Scouting?
Date: 16 Dec 1998

Q. What was Baden-Powell's position on God and Religion in Scouting?

Baden-Powell founded Scouting in England around 1905.   Here is what he
had to say about God and Religion in Scouting.

"A careful analysis of the Founder's writings shows that
the concept of a force above man is basic to Scouting.   The whole
educational approach of the Movement consists in helping young
people to transcend the material world and go in search of the
spiritual values of life."   (The Fundamental Principles of the WOSM
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/u/lkmorlan/Fundamental_Principles.html)

"When asked where religion came into Scouting and Guiding, Baden-
Powell replied, It does not come in at all.   It is already
there.   It is a fundamental factor underlying Scouting and
Guiding." (Religion and the Boy Scout and Girl Guides Movement--
an address, 1926).

"I don't mean by this the mere soldiering and sailoring services; we
have no military aim or practice in our movement; but I mean the ideals
of service for their fellow-men.   In other words, we aim for the
practice
of Christianity in their everyday life and
dealings, and not merely the profession of its theology on Sundays....
The co-operation of tiny sea insects has brought about the formation of
coral islands. No enterprise is too big where there is goodwill and
co-operation carrying it out. Every day we are turning away boys
anxious to join the Movement, because we have no the men or women
to take them in hand. There is a vast reserve of loyal patriotism and
Christian spirit lying dormant in our nation to-day, mainly because it
sees no direct opportunity for expressing itself. Here in this joyous
brotherhood there is vast opportunity open to all in a happy work that
shows results under your hands and a work that is worth while because it
gives every man his chance of service for his fellow-men and for God. "
(Scouting for Boys 1908)

"No man is much good unless he believes in God and obeys His
laws.   So every Scout should have a religion....Religion seems
a very simple thing:   First: Love and serve God.   Second: Love
and serve your neighbour."   (Scouting for Boys)

"The atheists... maintain that a religion that has to be learnt
from books written by men cannot be a true one.   But they don't
seem to see that besides printed books... God has given us as one
step the great Book of Nature to read; and they cannot say that
there is untruth there - the facts stand before them...   I do not
suggest Nature Study as a form of worship or as a substitute for
religion, but I advocate the understanding of Nature as a step,
in certain cases, towards gaining religion" (Rovering to
Success, Robert Baden-Powell, 1930, p. 181).

"Development of outlook naturally begins with a respect for God, which
we
may
best term "Reverence.
Reverence to God and reverence for one's neighbour and reverence for
oneself as a servant of God, is the basis of every
form of religion. The method of expression of reverence to God varies
with every sect and denomination. What sect or
denomination a boy belongs to depends, as a rule, on his parents'
wishes. It is they who decide. It is our business to respect
their wishes and to second their efforts to inculcate reverence,
whatever form of religion the boy professes.
There may be many difficulties relating to the definition of the
religious
training in our Movement where so many different
denominations exist, and the details of the expression of duty to God
have,
therefore, to be left largely in the hands of the
local authority. But there is no difficulty at all in
suggesting the line to take on the human side, since direct duty to
one's
neighbour is implied in almost every form of belief."
(Aids to Scoutmastership, 1919)

Katharine Furse described him with more than a hint of tongue-in-cheek
as 'the inspired mystic of Scouting', but this was actually how he
was seen by millions.   This image owed much to his growing tendency to
represent Scouting as a form of religion.   "Scouting is nothing
less than applied Christianity," he had written in
the introduction to a pamphlet entitled Scouting and Christianity in
1917.
In 1921 in a pamphlet entitled "The Religion in the Woods" argued
that observing the beauties of nature was the best way in which to
apprehend
God and that no one religion held a monopoly of truth. This made him
very unpopular with churchmen...   Bishop Joseph Butt, auxiliary bishop
to
the
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, accused Baden-Powell of
"sweeping with one magnificent gesture
the Christian Revelation, Mohammadanism , and all the rest, into a heap
of
private opinions which do not matter much." In the next edition of the
"Headquarters Gazette", Baden-Powell obliged his horrified Committee by
assuring readers that it was "not his intention to attack Revealed
Religion
or to suggest a substitute for it." But he never regretted what he had
said,
nor that he had invited Muslims and Buddhists to recite prayers at
Gilwell.
He quoted Carlyle as saying: 'The religion of a man is not the creed
he professes but his life -- what he acts upon, and knows of life, and
his duty in it.   A bad man who believes in a creed is no more =
religious
than the good man who does not.   Baden-Powell's public refusal to
countenance
the exclusive claims of any one religion was accompanied by the
increasingly
fervent references to 'God' in his speeches.
(The Boy-Man by Tim Jeal, pg 515)

Also see:
   The Founder's Thoughts on Christianity, Religion and Scouting
       http://members.tripod.com/~kclocke/index-6.html
   Baden-Powell on Reverence
       http://www.umcscouting.org/ministry/BP_Reverence.htm


---------------------------------------------------------------------Subject: 
   Was Baden-Powell a Freemason?

No.   Despite the similarities in the philosophies of Freemasonry
and the Scouting movement, we have been unable to trace any evidence
that Lord Baden-Powell was a Freemason.   For more information see:
http://www.pinetreeweb.com/bp-freemasonry.htm