The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod last month joined three other church bodies to ask the New Jersey Supreme Court to overturn a lower-court ruling that set the stage for forcing Boy Scout troops in that state to keep openly homosexual scoutmasters.

LCMS congregations nationally sponsor some 1,000 units of the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1990, the Boy Scouts expelled a New Jersey assistant scoutmaster, James Dale, after it became known that he is openly homosexual. Dale sued, saying that his expulsion violated a state law that forbids discrimination in public accommodations due to "affectional or sexual orientation."

The Superior Court of New Jersey found that the Boy Scouts and its local council are places of public accommodation and that the Scouts lack distinctive qualities that might otherwise afford the organization constitutional protections. The amicus brief joined by the Synod takes clear exception.

"Employing state power to coerce Scouting to install as leaders practicing homosexuals who openly advocate positions contrary to those held by Scouting and its religious sponsors would forcibly alter the message of Scouting and deal a fatal blow to the Scouting Movement," says the 58 page brief. "This the Constitution flatly forbids."

Others on the brief are the National Catholic Committee on Scouting, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the General Commission on United Methodist Men of the United Methodist Church. These three and the Missouri Synod sponsor about 45 percent of all Scout troops in the United States.

"Forcing congregations of the Synod that sponsor Boy Scout troops to accept practicing homosexuals as leaders of their youth, in troops that are part of their youth ministry programs, is violative of the free exercise rights of members of congregations of the Synod, and entangles government in the religious affairs of the Synod," says an LCMS statement appended to the brief.

The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal in the case but at press time had not yet set a date for oral arguments. This news release is published by the News and Information Division, Board for Communication Services, of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Free subscriptions to this service are available by sending an electronic mail message to mailserv@crf.cuis.edu and include the words SUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS in the body of your message. To unsubscribe, send the message UNSUBSCRIBE LCMSNEWS to the same mailserv address. For more information, contact Paula Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or at (314) 965-9000.

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