The ACLU has bullied the Pentagon into ending sponsorship of Boy Scout troops on military bases. At issue is the fact that God is mentioned in the Scout Oath and that religion is viewed as a virtue.
“If our Constitution’s promise of religious liberty is to be a reality, the government should not be administering religious oaths or discriminating based upon religious beliefs,” said Adam Schwartz of the ACLU of Illinois.
For one thing, the oath is not administered by the government, but by the Scout troops themselves. And so what if troop leaders are government employees. They are leaders on the spare time, not as part of their jobs. Does this mean that people who hold government jobs cannot use their spare time to take engage in religious activities? For that matter, it throws into question whether the military can have chaplains at all. If the Scouts are verboten because of their connections to religion, how is it that military chaplains are any less an entanglement?