Interview with the Chief Scout, BBC radio 4 March 13 2007

Devon humanist member Hazel Fuller emailed the BBC radio programme You and Yours about the insistence on belief in god as a requirement for membership of the scout movement. The UK chief scout, Peter Duncan, replied – a transcript is available here.

[reading email from Hazel Fuller]

Belief in a god of some kind is an absolute requirement, isn't it, for membership of the scouting movement? As an atheist and Humanist, I hope I have a morality that doesn't rely on a belief in a mystical and unprovable being, but my children, were they still young enough to join, would be barred from the excellent things that scouting promotes. I don't believe that religion should have a place in the scouting movement; just as I affirm and accord, so should a non-believer be able to affirm to moral values as a scout.

What is the position on that? Peter?

Well, you do have to have a faith or a belief system to be a scout; when you consider it's a world-wide movement and there's 28 million currently doing it – in fact there's more Muslim scouts – the point about, behind that, really, is that, I think – and this is a personal belief – I think that, a spiritual side to the question of why we're here and what we're for. We're not saying you've got to believe in a Christian god or that kind of god, there is a sense that we want to explore that territory.

The word "god" is used in the promise though, isn't it?

It is a word in the promise, but the word "god" could be a generic god. It doesn't have to be a particular god. And your leader, you know … it's a difficult thing, and I know it just puts some people off …

… And Hazel may not want her children to be hypocritical.

Yes, but in the sense, if you're, if you're an atheist, or a Humanist, it's as much as having a religion as not having a religion in some ways, I mean, their … belief systems … are difficult things to contend with. But scouting, or people who are scouts and guilds, it's the cross-section of humanity. It's, it's, people have little bits of belief, people have great belief. It encompasses all of our belief systems.