Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council
As the proud father of two Boy Scouts, this week's news of Scouting's apparent decision to allow each Troop to determine its own policy on admitting homosexuals is dismaying.
Boys should not forcibly be introduced to controversial issues of sexuality. The Boy Scouts, grounded in Judeo-Christian moral teaching, have always argued that the only sexually intimate behavior honoring to God (yes, Scouts still take an oath to "God and country," and mean it) exists between a man and a woman within marriage.
We now know the names of nearly 2,000 men who preyed on boys and teens from 1971 through 1991. Are all homosexuals predators? Of course not. But have predation and molestation in the Scouts been homosexual? Read the names: Undeniably and tragically, yes. This should give any parent pause.
Scouting has, in recent years, adopted rigorous policies to protect boys from these things on theological, practical and moral grounds. Scouting has long professed faith in absolute truth and unchanging moral values. Must we now ask if the pledge to remain "morally straight" and "reverent" still means anything?
Like every father, I want my sons to be around men whose character is above reproach and who model biblical moral virtues. The fathers in our troop do this. May God forbid that it should change.
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