Honor WHAT?

I think I must have done a double take, but the contract was right in front of me. It was the usual, a simple pledge to do a good job and keep your nose clean and that sort of thing but then there was the fine–well, fine-er–print along the bottom.

“The Girl Scout Promise,” it read.

I continued reading.

On my honor, I will try: To serve God and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.

‘Oh boy,’ I thought, ‘have we got a problem.’

I’ve been an atheist practically since birth. My brushes with faith have been brief; at age six  I thought the Lord looked like the disembodied head of my upstairs neighbor and at seven, when accompanying my mother to shul, I looked from rabbi to cantor and asked “Mommy, which one of those guys is God?”

In any case, imagine my surprise to see that affirmation of assumed belief. I thought that, in the interest of inclusion, all such things had been struck from the credos and pledges of organizations that serve a secular public. 

A quick trip to Wikipedia explains:

“In early 1992, the Totem Girl Scout Council suggested changing the promise to make it possible for girls who did not believe in a monotheistic god to join. In November 1992, the parents of Nitzya Cuevas-Macias sued for their daughter to be permitted to participate even though she refused to promise to serve God.^[40][41]

On October 23, 1993, the Girl Scouts of the USA voted 1,560-375^[42] to permit individuals to substitute another word or phrase for “God” in their promise.^[43]

“THAT, since the Girl Scout organization makes no attempt to interpret or define the word ‘God’ but encourages members to establish for themselves the nature of their spiritual beliefs, it is the policy of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. that individuals when making the Girl Scout Promise may substitute wording appropriate to their own spiritual beliefs for the word ‘God’.”

with the explanation that

“For some individuals, the word ‘God’, no matter how broadly interpreted, does not appropriately reflect their spiritual beliefs. Since the belief in a spiritual principle is fundamental to Girl Scouting, not the word used to define that belief, it is important that individuals have the opportunity to express that belief in wording meaningful to them. It is essential to maintain the spiritual foundation of Girl Scouting, yet be inclusive of the full range of spiritual beliefs. This [policy change] does not take the word ‘God’ out of the Girl Scout Promise. It gives those individuals who wish to do so the option to state their commitment to the spiritual concepts fundamental to the Movement with a word or words more appropriate to their own beliefs. For instance, an individual may say ‘my faith’ or ‘Allah’ or ‘the Creator’.”"

Hmm. So to effectively “scout,” one must have a “spiritual foundation?” I wonder how that effects atheist members and their parents… If there are any. 

But, as our team leader declared, reciting from a pamphlet, the Girl Scouts do not discriminate–cannot, really–in who they hire based upon, among a slew of other things, religious belief… Or, in my case, non-belief.

So I sighed.

And I signed.