An Atheist and an Eagle Scout (Score 0)

My time in Boy Scouts was really a fantastic learning experience but I do understand that in many ways it was the exception to the rule. My particular scout troop was run by the boys involved almost exclusively and our treatment of any BSA regulation was subject to troop approval. i.e the bullshit on the back of the official BSA outing permits was usually ignored (though we were very careful to ensure safety and low environmental impact). But the difficulties of being an Atheist in scouting extend beyond the troop level. The review panel is made up of leaders from all the troops in your local district, which in my town was several, very large Mormon affiliated troops. So despite my troop's very open position on spirituality in scouting I was still forced to sit in front of these people and answer questions like, "and how do you think your time in scouting has improved or changed your relationship with God?" My point here is that I answered those questions completely honestly. I told them that my spirituality has been enhanced by every moment I spend in the woods and that the lessons I've learned from my peers have brought me to a new understanding of the world around us. Boy Scouts as a whole may claim to exclude people like me, but my whole point here is that your troop very strongly defines your experience and if you find yourself or your son in a bad troop, get together with friends and form a venture troop. There are so many great experiences that scouting opens the door to and it's a shame to let the opportunities go to waste. I know this was more or less off topic of the OSS conversation but I felt I had to share my experience in rebuttal to most comments here that I've read thusfar.