Webelos religious emblems program

National Islamic Committee on Scouting P. Box Edison, NJ email: islamicbsa aol. Main St. Milpitas, CA email: scouting jaina. Local council service center P. The Salvation Army P. American Sikh Council P. Unity Worldwide Ministries P. Box Lee's Summit, MO email: kid unity. Buddy Lane Camby, IN email: clerk.

Ask Andy. Baloo's Bugle. E-mail Lists. Merit Badges. Custom Search. Information from NCCS. This program helps the Tiger and Wolf develop a personal relationship with Jesus.

With the parents' active participation, the young Cub will see Jesus as a real person and friend. The Light of Christ Emblem is awarded to those youth in Scouting who have begun the early stages of faith development. Any thoughts on this? I think it is worthwhile, but I don't want to make anyone feel obligated. Are we on the wrong track, having these as den meetings? Religious awards are awarded by the individual faith, not by BSA. I do not think that den meetings should be used for this purpose just as troop meetings should not be used for merit badges.

Also from the situation you described this would be a real disservice to the scout that is of a different faith. I agree. It is more of an individual activity that is recognized, but not awarded, by BSA. I encourage the boy and his parents to do this as a separate activity. On one hand, at the 3d and 4th tier of these awards, there is recognizable difference between the Catholic Committee on Scouting materials and the PRAY generic protestant materials.

A Scouter Pastor provides sponsorship for those youth who are unchurched or for those whose own pastors will not buy in. We do the eight meetings of the curriculum across a five month window. Additionally, our Catholic Committee on Scouting is starting a parallel program with its curricula. I'm chairman of our council's Protestant Committee, and when I teach adult courses on the religious emblems, I always emphasize that the workbooks are designed to be done in a family setting, not a group setting like a den or troop.

OTOH, some boys and families simply won't make the effort, so I admire clydesdale for taking the initiative to at least consider a group class. I don't know what the best approach is how about those families who try to do it the "right" way but their minister has no clue about the program or how to lead it? Contact information is on our website and is promoted by email and at roundtable by our district religious relations chair.

We did have one den that talked about doing it as a den outside of their den meetings. The scouts were all from the same denomination and many attended the same church. One of the Mom's was trained as a facilitator and offered it to the den. In the end only 2 of the 6 actually did it. I personally would not do it during den meetings as it is not a BSA award. It is recognized by the BSA, but is still awarded by the scouts own church or faith.

I know of one Pack that worked on theirs, they did not do much else.. I vote "no". The religious programs are not BSA programs and should be earned through the Scout's church. The only connection with BSA is that the emblems earned are allowed to be worn on the uniform. While "duty to God" is a tenet of the BSA, religious instruction is not in our mission In my own church, one of the things I do is look at the annual confirmation class for Boy and Girl Scouts along with camp fire He covers it.

Earning the Religious Emblem of your faith is actually a requirement albeit, an optional one for the Webelos Badge. Guess that's where our dilemma has arisen.

If the Scouts are not all of the same faith, it does seem exclusive to offer just the Protestant version God and Family - Webelos level. True, it's not awarded by BSA, just recognized. Still, they list it as an optional Webelos requirement - that sounds like a green light to include it in our group activities. The God and Family curriculum definitely lends itself to group presentation the whole "pizza" thing All the boys in her den earned it together.

I'm just not so sure it's that cut-and-dry. Still, I think the preferred approach would be for the CO i. But I think that overlooks the reality that most of the time, you won't have all boys being of the same faith or even a majority , unless the boys all attend the sponsoring CO. Clydesdale - I am assuming that the church that is your CO is of a Protestant denomination.