Boy Scouts

Re “Honor and Duty: Scouting Remains Strong, With Families Seeing It as a ‘Moral Compass,’ ” July 2.

It was encouraging to see this article about scouting in the paper. However, I question the writer’s conclusion that Boy Scouts of America policies, leading to the recent Supreme Court decision to exclude gay leaders, have had little effect locally.

I know that it has been a source of confusion in our family. As my son and I read through Chapter 3 of his new Boy Scout Handbook, I can’t help but taste the hypocrisy in such passages as “being compassionate to all people is an important antidote to the poisons of hatred” and “a Scout offers his friendship to all, even if his beliefs are different from his own” and “celebrate the fact that you don’t have to be just like everyone else.”

I would not assume that stable membership in Ventura County is a sign of acquiescence to BSA’s restrictive policies. I am sure that some families, like ours, feel torn. We recognize that scouting offers many excellent opportunities and do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Perhaps some families, like ours, have decided to continue with scouting and to pray that BSA, like other institutions of our time, will eventually be able to live up to what it espouses.

MICHAEL PINO

Ojai

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I am very upset over the large article on Boys Scouts of America. They just won the right to promote elitist prejudice and call it “morally straight.” It sounds more like Nazi propaganda than what I would call morality.

I buy The Times because of the responsible and fair coverage I have come to expect and appreciate. This article that is overwhelmingly positive about the Boy Scout organization is an outrage to all fair-minded people.

JOHN FLYNN

Ventura