13 May, 2017
The Mormon Church is pulling away from the Boy Scouts of America.
"In most congregations in the United States and Canada, young men ages 14-18 are not being served well by the Varsity or Venturing programs, which have historically been hard to implement within the church", the Mormon announcement said.
Mormon officials said in a news release that it will keep some 280,000 younger boys ages 8-13 in Scouts while it continues to develop a global scouting-type program.
In a lengthy explanation on its website, the church said Thursday's decision was unrelated to the Boy Scouts' choice two years ago that allowed gay and transgender troop leaders.
As a result of the Mormon church's decision, the Boy Scouts expects to lose between 130,000 teenage scouts ― about 5 percent of its 2.3 million youth members.
Also, the church says it will continue to support the Friends of Scouting drive, which raises crucial funds.
The religious organization said in a statement on Thursday that the extractions from the program are because they are developing their own youth program. The church wants the program because more than half of its almost 16 million members are outside the United States.
Church Spokesman Doug Anderson said the decision was based on the inability of teen Scouting programs to appeal to older members who achieved top ranks and merit badges early. "If our Boy Scouts is only for boys in America, what are we doing for the rest of the world?" The Church eventually hopes to offer their own "simplified" Mormon alternative that will "foster the boys" "spiritual, social, physical and intellectual' development".
"The long game here is the church looking forward to a time when Americans are even more of a minority in the church than they are now", Bowman said.
The church's public relations said it was not related to issues such as gender identity, gay Scout masters and admitting girls into the Scouting program.
Thousands of Mormons are leaving the Boy Scouts of America in order to create their own program.
The announcement comes just months after the Boy Scouts began accepting transgender boys into the program.
In a statement emailed to NPR, the Boy Scouts expressed appreciation for its long-standing relationship with the church, which was "the first partner to sponsor Scouting in the U.S." and - as NPR's Howard Berkes notes - remains the country's single largest sponsor of Boy Scout troops. The Mormon Church announced "new program guidelines for young men ages 14-18" in the letter - guidelines which are also available at ymactivities.lds.org. "The Varsity program isn't really supported much by the BSA, only in LDS units".
Instead, the church said simply that the teen programs have been "historically hard to implement within the Church", while Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts "currently meet the development program needs of boys from ages 8 through 13". "Frankly this is a surprise and we have a lot that needs to be worked out". That program is being restructured by the church. Some will remain until they earn their Eagle Scout ranking, the highest attainable.
The church says it's all about what's in the best interest for young men ages 14 to 18.
