While the rest of the country has been busy over the last few decades trying to dig this society out of centuries of strife and assorted unhappiness caused by prejudice, the Boy Scouts of America (in contrast to the more liberal Girl Scouts) has drawn a line in the sand defining just how egalitarian they will become. While the BSA has now prohibited racially segregated units, they doggedly cling their loathing of atheists and homosexuals.

This would all be just a disappointing display of ignorance by another group of stuck-in-the-past kooks if it were not for the fact that the BSA has the general support and encouragement of all sorts of influential institutions, most notably the government. In the BSA's Explorer programs, government employees conduct valuable and unique training classes for high-school age children. Agencies such as police and fire departments run Explorer Posts according to the discriminatory rules prescribed by the Boy Scouts. This results in the clearly unconstitutional activity of government employees asking children to sign an oath regarding their religious beliefs. If the child refuses to sign a statement that "America's strength lies in her trust in God ," the police officer, fireman or National Guardsman is required to deny the youngster entrance into this tax-supported program. The Boy Scouts have enlisted the government to monitor our attitudes on religion and even punish individuals whom they disapprove. This is a real nightmare scenario.

If you have little sympathy for gays, atheists, or anyone who finds themselves choking over that phrase about "America's strength," then you will probably be glad to hear that these are by no means the only groups that can be excluded from the BSA. Last October the Muslim father of a Cub Scout was expelled from his position as Cub Scout leader by the sponsoring organization, a Protestant church. They felt that leadership of their Scouts should be restricted to Christians. The Boy Scout organization stood behind the move, declaring that any sponsoring group could enforce whatever additional religious requirements they liked.

The Boy Scouts will not easily abandon their nineteenth century mentality, and have probably spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past few years defending themselves in courtrooms around the country. Earlier this year the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission ordered the BSA to admit an atheist as adult leader and her child as a Scout. The BSA has refused to comply. They will fight any attempt to be enlightened, doing so with all the considerable resources at their command. Ironically, when the BSA and its most important source of funds, the United Way, solicit donations to fund the Boy Scout's tremendous legal expenses, they won't question the religion or sexual orientation of prospective benefactors.

Here in Washington there are still many Scouting groups operating under the rubric of city, county and state agencies. Fortunately, the City of Seattle has recognized its legal obligation and terminated the relationship between its Police and Fire Departments and the Explorers. King County and State agencies, however, have chosen to ignore the law. They are metaphorically standing in the schoolhouse door, denying educational opportunities to minority children. It is sad to think they still haven't learned. But they will.

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