Supreme court supports Boy Scouts discrimination against the non-religious.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Tuesday from an atheist father over Boy Scout recruiting at his son's public school.

John Scalise had asked the court to bar public schools from opening their doors to Boy Scout recruiters and promoting membership, arguing that the group discriminates against nonreligious boys and parents by denying them membership if they don't swear to religious oaths.

Scalise's dispute with the Scouts dates back to 1998, when his son was a third-grader in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

He claims he and his son were barred from a Scout program at the elementary school because they would not pledge "to do my duty to God and my country." They are nonreligious Humanists.

It is a real shame that the Scouts are not willing to make an exception in these cases. There are some real benefits to being in the Scouts for young boys, and they should not be withheld from somebody just because they do not buy into the whole God thing.

I was a Boy Scout when I was a kid. I was also an atheist. I remember to this day making the pledge "To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law". I just said it without meaning it, but it did sort of stick in my craw.

Now the part that bothered me the most in those days, 1971 with Vietnam in full swing and Watergate on the horizon, was the part about doing my duty to my country. Myself, and many of my peers, were not so sure we could support what our country was doing in Vietnam. We felt that what we were doing was wrong and we did not want to support it in any way. So pledging support for my country in those days actually bothered me more then the God part.

I only lasted in Boy Scouts about six months. It was too militaristic for my sensibilities.

This is just another example of what those of us who question religious beliefs are forced to deal with throughout our lives. That might explain why there are only 3% of us in America.