Surrendering my Eagle Award


May 21, 2006

Dear Scouting for All,

I am an Eagle Scout (1974) with Bronze Palm, also former JASM, OA, and adult Assistant Scout Master . My father was an Eagle Scout (1936) and on the day I was born, 8/24/57, he purchased a BSA handbook for me, which I still have. My brother is an Eagle Scout, my uncle is an Eagle Scout, and my son was active in scouting.

I would be honored to be included as one of the Eagle Scouts who has turned his scouting badges and awards over to Scouting for All in protest of the policies of the national leadership of the Boy Scouts of America. By discriminating against gay and atheist scouts, and teaching young people to do so as well, they profoundly dishonor the values of scouting in which I was raised and to which I still adhere.

This is not a step I take lightly or without sentiment, but the time has come to follow the dictates of my scout handbook, which states:
Deep within each human being is laid a precious thing, possessed by no other living creature--the thing we call a conscience... Occasionally, in some people, it seems fast asleep. But in most people it is like an inner voice that is very much awake--sometimes it whispers to you, at other times it seems to yell out loud. It is your conscience that makes it possible for you to distinguish between right and wrong, that helps you follow the right trail through life. Your conscience speaks to you of yourself--of the moral obligation you have to make your life count... Your conscience speaks to you of your relationship to other people--respecting their rights, treating them justly, and giving them a fair chance.  (Boy Scout Handbook, 1965 edition, p. 436)
Please read my name in your protest and feel free to use my name in any other way your organization sees fit in support of this cause. I can mail to you my Eagle scout award pin and documents if that is the appropriate action.

Dr. Allen Webb
Professor
Kalamazoo, MI