Re: fingers crossed

the Omrud wrote:
John Dean wrote:

It seems to me that invoking God in an oath when you are an atheist
is a clear (but often secret) way of saying "I don't give a ***
whether I abide by this oath or not. It is as meaningless to me as
the fictional creation I am swearing by."

So you are of the opinion that no atheist child or adult should join
the Scouts? It's a valid point of view, but a little harsh IMV.

I take the view that the "my God" can be interpreted very widely in a philosophical sense and would be quite happy to tell my atheist children or my Hindu and Pagan neighbours' children to use their own definition and swear their oath in good conscience.

The British folk here might be interested to know that the coed Australian Scouts have two oaths they can swear. One includes doing one's duty to the Queen and the other one doesn't. God isn't officially optional, however. Also, I doubt whether anyone pays very much attention if the volume of the group chant drops a bit during the God part.

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