Commentary: Church made a mistake pulling away from the Boy Scouts

Scrolling through Facebook the other day, I saw a post about a Fox Business article saying the Boy Scouts of America may have to declare bankruptcy.

I started scrolling through the comments, but I was quickly disheartened and disappointed. Many people were placing the blame on the BSA. A few cited high pay for executives, but this is necessary for such a program. In order to be run well, an organization needs to attract competent people, and those people require higher pay to make it worth their while.

Every other comment I saw was a variation of “They betrayed their principles to the liberals” or “They shouldn’t have alienated their biggest donor.”

Thing is, they didn’t.

Key members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including then-President Thomas S. Monson, were members of the BSA executive board that approved changes to the mission statement, including the somewhat controversial decision to allow homosexual leaders into the ranks of respected BSA leaders. In addition, chartering organizations still had the option to exclude those who did not meet their organization’s standards for membership.

The bankruptcy of the BSA could be attributed directly, actually, to the LDS Church’s refusal to take responsibility and do its part to make sure the leaders they put in place were properly prepared. And now they think that they will be able to build and execute a better program after three years and a failure to properly implement an already designed and supported program. This is hubris of the most magnificently misguided make.

I have been a member of the LDS Church since I was 8. I am an Eagle Scout with 10 palms and a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow. I have staffed multiple leadership development programs. I have seen the good and the bad of the Scouting program. When there is a dedicated leader, the youth have a great experience and the program excels. When there is low institutional support, or a leader who is in the position simply because he didn’t want to say no to a religious leader, you have a failing program.

Finally, the failing of the relationship was not the fault of the BSA. It spent 18 months, at least, working with LDS leaders to develop a more friendly relationship and partnership to encourage mutual growth within their youth ranks and increase beneficial engagement.

Shortly after this work was completed and the program was announced, the LDS Church made an announcement of its own: It was terminating the relationship with the BSA.

In addition, the BSA has a long history of bringing people together and helping them grow, regardless of background or history. The LDS Church may have once been this way, at the beginning of the 20th century, but its legacy of disenfranchisement has expanded to the point that many people who simply want to learn about the gospel with an open mind are driven away, simply because any opinion that is not within the mainstream or being funneled down from headquarters is not valid and deserves to be disparaged.

So, voting support for mission statements, partnerships, a relationship spanning 100 years, compromises made and failed initiative on the part of the church, as they have asked to be called.

Who do you think is really at fault here?

M.C. Mickelsen, West Jordan, is an honors student at the University of Utah and former Boy Scout leader.