Gunner's Blog

JONES STANDS WITH THE AMERICAN LEGION IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA’S BOY SCOUTS

Congressman calls upon the President to stand up for Boy Scout troops on military bases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Third District Congressman Walter B. Jones today joined with the American Legion in admonishing the Pentagon for not standing up to the ACLU in defense of the Boy Scouts of America. In an announcement yesterday the Pentagon said that, as part of a settlement with the ACLU, it has agreed to warn its bases worldwide that they cannot be a sponsor of any non-governmental organization such as the Boy Scouts. This has long been a Department of Defense official policy but has come into question more recently with a lawsuit filed by the ACLU in 1999 against the DoD claiming that bases were wrongly sponsoring scout troops. They specifically targeted the Boy Scouts because it is a group that requires members to believe in God.

“The idea that sponsorship of Scouting by American military units is ‘unconstitutional’ goes beyond the absurd, even well past the point of stupidity,” American Legion National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus wrote yesterday to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. “How is it the government can fund chapels on military bases, and Chaplains in the military, but not accommodate Scouting? Why is it that the rank of Eagle Scout is an attribute highly sought in candidates for military academies, but will soon become unwelcome on military bases? How is it the Congress can sanction Scouting by issuing them a federal charter, but the courts can declare them ‘outlaws?’”

“I strongly support the American Legion in their defense of the Boy Scouts,” Jones said. “Military tradition points toward a partnership with the Boy Scouts that has lasted for almost 100 years. The Navy even has their own scouting organization known as the Sea Scouts whose parent group is the Boy Scouts of America. I am outraged to think that the Pentagon and the Administration would bow to an organization like the ACLU. Bases have chapels and chaplains who are financially supported by the government. If those in power just bow down to the ACLU on this account, what is to say that their next target won’t be chaplains on bases?”

Congressman Jones has also sent a letter to President Bush asking for his attention to this situation.

“As Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Services I respectfully request that you investigate this matter further,” Jones said in the letter. “Many of the men and women in the military who live on these bases have children who may want to be a member of the Boy Scouts. These devoted parents who serve this nation do not make much money as it is, and sadly they are sometimes asked to give their life in defense of freedom. If a base commander decides that the base should sponsor a local chapter of the Boy Scouts for the children of these parents, why should they not be allowed to do so? The ACLU has continuously attacked the Boy Scouts for one simple reason: it is an organization founded in a commitment to God and morality. I know you share my passion to protect America and keep it a moral nation, and I hope that you can urge a reconsideration of the Defense Department’s decision to compromise its values to a group like the ACLU.”


For additional information or to schedule an interview with Congressman Walter B. Jones please contact Kristen Quigley at (202) 225-3415.