BEVERLY HILLS, May 11, (THEWILL) – The Mormon church, the biggest sponsor of Boy Scout troops in the United States, on Thursday, announced that it is pulling as many as 185,000 older youths from the organization as part of an effort to start its own scouting-like program.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints insisted that the move wasn’t triggered by the Boy Scouts’ decision in 2015 to allow gay troop leaders, since Mormon-sponsored troops have remained free to exclude such adults on religious grounds.
But at least one leading Mormon scholar said that the Boy Scouts and the church have been diverging on values in recent years and admitted that the policy on gays was probably a contributing factor in the split.
In Thursday’s announcement, the church said that it learned recently that the Boy Scouts are considering admitting girls, but that its decision was made independently of that.
The church said it wants a new, simplified program of its own that is more closely tailored to Mormon teenagers revealing that boys ages 14 to 18 will no longer participate in the Boy Scouts starting next year.
Although, the church said the decision will affect 185,000 teens; the Boy Scouts put the number at 130,000 as Boy Scouts of America spokeswoman, Effie Delimarkos, noted that the organization is saddened by the decision but understands the church’s desire to customize a program.
The loss is only a small portion of the 2.3 million youths in the Boy Scouts of America, but the organization has been grappling with declining membership for years and has enjoyed an unusually close bond with the church for more than a century because of their shared values.
Joining the Boy Scouts is practically automatic among Mormon boys as a Boy Scout training complex in West Virginia is named after Mormon church President Thomas S. Monson, a long-time member of the Boy Scouts’ executive board and a major supporter.
