The Boy Scouts’ vote Monday to lift its ban on openly gay troop leaders was a blow to traditional faith groups heavily involved in scouting, but perhaps to none more than the Mormon Church, in which scouting and the religious life of boys are deeply intertwined.
Mormons have been deeply invested in Boy Scouts for more than a century, and any boy who goes to a Mormon congregation is automatically part of the Boy Scouts. The rites and rituals of the church are intentionally connected with those of the scouts: As you rise through becoming a deacon, a teacher and then a priest – rites of passage for Mormon teen males – at the same time you rise through scout positions as well. The local bishop selects scoutmasters. Many of the 15 presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints received high scout honors.
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