[+/-] No more government funding for Boy Scouts

A small victory for separation of church and state:

A federal judge has ruled the Pentagon can no longer spend millions in government money to ready a Virginia military base for a national Boy Scout event typically held every four years.

U.S. District Judge Blanche Manning's June 22 order stems from a 1999 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Unions of Illinois that claimed the Defense Department sponsorship violates the First Amendment because the Scouts require members to swear an oath of duty to God....

The order doesn't cover this year's National Scout Jamboree, which start July 25 and is expected to draw more than 40,000 people to the Army's Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia....

The Rev. Eugene Winkler, a Methodist minister who is one of the plaintiffs in the case, said he got involved because he did not agree with the use of taxpayer money to support the Scouts.

"We're not attacking the Scouts and neither is the ACLU," Winkler said. "This issue is not about the Boy Scouts at all. It's about government funding for religious purposes. It's about separation" of church and state.

There are nondiscriminatory scouting organizations, such as Campfire USA.