'Gravely distressed': Religion looms large over Boy Scouts decision on gays

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/04/16830205-gravely-distressed-religion-looms-large-over-boy-scouts-decision-on-gays?lite


Dave Kaup / for NBC News
Eagle Scout Addison Jones, 15, holds hands during a hymn with parishioners of the Country Club Congregational United Church of Christ in Kansas City, Mo., on "Scout Sunday."

By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

If prayer can't sway Boy Scouts board members as they vote whether to end the organization's ban on gays, it won't be for lack of trying.

The Boy Scouts of America announcement last week that it may eliminate the exclusion of gays from membership at the national level, leaving the decision to its local units, has drawn a harsh backlash from some of the organization's more religious conservative members, who are "gravely distressed," even as more liberal churches hailed the move.

With more than two-thirds of Scouting groups affiliated with religious bodies, faith plays a large role in the private youth organization.

"I think it’s clear that the Scouts have made a sea change in who they are and that down the road they will be a different organization than they are today,” said Roger “Sing” Oldham, spokesman for the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, whose leader, Frank S. Page, urged for a prayer be held among congregations on Sunday that the board members would not allow gays.

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