Newsline 07 December 2012

NSS welcomes consultation on Scouts Promise

News | Tue, 4th Dec 2012

News that the Scout Association has decided to review its policy of excluding people without a religious belief has been welcomed by the National Secular Society.

The NSS has been campaigning for the Scouts to introduce a secular oath to enable young people who can't, in good conscience, swear a religious oath, to still participate. Keith Porteous Wood, NSS Executive Director, met the Scout's Chief Executive five years ago to ask for this change.

Leaders insist the existing Scout Promise — which also contains a vow of allegiance to the Queen — will continue to be used alongside any alternative versions.

Wayne Bulpitt, the association's chief commissioner in the UK, said: "We are a values-based movement and exploring faith and religion will remain a key element of the Scouting programme. That will not change. However, throughout our 105-year history, we have continued to evolve so that we remain relevant to communities across the UK. We do that by regularly seeking the views of our members and we will use the information gathered by the consultation to help shape the future of scouting for the coming years."

The Scout Promise reads: "On my honour, I promise that I will do my best to do my duty to God and to the Queen, to help other people and to keep the Scout Law." Alternative versions allow Hindus and Buddhists to use the word "my Dharma" while Muslims can use the word "Allah".

Non UK citizens are permitted to replace the phrase "duty to the Queen" with "duty to the country in which I am now living".

Reacting to the development, Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said: "This is a positive step in the right direction. By changing their policies to be inclusive of people without a religious belief, the Scouts could bring themselves in line with the reality of 21^st century Britain, where more than two thirds of young people say they have no religious belief.

"It will also prevent unnecessary confrontations such as that of 11-year-old George Pratt, who made national headlines in October when his local Scout troop refused to let him join because he was an atheist.

"If the Scouts do decide to change the promise, it will relieve many young people of having to lie about what they believe in order to be part of this much admired organisation."

An alternative promise, known as the "Outlander Oath", believed to have been written by Scouts founder Baden-Powell, was intended for those who, for reasons of conscience, could not recognize a "duty to God" and did not worship a deity. It omitted any reference to God or a monarch and, according to scout leaders, was in use as late as the 1990s.

A petition calling on the scouts to open up scouting to non-believers was recently launched by the National Secular Society. You can sign the petition here.

The NSS also recently wrote to Gill Slocombe, Chief Guide of Girlguiding UK, on the issue of their religious Promise. The current wording states: "I promise that I will do my best, to love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide Law." Whilst the Promise is optional, only girls who have taken it can be awarded the movement's highest badges.

In a progressive move similar to the Scouting Association, Girlguiding UK have also announced the launch, in January 2013, of an online consultation "on how we express the values embodied by the Promise".

The Times reports:

Guides and their leaders have told bosses at the headquarters of the movement in London that they would prefer a pledge that they could really believe in, insiders say.

At present it states: "I promise that I will do my best: to love my God, to serve the Queen and my country, to help other people and to keep the Guide Law."

The reference to God looks particularly vulnerable when the promise is rewritten next year, after a consultation. A previous survey of guides has found that while the girls generally have their own moral and ethical code, it is not necessarily linked with religion.

Plans to rewrite the promise come as attempts are made to overhaul the image of the organisation as a bastion of traditional values. Instead, the movement wants to be seen as an organisation preparing young women for the challenges of modern adulthood.

It also comes just a month after Julie Bentley, a leading campaigner for abortion and former head of the Family Planning Association, took over as chief executive.

However, Girlguiding UK said it had been drawing up plans to rewrite the promise before her appointment.

Why it's important to add your voice to the Scout's consultation on non-believers

Opinion | Thu, 6th Dec 2012

It was nearly five years ago that I went with a colleague to speak to Derek Twine, the chief executive of the Scouts, and his senior colleagues, to discuss the possibility of the Scouts being opened up to the non-religious. Accommodating non-believers would not affect the religious oath at all – that would still be available for those who wanted it.

