http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/us/mormons-and-scouts-act-as-partners-in-molding-boys.html?pagewanted=all&_r=4&;

"In 2011, Mormon-sponsored packs and troops accounted for more than one-third of the country’s scout units, and the 421,000 boys they enrolled, from ages 8 to 18, made up 15 percent of the country’s 2.7 million registered scouts."

"What church leaders may have told the scouts in private has not been revealed, but for the Boy Scouts, the threat was implicit that a liberal shift on homosexuality could drive away the Mormons, Catholics and other church partners, decimating the organization."

"In 2000, when a challenge to the exclusionary policy was argued, unsuccessfully, before the Supreme Court, lawyers for the Mormons said that if the Boy Scouts were forced to accept openly gay members, the church would leave. In an interview this month, Mr. Beck said he could not speculate about a hypothetical situation, but he added, “We want to continue relations with the B.S.A. far into the future.”

"The Mormon Church has sometimes faced lawsuits, along with the Boy Scouts, for past failures to stop sex offenders. Both the church and the scouts say they now have exemplary protection programs."

"A group of feminist Mormon women has questioned whether girls are getting equal opportunities, part of a broader debate about gender roles in a church where men are family heads and priests.

"These women say that the girls’ counterpart to scouting, the Young Women’s program, sometimes receives less money and support than the Boy Scouts and that “the girls tend to do more homemaker things, as opposed to rafting and survival skills,” said Mary Ellen Robertson, interim executive director of Sunstone, an independent magazine on Mormon issues in Salt Lake City."

"Like most Mormon men, Mitt Romney was a Boy Scout, although, perhaps uncharacteristically for him, he did not rise to Eagle. But the youngest three of his five sons are Eagle scouts. At a town hall meeting in April, Mr. Romney said that he and his wife had initially not realized how important it was for both parents to help sons advance in scouting and carry out the service projects required for an Eagle badge."

Eagle scouts are meaningless in the Mormon religion . Scouts can become one at age 12. That is not an eagle scout. Go to CHURCH and see what it requires. SAD!

And their parents do most of the work!

There are required steps and time frames involved in rising through the ranks to Eagle--those ranks, in order, being: Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life and, finally, Eagle.

It seems (at least to me) to be essentially impossible to achieve Eagle rank within one's first year in the BSA program as a 12-year-old. (I became the first Eagle in our Richardson, Texas, LDS ward, but was 16 by the time I did).

Below are instructions and advice on BSA rank advancement, which seem to pretty much preclude achieving Eagle status in the beginning year of Scout activity (i.e., while the age of 12):

"Earn your Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class Ranks. If you work really, really hard, these can be accomplished in one year. Try to get them done in a year, but don't force it, you'll burn yourself out." (That still leaves Star and Life ranks to achieve, after that one year of aiming to earn Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class).

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-an-Eagle-Scout


Here's more on this point:

"2009 Eagle Requirements

"Be active in your troop, team, crew, or ship for a period of at least six months after you have achieved the rank of Life Scout.

"Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Law in your daily life. List the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf, including parents/guardians, religious, educational, and employer references.

"Earn a total of 21 merit badges (10 more than you already have), including the following:

First Aid
Citizenship in the Community
Citizenship in the Nation
Citizenship in the World
Communications*
Personal Fitness
Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving
Environmental Science
Personal Management
Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling
Camping
Family Life

"While a Life Scout, serve actively for a period of six months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility [assistant senior patrol leader, chaplain aide, den chief, historian, instructor, junior assistant scoutmaster, librarian, Order of the Arrow troop representative, patrol leader, quartermaster, scribe, senior patrol leader, troop guide, Venture patrol leader, troop webmaster, or Leave No Trace instructor—Note that bugler was incorrectly listed in the new 12th Edition of the Scout Handbook, and that the new positions of webmaster and LNT instructor were omitted from the Eagle list.]

"While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. (The project should benefit an organization other than Boy Scouting.) The project plan must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your Scoutmaster and troop committee, and the council or district before you start. You must use the Eagle Scout Leadership Servie Project Workbook, No. 512-927, in meeting this requirement.

"Take part in a Scoutmaster Conference.

"Successfully complete an Eagle Scout board of review."

http://www.troop97.net/bsaeagle.htm


Keep in mind that the immediate-above requirement list for Eagle rank includes a six-month period of mandated tasks and accomplishments after having attained the Life rank--a slot of time which specifies certain activities and achievements in order to even get to the point of submitting an Eagle rank application to its board of review.

Now, there may be 12-year-olds out there who can knock down Tenderfoot, First Class, Second Class, Star and Life in their first six months in Scouting and move on to getting their Eagle in the last six months of that year before turning 13, but I have never heard of a 12-year-old superkid who somehow managed to do that. Not saying they don't exist, but I am not aware of any that have pulled such an amazing feat off. If they actually managed to do so, I would strongly suspect that they probably were enabled in that heroic effort by a significant cutting of corners.



Edited 11 time(s). Last edit at 10/19/2012 02:37AM by steve benson.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/mitt-romney-mormon-women_b_1956568.html Horror Stories: Mitt Romney's Shameful Record with Mormon Women