BSA as Religious Org
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by Stephen Hansen, Ph.D.In case no. 92C-140, Riley County District Court, Bradford W. Seabourn vs. Coronado Area Council, December 16, 1992, the BSA filed a "Separate Answer" with the following as its "Sixth Affirmative Defense: "Boy Scouts of America is a religious organization, association or society, or nonprofit institution or organization operated, supervised or controlled by or in conjunction with religious organizations, associations or societies within the meaning of the Kansas Act Against Discrimination, expressly permitted by the Act to limit the occupancy of its real property, which it owns or operates for other than a commercial purpose, to persons who believe in God or to give preference to persons who believe in God." In the Balboa Park case, U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones Jr. ruled that "The Boy Scouts are a religious organization" http://www.bsalegal.org/downloads/1DE211_July_2003_Order.pdf pp.11. The judge based that finding on assertions made by BSA in pleadings of that case. That finding was not disputed in the BSA appeal of that case. Indeed, in the appeal brief, the BSA compares itself to a number of specific religious organizations, and argues that such leases may be extended to religious organizations http://www.bsalegal.org/downloads/Ninth_Circuit_Brief.pdf by James JanegaSince its 2001 Jamboree, the organization has sought to emphasize its famous All-American values while forging stronger relationships with home communities. At the same time, the group has cast itself as a faith-based organization for the first time in recent memory. "We surveyed many of our membership and asked 'What should we do? Are we headed in the right direction? Should we continue with our position?' Our membership said 'absolutely,'" said Renee Fairrer, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts who helped write the scouts' new marketing plan (Chicago Tribune, July 31, 2005). |
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