BSA Lawyer Whines...

Misinformation, spin, lies, and whining from straight white men that they're the persecuted martyrs in an unfair attack on freedom. Yeah, right. Gimme a friggin' break.

The beginning of the puling is nothing more than the worst of veiled spin. Calling the court's ruling that the Boy Scouts are discriminatory is somehow discriminatory in itself? This makes no sense. The author of the article, a lawyer, sees the action in terms of the ACLU trying to shut down/kick out/squelch the BSA simply for their beliefs. But the problem is that the BSA is supposed to be a public entity (it is a Congressionally chartered organization that recieves subsidies from federal, state, and local governments in the form of financial and land grants) and as a public entity cannot legally discriminate. If the BSA wishes to go private and pay for the land it "leases" from the government, the problem of discriminating against gays and atheists goes away.

Other than a nondenominational grace before meals, a ritual as inoffensive as the reference to God on our currency, I witnessed nothing that week that any "reasonable observer" would characterize as "religious."

I guess that would make people like me "unreasonable" observers. A prayer to God isn't religious? What freakin' universe does this guy live in? Oh yeah, one were the dead rise from their graves and walk, where virgins give birth, where it's okay in some circumstances to rape and murder (but in others, it's not), where the entire universe can be created in seven days, is only a few thousand years old, and where the whole planet can be flooded. I could go on, but I think I've made the point that it's no wonder these people wouldn't characterize a prayer to a religious deity as religious. There aren't any ground rules for reality. It's anything goes, proof or no. And contradictions aren't really contradictions.

Judge Jones' ruling rests on the premise that the Boy Scouts -- solely because of their belief in God -- is a "religious organization," and that by allowing the Scouts to lease city-owned land it is therefore "advancing religion" and "religious indoctrination."

Actually...the ruling doesn't rest on the Boy Scouts having a belief in God, it rests on the fact that they disallow anyone who doesn't believe in God or who is gay (a stance which is based purely on religious beliefs). That's what makes them a religious organization.

As the U.S. Department of Justice succinctly stated, "the Boy Scouts of America is not a church, and canoeing, kayaking and swimming are not religious activities."

True, but praying is a religious activity. And excluding those who don't profess a belief in God would seem to be a pretty religious act.

...the ACLU...is on a crusade against the Boy Scouts, solely because it professes a belief in God.

No, the ACLU has filed suit against the BSA because it, a public, government-chartered organization, discriminates against non-believers and homosexuals.

It frightens me that a lawyer misunderstands the intent of legal action so blindly. Once again, blind religious indoctrination trumps reason and intelligent understanding.