Scouting

Scouting is a world-wide movement aimed at developing young people so that they can take a constructive place in society at the local, national and international level.

Boy Scouts was founded by Lord Robert Baden-Powell in 1907 in England. Later Girl Scouts developed in 1910. In the United States, the scouting organization is the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

Discriminatory practices of the American organization has been getting increased public attention, largely in the last quarter of the 20th century and into the 21st. They strongly enforce policies against members and leaders who are atheists or who are other than heterosexual. This discrimination has recently led to reactions where charitable funding or donated meeting space has been reduced (the donors objecting to the discrimination).

Two world-wide organizations coordinate the scouts and the guides of the world:

The WOSM (http://www.wosm.org/) for boys and mixed groups.

The WAGGGS (http://www.wagggs.org/) for the girls-only groups.

External Links

• http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/rec/rec.scouting.misc.html will be a useful resource for fleshing out this article <>< tbc