We pointed out, for example, how few young people these days regard themselves as being religious, how the assertion, repeated recently, that Scouts are "open to all", is simply not true, and how the absence of a non-religious oath forces Scouts into making a false promise – something I admitted on the Sunrise programme on Sky News on Wednesday that I had done at the age of eight (see picture, right).

We even suggested something quite similar to the consultation process which has been announced this week.

Mr Twine was particularly courteous when I first wrote to him and at the meeting, but we did get the impression they realised they were very much under fire. Whatever the internal politics, he and his senior colleagues put up a united front and told us then that there was no prospect of any change on the mandatory religious promise in the foreseeable future, nor — bizarrely — did they accept that the current policy was discriminatory.

However, although the meeting did not end up with any positive result, in the short term anyway, I hope that it had started a process of questioning and re-evaluation for them.

Yet, even when just two months ago, the brave 11-year-old George Pratt from Somerset refused to take a religious oath because he is an atheist, the response from the Scout Association was totally uncompromising and there was no clue of the change apparently in the pipeline.

Now, five years on from the deputation to Derek Twine, I'll be the first to give him credit for his part in initiating this consultation and writing in the Telegraph: "No other group aside from non-believers is excluded from the Scouts on the grounds of religion or belief. ... What's the point of making some people feel hypocritical or dishonest if they take a Promise with which they fundamentally disagree?"

My only gripe, and it is a minor one, is a tendency to concentrate on the word "atheist" and often not add "non-believer" or a similar term. Studies show that most non-believers do not define themselves as atheists and I suspect even fewer young people will do.

As you can imagine, Mr Twine's article attracted a huge number of comments, most of them positive. I thought this one was particularly telling:

Let's cut to the chase here. I am the chair of my local scout group and my husband is the cub leader. We are both atheists. We both took up our positions because no-one else would come forward despite there being plenty of religious parents throughout the group. We both raised the issue of our atheism with our district and were told it was not a problem as the group would not be able to continue without the support of atheists.

Well you know what? We're tired of being told we are second-class scout members, lacking in morals etc, and literally being lumped in with paedophiles in the scouting literature as the sort of person who cannot serve.

If you won't change the promise to acknowledge our existence and value our contribution then we are going to stop doing what we do. Who will be the losers then?

Seriously, stop treating atheists like second-class citizens – we've had enough.

This is a vivid example of the complaint we hear all too often, that "the non-religious are the only group left that can be abused or discriminated against with impunity" in much same way as non-religious contributors are excluded from Thought for the Day.

But at least, to their credit, the Scouts are inviting everyone to submit their views to their consultation and the NSS is asking you to submit yours.

Wayne Bulpitt, the chief commissioner announcing the consultation, reinforces the Scouts' determination to remain — quite rightly — a values-based organisation. I hope you will make clear (if you agree) that that is what you want too, but there is no reason to assume that non-believers are any less keen to do this than anyone else. Again, if you agree, you may wish to make the point, in your own words, that those without a religious faith — probably the majority — should be enabled to make their promise honestly and not be excluded either as full Scouts or from making their contribution to the community as adult volunteers. It will be wonderful if "scouting for all" actually became scouting for ALL.

Even Baden Powell, albeit no fan of atheism, penned an Outlander Promise, and indeed this consultation is a very fitting way of marking its centenary:

On my honour, I promise that I will do my best,
To render service to my country;
To help other people,
And to keep the Scout Law.

I conclude with a word of caution. Despite the hype in the press, this is not a done deal. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs, the Scouts have not identified themselves as a religious organisation, yet there are many in the ranks, senior echelons and international leadership of the Scouts that appear to regard the Scouts as a platform for evangelism. A phrase spoken by one of Mr Twine's colleagues at that meeting five years ago has stuck in my mind: Scouts should be encouraged to make a "full expression of their faith". And maybe it is just a coincidence that the person they chose to be Chief Scout, Bear Grylls, has marketed the Alpha Course. Scouting is not a democratic organisation where elections are likely to produce candidates more representative of the population as a whole.

