Pedophiles and the Boy Scouts

I was very angry - but not surprised - to read of the extent of the problem of pedophiles in the Boy Scouts of America.

More alarming details have surfaced about how many people were listed in the Boy Scouts of America’s “perversion files,” according to lawyers who demand the full release of thousands of names of alleged offenders in the files. Nearly 200 of them are from New York and New Jersey.

Though allegations came to light Monday night, a victims' rights attorney who compiled an "incomplete" list of former Boy Scout leaders accused of abuse in New York held a press conferences Tuesday to discuss what he claims to be a widespread pattern of abuse. He also asked more victims to come forward.

The victims’ rights attorney, Jeff Anderson, called it a system of denial and cover-ups. He claims the Boy Scouts have files on child abusers within their ranks dating back to the 1940s.

. . .

He said, citing testimony by a professional retained by the BSA to audit the files, that there were 7,819 suspected perpetrators, while the number of victims total 12,254.

"That is a number not known before today or ever revealed by the Boy Scouts of America," he said.

There's more at the link.

To make matters worse, corporate pressure and political correctness may have contributed to the problem.

Dressed in a blazer and gray slacks, Eagle Scout Rex Tillerson — better known as the CEO of Exxon Mobil — approached the podium during a national meeting of the Boy Scouts of America at a Grapevine hotel last year.

The organization’s delegates had just voted to allow openly gay youths to join their troops and earn their merit badges. And Tillerson began laying out next steps in the same forthright tone with which he delivers financial results to shareholders.

“So we’ve made the decision we’re going to change. Now what?” he said. “No winners or losers. After we make the decision to change, it’s the mission.”

. . .

Tillerson’s close ties to the Scouts were evident last year when he took the stage to address the decision to allow gay youths to join.

The Boy Scouts of America declined to make board members or professional staff available to discuss their well-known Scout. And Tillerson, through the public relations office of Exxon Mobil, also declined to be interviewed ... Nonetheless, Tillerson was instrumental in lobbying the Scouts’ board to accept openly gay youths, said John Hamre, president of the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies, of which Tillerson is a board member.

“I can’t get into the intimacy of these conversations. But he agonized over this. He prayed on it, and ultimately he came to the conclusion the only thing that can guide him here is what’s best for the young boys,” he said. “I think he became a key leader in helping the group come to a consensus.”

Again, more at the link.

Clearly, the Boy Scouts learned nothing from the Catholic Church's experience of pedophilia.  In the course of the latter institution's exhaustive investigation into the problem, numerous studies confirmed that not all homosexuals were pedophiles:  however, the vast majority of pedophiles in the Church were also homosexual, or exhibited at least some homosexual tendencies.  The correlation was very close indeed.  That information has been public knowledge since the early 2000's.  Why did the Boy Scouts not take it into account from that time onward, and use it in assessing how to relate to homosexuals within its ranks - particularly in positions of leadership and authority?

I was a Cub Scout in South Africa, although instead of proceeding to the Boy Scouts as I grew older, I chose to enter the Sea Cadets.  I still remember the Baden-Powell ethos that the Cub Scouts tried to inculcate in us (and which is strongly emphasized to this day by traditional Scout movements).  Given their politically correct attitudes, leadership and emphasis today, I wonder how the US Boy Scouts managed to lose sight of that so completely?




Peter