Ah, the Boy Scouts. Teaching all American values such as bigotry and intolerance. It’s bad enough that they kick atheists out for not believing in God, but they like to claim that they’ll accept anyone who believes in some form of supreme being no matter what their religion… unless it happens to be Wiccan it seems:

Within 48 hours of Cody’s confession, the troop committee of Holly Grove United Methodist Church in Anacoco was meeting to discuss the implications.

The church sponsors the boys’ chapter, Troop 71. Pastor Doug Lewellyn was out of town at the time of the meeting.

“The number one scout law is to do your duty to God and your country,” Troop 71 Scout Master Gene Doherty said. “They met to discuss whether or not the boys could live up to that because of their religion.”

The conclusion was that they could not.

Apparently you can have too many Gods as the boys believed in several, but that’s not the best part. The best part is, keep in mind this troop is sponsored by a Christian church, the best part is this:

Doherty called Army Cpt. Todd Buchheim, the boys’ father and a former Eagle Scout stationed at Fort Polk, to inform him that the boys no longer were welcome in the troop. The Buchheims said Doherty told them that if Cody had lied about his faith, the boys could have remained with no problem.

OK, got that? A Boy Scout troop sponsored by a Christian church told the parents of these boys that they should have LIED ABOUT THEIR FAITH and it wouldn’t have been a problem. What happened to the Boy Scout ideal that they be TRUSTWORTHY—“A Scout tells the truth. He keeps his promises. Honesty is part of his code of conduct.”—or the Christian Commandment against BEARING FALSE WITNESS? Fuck that, lie if you have to if you want to be a Scout!

“The boys had been in that troop for over a year, and it wasn’t exactly a secret,” said Aileen Buchheim, the boys’ mother. The boys became a part of the troop when the family lived in Anacoco, but wanted to continue on after they moved to Fort Polk in August 2005.

“No child should have to be told in 2006 that they can’t take part in a group because of their religion,” Aileen Buchheim said.

Welcome to the club, lady. Get you and your Wiccan kids to the back of the line with the rest of us atheists and gay ex-Scouting members. It’s 2006 and the Boy Scouts have a Supreme Court blessing to be bigoted assholes. Oh wait, it looks like they had second thoughts about it after they tried to blame the decision on the higher ups in the Boy Scouts who turned around and pointed the finger right back at the Church sponsors.

After almost a month of noncommittal answers on the boys’ status, Aileen Buchheim said she received an apologetic call from Lewellyn to invite the boys to the next meeting, which occurred April 25.

Lewellyn attended the scout meeting to talk to the parents and Scouts about why they all were welcome and how doctrine was not a Boy Scout topic.

Numbers were sparse, and two mothers allegedly came back to pick their boys up 10 minutes after Capt. Buchheim brought in his sons.

“This (the controversy) has weakened the group,” Doherty said. “I will probably lose some parent support and some good boys over this no matter how it turns out.”

Well, he’s losing the two brothers at least. They’ve decided to quit the troop:

Cody and Justin decided not to remain with Troop 71 after the ordeal.

“This was devastating,” Aileen Buchheim said. “My husband puts on a uniform to fight for ours and other nations’ rights every day, and yet this happens in our own backyard. We just wanted to make sure it was straightened out so no one has to go through this again.”

I’ve said before that I feel the Boy Scouts is a good organization overall, but their insistence on being religious homophobic bigots ensures I won’t support them anytime soon. Instead my money will go to the Girl Scouts who don’t have such idiotic policies and welcome ALL girls of ALL backgrounds without discrimination.