This is why it is so very important for us all to make our contribution to the consultation, and I hope you will encourage as many people as possible, both inside and outside scouting, to respond. And, remember we are not calling for the withdrawal of a religious oath but for the reinstatement of an additional one for non-believers.

More people may believe in an afterlife than believe in God

News | Thu, 6th Dec 2012

Almost half – 49 per cent – of those surveyed earlier this year by the Institute of Education, University of London believe that there is 'definitely' or 'probably' life after death. Only 31 per cent have said that they believe in God, either without doubts (13 per cent) or with some doubts (18 per cent).

Researchers at the IOE's Centre for Longitudinal Studies are canvassing more than 9,000 members of the 1970 British Cohort Study. The study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is following a group of people born inEngland, Scotlandand Walesin spring 1970. It collects detailed information on many aspects of people's lives including health, wellbeing, and financial circumstances. The latest survey, at age 42, is being carried out between May and December.

While members of the 1970 cohort have been asked about religion at earlier points in their lives, the current survey is the first to make the important distinction between religious upbringing, affiliation, practice and belief.

An analysis of the first 2,197 responses shows that 32 per cent of interviewees were not brought up in any particular religion, and an equal number said they were raised in the Church of England. Fourteen per cent said they grew up as Christian (no denomination) and ten per cent as Roman Catholic.

However, when asked if they currently see themselves as belonging to a particular religion, 47 per cent said no, followed by 21 per cent who said the Church of England. Fifteen per cent felt they were Christian (no denomination) and seven per cent said they were Roman Catholic.

Seventy-four per cent of respondents reported never or rarely attending religious services, followed by 16 per cent who attend services less than once a month. Seven per cent attend services once a week or more.

Polling firms have been asking British adults about religion since the 1930s, and large-scale surveys such as the British Social Attitudes Survey and the British Household Panel Survey have included questions on religious practice and belief for the past 30 years. However, the current survey, being carried out by TNS-BNRB, could provide some deeper insights into why people believe what they do because the 1970 British Cohort Study has already amassed a vast amount of information on many other aspects of its members' lives.

Dr Alice Sullivan, the study's director, explains: "When you add information on belief to a rich dataset like this one you can start to understand why some people have certain beliefs while others do not. Is a particular belief linked to social background? Do religious beliefs change over time? Do people have apparently contradictory beliefs? We will aim to find out.

"You can also try to establish whether a religious belief really does increase a person's level of wellbeing and can separate out the different effects of church attendance and belief as many people with religious beliefs no longer attend Sunday services."

Professor David Voas, a quantitative sociologist of religion who is based at theUniversityofEssex, is equally excited about the possible insights that the IOE survey will throw up. He agrees that the study should provide a better sense of the characteristics of those with different types of belief. "The data on religion produced by the study's earlier surveys, in conjunction with the rich array of information on family, education and other characteristics and experiences, make a longitudinal dataset of this kind a particularly important resource," Professor Voas says.

"It will, for example, be possible to test a variety of hypotheses about belief in the hereafter. Previous cross-sectional, or 'snapshot', studies have suggested that people with high or low levels of education have 'conventional' views about God and life after death. 'Alternative' beliefs are associated with intermediate levels of education and partial religious upbringing. Hence, it is argued, exposure to ideas but not to the arguments for and against them might lead to unconventional beliefs."

Professor Voas also notes that popular films and television programmes dealing with the supernatural or alternative realities might encourage 'unreligious' beliefs in life after death. "Previous research has found that among young adults inBritain, belief in life after death is more than twice as prevalent as belief in God. At the same time, an appreciable number of old people believe the opposite. These important departures from what might seem to be religious or secular consistency require explanation. The findings of this current survey should help us to probe such issues and understand the process of religious change in modern societies."

See also: Surveying religion is a (very) inexact science