[allyjweir]

What country did you have that experience in?

I'm an atheist and a Scout leader in the UK. When writing my programme I always include a spiritual component to it but leave it non-religious. We definitely discuss and explore different religions (in past year visited a Mosque, an Abbey and a Synagogue to learn about their cultures) but never focus hard on a religion or even suggest that holding a religious belief is necessary to be a Scout.

Recently at an event where I renewed my promise I took the Atheist promise which is as follows:

I promise that I will do my best Uphold our Scout values Do my duty to the Queen Help other people And to keep the Scout laws

I find the majority of Scouters I meet, despite saying the original promise follow this non-denominational one throughout their Scouting. We promote the "worldwide family of Scouts" more than a religious grouping.

If you do look for a Scout group for your son, make sure to talk to the leader there. Different groups approach the issue differently so try to find one that suits you and lets your son avoid being 'forcible subjected to the propaganda' though it can be good for a young person to experience it and make that decision for themselves.

[verbify]

> I promise that I will do my best Uphold our Scout values Do my duty to the Queen Help other people And to keep the Scout laws

Well I'm an atheist and a republican, so that wouldn't work for me.

[pmyteh]

Being an atheist is expressly OK in the UK Scout movement (in fact, I'd say it's probably true of a decent majority of our adult and young members), and there's nothing in the scout values that people promise to uphold which require religion in any sense.

The duty to the Queen bit is a little bit more tricky. I'm a republican (and a scout leader) and concluded I was happy to follow the wording. The reason being that it doesn't define the scope of the duty, especially not in terms I would find problematic. The traditional scope of the duty is to keep the peace and not commit treason, both of which are required by statute law in any case. I don't see it as incompatible with wanting a change in the country's constitutional arrangements. And certainly the Scout movement wouldn't insist otherwise.

[allyjweir]

Luckily they also thought about that! You can replace both the religion and reference to the Queen with:

"To uphold our Scout values, to do my duty to the country in which I am now living"