Mormon Church Cuts Ties With Boy Scouts After Years Of Criticism
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The Mormon Church is cutting some of its ties with the Boy Scouts of America. This comes after the church has expressed concern for years about the Boy Scout's policy to accept openly gay leaders.
Bruce Hough with the Great Salt Lake Council says, "The church made their decision based on what was actually happening in those units and it wasn't happening and I acknowledged that it was not an effective program."
According to a statement by the church, it's young men "are not being served well by the varsity and venturing program." In Utah, the number of LDS varsity and venturing scouts is about 50,000.
"The LDS church is our majoring sponsorship organization. We respect their decision. We love our association with them," says Hough.
Charles Dahlquist, Boy Scouts of America National Commissioner, said, "I look at this as a wonderful opportunity for the LDS Church to strengthen their program for the young men."
Dahlquist says nationally it's a loss of about 130,000 varsity and venturing scouts.
Dahlquist said, "Even though there are some financial implications, that's not the big issue. We are in the business of building strong youth across the country and across the world."
The Boy Scouts of America Golden Empire Council, which serves Sacramento and surrounding areas, released a statement saying in part, "We fully support the LDS Church and want to help them be successful in serving their youth. We are excited to provide activity support and outdoor facilities to youth of all ages."