Humanists of Florida Association
Resolution on the Boy Scouts of America

Contact for Further Information:

Jennifer Hancock
Executive Director
Humanists of Florida Association
PO Box 1227
Bradenton FL 34206-1227
941-745-7181
www.FloridaHumanist.org
info@floridahumanist.org

Approved by board resolution on March 17, 2002

Whereas the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) was founded in 1910 and chartered by Congress in 1916 to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness, and

Whereas the mission of the BSA is secular, and

Whereas an organization that is secular should determine membership according to criteria that is secular, and

Whereas on Feb 6th 2002, the Boy Scouts of American passed a resolution that prohibits Atheists and homosexuals from participating in any BSA program thereby eliminating the ability of local councils to set their own rules on these matters, and

Whereas according to the American Religious Identification Survey 2001 survey, 14% of the American population is non-religious and are therefore excluded from BSA activities and programs, and

Whereas this policy also excludes other non-theists such as secular Jews, non-theistic Buddhists, some Unitarians, polytheists and animists, and

Whereas this exclusion applies to both children and adults, and

Whereas non-theists and homosexuals are law abiding, contributing members of society who have contributed much to the Boy Scouts, and

Whereas there is nothing contained in the Scout Law that a non-theist or homosexual cannot abide by, and

Whereas Lord Baden Powell, the founder of the World Scouting Movement in 1907, founded Scouting on the principle that Scouting would be offered to all youth thereby providing them an opportunity to grow and develop as individuals and to help contribute in making this world a better place, and

Whereas the BSA is one of the few Scouting associations worldwide to prohibit membership based on religious grounds and sexual orientation, and

Whereas this prohibition is being fueled by religious extremists who are using the BSA as a platform to impose their religiously guided morality,

Therefore the Humanists of Florida Association condemns the recent BSA action, and resolves to support efforts to change the policies of the BSA to include all youth as was originally intended.