Saturday, October 07, 2006

Avoiding prayer to generic deities

I've recently been asked to lead my son's Cub Scout den, and this has forced me to think about the issue of "non-sectarian" prayers. The Boy Scouts of America program prominently features God, which is good news. The oaths the boys take, and the requirements for the various ranks of scouting that they work toward, all require that they acknowledge that there is a God, and encourage them to think about ways that they might serve God. Adult leaders must affirm belief in the existence of God in order to be involved in Scouting, and Scouting meetings seldom end without a benediction: "May the Master of all Scouts be with us until we meet again."
I'm totally for this. The problem, of course, is that this revered Deity is never defined. As with AA's "higher power," "my God" can be completely of my design, and your God can be completely of your own. We can even pray together, waxing devotional about how loving God is, and how thankful we both are that God is, um, God. Right?
Well, no. I would prefer a completely prayer-less Scouting event than one featuring prayer to a lowest-common-denominator deity, one who demands nothing from us in the way of approaching him as he truly is. I can recite the Pledge of Allegiance with non-Christians, but I cannot pray with my non-believing friends no matter how much I delight in their company and value their friendship. But how to explain this to all the boys and their parents? Or do I prepare explicitly Christian content (e.g., prayers in Jesus' name) and just wait for them to join with me or go away mad?

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