The immediate impetus for the divorce might seem to be the decision by the Boy Scouts to rename itself “Scouts BSA” in recognition of the fact that girls may now participate in its activities. This development, however, is just part of the evolution of scouting, the most American of institutions, to reflect contemporary values of inclusion along the lines of sex, gender and sexuality. As late as 2000 the Boy Scouts won from the U.S. Supreme Court the right to exclude openly gay scout leaders. But as the gay-rights movement advanced, the Scouts’ position softened. In 2015, just after the Supreme Court’s landmark gay-marriage decision, Obergefell v. Hodges, the Scouts officially ended this ban. The opening to girls, announced last year, similarly expresses the gradual weakening of gender binarism.
From the perspective of the LDS church, all this change was unwelcome. The Mormon church spent a century developing a close, even symbiotic relationship with scouting -- eventually it was mandatory for all boys. For Mormons, participation in the archetypically American social practice of scouting was a marker of full belonging in American social life. At the same time, scouting was a manageable symbol of cultural assimilation, because the Scouts allowed Mormon boys to belong to troops that were predominantly or exclusively Mormon. Because scouting embraces religious values in the abstract, this model worked well for both sides. Eventually, Mormons seemed to compose as much as a fifth of all Boy Scouts. [...]
For the church, the lesson is more subtle. On the one hand, by eschewing the Boy Scouts, the church is turning in on itself, rejecting one of the most powerful symbols of its hard-won mainstream American character. On the other hand, that the church is prepared to do so signals its justified confidence that the LDS church is now so thoroughly accepted as American that it can afford to give up the symbol of scouting. In a sense, this double-edged sword captures the fascinating and challenging dilemma for the church. Its influence and legitimacy have never been greater. Yet certain strands of its social conservatism risk a gradual process of remarginalization. It will take decades for this existential situation to play itself out. The scouting divorce will become a key chapter in the history of contemporary Mormonism.
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