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Teaching Time-tested Values


Teaching Time-tested Values

by Rebecca Burgoyne, CFC Research Analyst

April 7, 2010

As cherubic young girls sell chocolate Thin Mints, coconut-covered Samoas, and peanut-butter Tagalongs door to door in early spring, families and friends stock up on the seasonal Girl Scouts cookies. The annual sale supports the organization that has been a mainstay in the lives of millions of girls and women. But today’s Girl Scouts organization doesn’t match the fond memories shared by past generations, of camping, singing and earning badges. The cookies may be the same, but the time-tested values and morals of scouting have been replaced with more “progressive” ones. 
                                                                    
Two years ago, the Girl Scouts of the USA underwent a major remodel, unveiling a new curriculum entitled Journeys. The new mission for Girls Scouts, it seems, is for girls “to lead with courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place,” and the national leadership defines what that means – from creating more peace in the world to advocating for climate change or gender equality and determining how the Girl Scout creeds relate to abortion or assisted suicide.
 
While the Boy Scouts of America organization has stood tall in its historic Christian roots, Girl Scouts appears to have been remade, with neo-feminism, New Age philosophy, and environmental activism at its forefront. Boy Scouts fought to exclude homosexual leaders and, as a result, has been barred from public buildings; Girls Scouts, whose paid personnel is reportedly one-third lesbian, adopted a “non-discrimination policy” and is welcomed at the United Nations. 
 
On the Hot Seat
Last month, Girl Scouts was on the hot seat when news leaked about a pamphlet distributed at a Girl Scouts-hosted panel at the annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The Planned Parenthood-sponsored brochure, Healthy, Happy, and Hot, subtitled, “Rights, Sexuality, and Living with HIV,” explicitly and graphically promotes a casual-sex agenda tempered with inaccurate information about “rights and responsibilities.” Children are told, “There is no right or wrong way to have sex. Just have fun, explore, and be yourself.” The Planned Parenthood-Girl Scouts connection is not a new one. Many youth organizations provide the abortion giant with a venue to reach future clients. Presenting “educational events,” Planned Parenthood is reportedly involved with one-fifth of all local councils into which neighborhood troops feed. 
 
God Optional
In the mid-1990s, the Girl Scout promise, recited through the ages, underwent a change. “On my honor, I will try: To serve God* and my country; To help people at all times; And to live by the Girl Scout Law.” The change, reflected with the asterisk, adds, “* The word ‘God’ can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word ‘God’ with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.” The scouting organization has even added an awards program catering to those who follow nature-themed religions.
 
God IS NOT Optional
God’s omission was the final straw for one Girl Scout leader, Patti Garibay, who began a new organization called American Heritage Girls (AHG). Begun in 1995 in West Chester, Ohio, AHG presents a wholesome alternative aimed at “building women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country." 
 
AHG offers badge activities, community service projects, leadership opportunities, and outdoor activities, once synonymous with Girl Scouts. Heritage Girls promise to "…love God; Cherish my family; Honor my country; and Serve in my community.” Troops operate in 35 states and are complemented by a Trailblazer Program, which supplements foreign countries and areas without troops. Moreover, last year AHG partnered with the venerable Boy Scouts of America in a memorandum of mutual support, the first time Boy Scouts has ever partnered with an all-girl organization.  
 
In contrast to today’s anything-goes Girl Scouts, Heritage Girls value purity, service, stewardship, and integrity. Purity is defined as “being called to live a life of holiness, being pure of heart, mind, word and deed, reserving sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage; marriage being a lifelong commitment before God between a man and a woman.”
 
Families today are seeking wholesome opportunities for their children, to counteract the opposing worldviews coming from media, music and public education. Children are often conflicted by competing messages about sexuality, gender, truth, and the environment. Studies find that anywhere from 69 to 94 percent of teens leave the church when they leave home. Increasingly, even those who grow up in Christian homes and actively participate in youth groups drift from those teachings by age 19. 
 
In an increasingly pluralistic society with conflicting life perspectives, it is more important than ever for parents to accept the responsibility of spiritually and morally nurturing the children within their homes. A recent study for AWANA International, a Christian organization that encourages children to systematically memorize Scripture, found that graduates of their program were more likely as adults to retain their basic Christian tenets and practices. 
 
The hymn proclaims, “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!” The answer is simple in its complexity. Children need the foundational values that only their parents can be sure they receive – perhaps in partnership with organizations that confirm and supplement tried-and-true Christian teachings.
 
For more information: 
AWANA  

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