While that would make a good joke (a Boy Scout, the holy spirit and a naked man walk into a bar…) that’s not the intention of this post. Rather this is a comment on the Scouting statue in D.C.

(Source)

From the Flickr site…

The bronze statue consists of three figures: a Boy Scout, a woman and a man. Each figure symbolizes the idea of the great and noble forces that are an inspiring background of each Scout as he goes about the business of becoming a man and a citizen.

The male figure symbolizes physical, mental and moral fitness, love of country, good citizenship, loyalty, honor, courage and clean living. He carries a helmet, a symbol of masculine attire and a live oak branch, a symbol of peace and of strength.

The female figure symbolizes enlightenment with the light of faith, love of God, high ideals, liberty, justice, freedom, democracy and love of fellow man; symbolizing the spiritual qualities of good citizenship. She holds high the eternal flame of God’s Holy Spirit.

The figure of the Boy Scout represents the hopes of all past, present and future scouts around the world and the hopes of every home, church and school that all that is great and noble in the Nation’s past and present will continue to live in them and through them in many generations to come.

There will be those who focus on the presence of a naked man on a memorial to an organization that’s had its share of pedophilia problems. That’s worth a chuckle or two, and should make the troops who donated for the construction of this statue wonder just what they have immortalized.

But what caught my eye was this, “She holds high the eternal flame of God’s Holy Spirit“. The Boy Scouts have long maintained that their organization is open to any young boy who professes a belief in a higher power or god, and that all believers are welcome within its ranks.

But by including the imagery of the flame of the holy spirit, it would appear the Scouts are giving preference to the Protestants, maybe even the Pentecostals. Would a Muslim child have any interest in the holy spirit or the member of any faith which denies a triumvirate godhead? Can a Catholic child and a Pentecostal one agree on the metaphysical meaning of the holy spirit? The Lutherans used to forbid its members from joining the Scouts. Not every group that identifies itself as Christian accepts the Scout’s beliefs.

Too many of these quasi-religious groups pretend to be all-inclusive (at least toward those professing a belief in gods) when it suits their needs but occasionally reveal their core exclusivity, often without intending to. I’m not sure if those who commissioned the statue realized just what they were admitting to, but transparency hasn’t been celebrated by institutions like this. One almost suspects a form of Freudian slip at play here. Scouting has displayed its true values, naked men and Protestantism.

Do you think this statue is inappropriate for the Scouts? Do you think their inclusion of a primarily Protestant symbol is disrespectful to their members who may not embrace that concept and yet identify themselves as Christian? Should we even care what groups like this do with their own money?

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