Subject: IWG Bergen County - Boy Scouts, Homosexuality, Morality
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 22:42:25 -0500 (EST)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and
organizations and 53 clergy from 15 religious traditions. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

March 8, 1998

Bergen Record
150 River Street
Hackensack, NJ 07602

Dear Editors:

James Ahearn's March 8 commentary about the Boy
Scouts decision did have some merit.  One would hope
that private clubs, within reason, would be able to
set their own standards for membership.  We would
also be alarmed if New Jersey declared that churches
were public accommodations and subject to state
regulation.   

But the Boy Scouts are a strange case.  They are not
a church, and have taken full advantage of that,
getting support from, and working closely with, all
levels of government throughout the country.   Nor do
they have specific theological requirements;  a
belief in God and a pledge to be "morally straight"
are vague enough that they have managed to enjoy
close relationships with religious institutions from
many faiths and denominations.  It is also not at all
clear that "morally straight" precludes
homosexuality.  Many religious institutions believe
that same-gender relationships are morally equivalent
to mixed-gender relationships. Also, homosexuality is
an orientation, not a behavior.  Other than the
slangy use of "straight" as a synonym for
"heterosexual," we see no evidence that being gay
implies that a scout is not "brave and reverent and
straight and true."

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/~iwg/         reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.