I was in the Cub and Boy Scouts as a kid, and I found them to be an excellent introduction to immoral behavior. It didn't matter which troop, both the scout leaders and the other scouts just had no morals at all. By 6th grade I had had enough and quit.

A friend was going to run a skating program, but would not sign that he believed in God. The scouts were perfectly ok with him lying on the form (basically that's would they said he should do), but he wouldn't, so no program.

I was in the brownies (ha) and the girl guides but none of my sons could be induced to join the 'daggy' scout movement.

It is nice to hear such a positive comments about Scouts. If it's mentioned in the media these days it is usually about some pedophile.

Have you heard of the Woodcraft Folk ? No uniform preferred colour of dress or trousers (of any kind) green for both boys and girls, mixed group - go camping do all the fun stuff - One time the people running the campsite got dates all wrong and our children were also in the same field as very young army cadets who were being shouted at; so our kids went to invite them to our fire and some came over and had all the traditional campfire stuff songs and hot marshmallows etc. It ended up quite well but we never really got on with the army staff. A friend of mine called us the marxist alternative to guides and scouts. The kids were great being out bivouacing and canoeing (usually difficult to arrange in Merseyside)

I was in Girl Scouts from a Brownie to Cadet. Our troop throughout the time I was there was not religious. Nor was my brothers Boy Scout troop. There were no prayers or other such nonsense. I attended camps in the summer, fund raisers, field trips and other scout activities. Religion never played a part in any of it. I truly thought thats how it was supposed to be. Our 4-H group was the same way.

I was not raised as a non believer, I was allowed to make a choice on my own. My mother saw to it that any of our activities were NOT colored by or primarily based on any religion. Good call on her part! Schools back then also OPENLY taught that certain christian holidays were actually pagan, like mine, Halloween. Paganism is not a bad thing as it teaches us about the earth leaving the dogma out of the equation.

Fast forward to attempting to introduce my daughter to scout experience. The first meeting went south pretty quick. They opened (forced) everyone into christian prayer. I was livid!!! There were kids of obvious other faiths in the room which is why scouts were never about religion. Spirituality is a topic for discussion, not practice.

I approached the leader after the meeting and asked her why opening AND closing prayers? She looked at me and said, "Oh, you're one of those people" Holeeeeeee shit! I read her chapter and verse about diversity, inclusion, life skill building, etc related to scouts and their original purpose and mission. (Other parents came up to me outside and agreed wholeheartedly with my rant)

So in the end, my daughter will not enjoy the scout experience. It broke my heart actually. I have many , many wonderful memories from that time in my life.

I was homeschooling at the time so it was an opportunity to teach and create our "own" version of the scout experience, complete with badges to be earned. It was another set of unforgettable memories.

Ok....now my rant is over. lol

In his original book on Boy Scouting, Baden-Powell introduced the Scout Promise, as follows

Before he becomes a scout, a boy must take the scout's oath, thus:
On my honour I promise that---

I will do my duty to God and my king.
to help others people, at all times.
I know the scout law, and will obey it.

If BSA aren't still swearing their fealty to the British monarch we can see that they have no problem altering the promise when it suits them.

During my time in the scouts the promise was

On my honour, I promise
To do my best
To do my duty to God and the the Queen
To help other people and to keep the Scout Law

When I was a scout here in the UK it was accepted that people of all different religions and belief systems may substitute out the God part for "Gods", "Allah" etc. when making the scout promise.

Personally as an atheist I simply omitted it. Later as I flirted with a secular form of paganism I started to say "My Gods"

I remember being scared before my first night at Cub Scouts, that they would find out that I didn't believe in God and needing to be reassured. That was the last time it was a concern. I never made a secret of my beliefs and it was never a problems as a cub scout, sea scout, venture scout, beaver scout instructor.

I can’t remember my children being taught what they should believe in? As I recall it was sponsored by a local church. Religion should be a non-issue for the scouts!