John Brunton
53 years ago, I joined the Boy Scouts. Part of the enrolment process was to recite the Scout oath. That included swearing to "do my duty to God and the Queen". Even then, aged 12, I was uneasy about this.
But feeling somewhat dishonest, though not quite
knowing why, I went ahead and recited the mantra.
Without it I would have been excluded from the
organisation.
The oath is still the same. Prospective Scouts therefore have the choice between hypocrisy and denying themselves the benefits that membership brings. It's time this deceitful practice was stopped; that the Scout movement recognises it operates in a pluralist society; and that they begin to respect others with opinions that do not conform to the religious and monarchististic beliefs of their founder.