I had a very long discussion at Sam's Club a few weeks ago when my girls' troop had a cookie booth. I was approached by a young lady (in her 20s was my guess) who wanted to talk to me and ask me a few questions. She was very passionately pro-life (I'm sure she still is, but since this conversation happened a couple of weeks ago, I say she "was"). She was bothered by the fact that I, someone who identifies herself as I do, allows her children to participate in Girl Scouts. I understand her concerns. I've thought through them. Where do I stand?
Well, here's the deal, pickle:
- Our troop doesn't participate in Planned Parenthood rallies - and if they did, I would leave the troop.
- My children are not persecuted for our family's faith. If they were, I'd leave the troop.
- We have the opportunity to be blessings to families much, much less fortunate than ours. There are some little girls in our troop whose families are barely making ends meet; where an uncle takes care of a girl and her siblings because the dad is gone and we suspect the mother is in prison. And we serve these families with great joy because we love Jesus.
- Ultimately, though it comes down to this with me and Girl Scouts: I cannot hold a secular organization to my religious principles. If someone chooses to boycott everything that doesn't agree with their religious or personal values (and this can swing both ways, liberal friends) then they won't do anything or go anywhere. Not sure they'd be able to buy groceries, even, to eat at home. Now, that is not to say we shouldn't take a stand about something where we are passionate (pro-life lady didn't buy GS Cookies - it would've violated her conscience, I get that) or something that Christians are specifically told to avoid...we should. This doesn't fall in either of those camps for me (the Bible doesn't say we should not participate in Girl Scouts). But, let me say that again in case you missed it the first time: I cannot hold a secular organization to my religious principles. I'm too much of a sinner to boycott every business whose leadership is committing some other kind of sin.
As long as my troop continues to operate the way it does, we are not persecuted for our faith, and my children are interested, I will allow them to be in Girl Scouts. The second any of that changes, we're gone. But for now - my conscience is not violated by my children participating in this activity. If that bothers you, let's talk, please. We may have to be like me and the young lady at Sam's - we may have to agree to disagree. Hopefully we can do it as civilly as she and I did.
And if you want some Girl Scout cookies - we'll sell them to you. Next year. I'm *done* for this year! (we sold over 1300 boxes)
