Boy Scouts and Declaration of Independence under Attack

George C. Landrith

The Declaration of Independence and the Boy Scouts are unconstitutional and pose a grave danger to America’s freedoms – if you believe the left and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). For years, the ACLU has attacked the Boy Scouts. Most recently, the ACLU wants to ban the Boy Scouts from military bases. The left has also been hostile to America’s Founding Fathers for decades – considering them dangerous “dead white males.” Dangerous enough that one public school in suburban San Francisco has banned the reading of the Declaration of Independence in a fifth grade classroom. Now, you understand why most Americans hold the ACLU and the left in contempt.

The ACLU hates and relentlessly attacks the Boy Scouts because Scouts promise to “do [their] best to do [their] duty to God and [their] country … [and] to help other people at all times….” Scouts also work to be “trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.” Even talking of a duty to God offends the ACLU. They think such talk is dangerous. To the ACLU and the left, the Boy Scouts pose a serious risk to our representative democracy. In contrast, most Americans think we could use a little more of the Scouting ideals, not less.

The left is hostile to the Founding Fathers and this nation’s founding documents because our Founders believed we are “endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights” including “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Our founders also spoke of the assistance of “Devine Providence” in winning the war for independence. To the left, these are dangerous ideas and children need to be protected from them. In contrast, most Americans believe the ideals of our nation’s founding should be celebrated, not censured.

If the Boy Scouts were dedicated to teaching boys to frequently use the F-word, the ACLU would defend Scouting to the death. But if Scouts mention a duty to God and country, they must be banned from public life. People shouldn’t be subjected to such talk! It is offensive. It is dangerous! At least, according to the ACLU.

If a teacher were ordered to stop teaching 10-year old school children how to put on a condom, the ACLU and the left would howl censorship and decry the violation of their constitutional rights. But when a teacher is prevented from reading the Declaration of Independence in class, the left is virtually silent.

The school district defended the ban on the Declaration of Independence stating: “The district believes that well-established constitutional principles relating to the separation of church and state must prevail.” Interestingly, the school does not explain how reading the Declaration of Independence establishes religion. Such reading would simply teach history, not establish religion.

The public school district and the ACLU apparently believe the Constitution bans utterance of the words “God” and “Creator” in schools. How else does one explain banning teachers from reading the Declaration of Independence or banning Boy Scouts from public life and military bases?

This shows a profound misunderstanding of both the Constitution and our history. On the issue of freedom of religion, the Constitution forbids the government (1) to establish a religion, and (2) to prohibit the free exercise of religion. The words “separation of church and state” do not appear anywhere in the Constitution. Reading the Declaration of Independence, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, or permitting Boy Scouts on military bases does not establish religion.

To the ACLU and the left there is no guarantee of free exercise of religion – there is only a maniacal effort to ban anything that may sound remotely religious from public life. The sad truth is that the ACLU and the left will continue to attack the Boy Scouts, ban the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance or anything else that has the slightest reference to God. They will not stop until any public reference to deity is banned and the Scouts are driven from the public’s view.

Americans must stand up to these dangerous extremists. They are not defenders of our representative democracy or our Constitution. They seek to destroy both. They seek to establish government by a few over the many and to ban virtually all public expressions of religious belief. They abuse the courts to impose their radical agenda. They are an unremitting battering ram trying to tear down America’s traditions and religious freedom. It is time denounce the cultural and religious bigotry of these groups.

It is time to end the legal loophole that allows groups like the ACLU to relentlessly sue the Boy Scouts and attack America’s heritage at taxpayer expense. It is inexcusable and scandalous that they receive even one dime of taxpayer funding.

###

Mr. Landrith is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was Business Editor of the Virginia Journal of Law and Politics. He had a successful law practice in business and litigation. In 1994 and 1996, Mr. Landrith was a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's Fifth Congressional District. He served on the Albemarle County School Board. Mr. Landrith is an adjunct professor at the George Mason School of Law. He is recognized as an authority on constitutional law and jurisprudence, federalism, global warming, and property rights.

george@ff.org