[Note: Original text was edited to correct spelling errors and remove some redundancy.]
I come from a family of Boy Scouts; my grandfather and my father were Boy Scouts; two of my three brothers attained Eagle, and all three served in the OA and as Senior Patrol Leaders in our troop. I am currently the Senior Patrol Leader of my troop, and going in for my Life rank Board of Review soon. A question that has been gnawing at me, however, is: What I will do if the Board asks me if I believe in God?
I go in for my Board in two or three weeks, and I am faced with a profound dilemma. Do I break half the principles of scouting in lying, just to remain a Boy Scout? Do I proudly proclaim my religious choice, and face being a Scout in spirit but not in name? The BSA has been in the media a lot recently for excluding girls, gays and atheists. Girls have somewhere else to go; gays, while I personally feel they should be permitted in Scouting, face enormous amounts of ostracizing and antipathy at our age group in society, and perhaps the BSA has legitimate concerns for their emotional and physical health. But atheists are simply people who have reached the conclusion that God as he is usually viewed does not exist.
The Scout Law requires me to be Reverant Towards God. I feel that the world is so imperfect, any God I could feel reverance towards could not exist and leave suffering on Earth as it is. Thus, I would actually be disobeying the Scout Law were I to believe in God. What's a Scout to do? I cannot yet say how I will answer the board, and only hope the question doesn't arise before I am ready. But I do know that as a Boy Scout in a position of responsibility, it is my duty to speak out, however I can, against such discrimination. I hope you will post my opinion along with the others who have cared enough to voice their dissent with such discriminating policy by such a cherished organization.
Yours sincerely, [Name removed on request]