes that others might find them valuable.

I found some good quotes on Good Reads.

“If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern!” ― Mahatma Gandhi

This one made me think.  I don't consider myself to be the center of the universe.  If anything, Science has taught me that I'm small and insignificant on the scale of things and that defining something like a "center" is almost a nonsequitur.

“The person with a secular mentality feels himself to be the center of the universe. Yet he is likely to suffer from a sense of meaninglessness and insignificance because he knows he’s but one human among five billion others - all feeling themselves to be the center of things - scratching out an existence on the surface of a medium-sized planet circling a small star among countless stars in a galaxy lost among countless galaxies. The person with the sacred mentality, on the other hand, does not feel herself to be the center of the universe. She considers the Center to be elsewhere and other. Yet she is unlikely to feel lost or insignificant precisely because she draws her significance and meaning from her relationship, her connection, with that center, that Other.” ― M. Scott Peck, A World Waiting to Be Born: Civility Rediscovered

I'm considering a quote from American Humanists' Definition of Humanism:

Humanism is the light of my life and the fire in my soul. It is the deep felt conviction, in every fiber of my being that human love is a power far transcending the relentless, onward rush of our largely deterministic cosmos. All human life must seek a reason for existence within the bounds of an uncaring physical world, and it is love coupled with empathy, democracy, and a commitment to selfless service which undergirds the faith of a humanist. • Bette Chambers, former president of the AHA

Humanism is an approach to life based on reason and our common humanity, recognizing that moral values are properly founded on human nature and experience alone.• The Bristol Humanist Group

Humanism is a progressive lifestance that, without supernaturalism, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead meaningful, ethical lives capable of adding to the greater good of humanity. • American Humanist Association

Humanism is a democratic and ethical lifestance which affirms that human beings have the right and responsibility to give meaning and shape to their own lives. It stands for the building of a more humane society through an ethics based on human and other natural values in a spirit of reason and free inquiry through human capabilities. It is not theistic, and it does not accept supernatural views of reality. • The International Humanist and Ethical Union

This one is long (also from AHA), but it's a winner. I didn't read the whole thing -- just the bolded parts.

Humanism is a philosophy of life that considers the welfare of humankind - rather than the welfare of a supposed God or gods - to be of paramount importance. Humanism maintains there is no evidence a supernatural power ever needed or wanted anything from people, ever communicated to them, or ever interfered with the laws of nature to assist or harm anyone. Humanism's focus, then, is on using human efforts to meet human needs and wants in this world. History shows that those efforts are most effective when they involve both compassion and the scientific method - which includes reliance on reason, evidence, and free inquiry. Humanism says people can find purpose in life and maximize their long-term happiness by developing their talents and using those talents for the service of humanity. Humanists believe that this approach to life is more productive and leads to a deeper and longer-lasting satisfaction than a hedonistic pursuit of material or sensual pleasures that soon fade. While service to others is a major focus of Humanism, recreation and relaxation are not ignored, for these too are necessary for long-term health and happiness. The key is moderation in all things. Humanism considers the universe to be the result of an extremely long and complex evolution under immutable laws of nature. Humanists view this natural world as wondrous and precious, and as offering limitless opportunities for exploration, fascination, creativity, companionship, and joy. Because science cannot now and probably never will be able to explain the ultimate origin or destiny of the universe, I think Humanism can include more than atheists and agnostics. The lack of definite answers to these ultimate questions leaves room for reasonable people to hypothesize about the origin of the natural universe, and even to hope for some form of life beyond this one. In fact, two of Humanism's greatest luminaries, Thomas Paine and Robert Ingersoll, maintained a hope for an afterlife. On the issue of whether God exists, Ingersoll was agnostic, and Paine believed in a deistic God who established the laws of nature but then stepped away and never intervenes in the world. Those beliefs did not interfere with their ability to lead outstanding humanistic lives. Thus, in my opinion, people holding such views can be Humanists if they believe that humanity is on its own in this world, and the lack of any evidence for an afterlife means this life should be lived as though it's the only one we have. • Joseph C. Sommer

As an aside, @BekoLazarus suggested the poem, "A Thunderstorm In Town".  I liked the poem, but it's more romantic.  And we all know that parenting now has absolutely nothing to do with romance. *sigh*

If you have suggestions, please leave a comment.

AiG Files Frivolous Lawsuit Over Not Getting Their Christian Privilege

Here's their press release:

• https://answersingenesis.org/religious-freedom/religious-discrimination-lawsuit-filed/

I'm sorry, Ken Ham, but it wasn't "religious discrimination" that led the state of Kentucky to reject your request for a tax incentive.  It's that your bigoted Answers in Genesis organization intends to discriminate in its hiring based on religious affiliation and sexuality.

You can't have it both ways, Ken. If you want our secular society to invest in the success of your monument to mass genocide, you'll need to demonstrate that the economic benefit will support all citizens, not just your fellow religious kooks.  So build your homage to horrific destruction with the money you bilked out of the gullible. But don't come asking us for a hand out.

And fuck you for wasting our money on a frivolous lawsuit.