Religion in Scouts Australia
To become a member of the Scout movement you are required to make the Scout Promise. (Policy P7.3 - Membership) The unique wording in the Australian Scout Promise of “do my best to do my duty to my God" allows some flexibility and the movement is open to people of all religious faiths that can make this promise. However, those who choose not to make this promise cannot become members.
Historically, Scouting in Australia was rooted in Christianity as that was the world view of Scouts founder, Lord Baden-Powell. Although Britain is now a majority non-religious nation Christianity was the dominant faith in both Britain and Australia in Scouting's early days.
More recently, members have come from many faiths and although the majority of Scout Groups promote an interfaith approach to religion (Open Groups) many Scout Groups have been formed within existing communities and specific religions (Sponsored Groups), such as Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Islamic, Judean, etc.
Read more about this topic: Scouts Australia
Famous quotes containing the words religion, scouts and/or australia:
“We think of religion as the symbolic expression of our highest moral ideals; we think of magic as a crude aggregate of superstitions. Religious belief seems to become mere superstitious credulity if we admit any relationship with magic. On the other hand our anthropological and ethnographical material makes it extremely difficult to separate the two fields.”
—Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945)
“The medieval town, with frieze
Of boy scouts from Nagoya?”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“I like Australia less and less. The hateful newness, the democratic conceit, every man a little pope of perfection.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)