Girl Guides membership - our daughter cannot join?

poet123

barbiedoll wrote: »

Absolutely! It's for everyone who is disillusioned with religious interference in matters of State, the way that religion is given special status when it is unwarranted, the interference from religion in matters such as OP's, etc etc. All are welcome!

So, not anyone then?

It amazes me that you cannot see the irony when set against your previous post.

Hermia

milliebear00001 wrote: »

I do accept that a requirement of belonging to the Guides is to make a promise to love 'a supernatural God', but it might be worth reminding this Leader than although she can force a verbal promise, she cannot know the content of one's mind and therefore cannot guarantee any of her members really believe in a supernatural power. Similarly, she would have to accept all Gods as equal - including faith in Wicca/Satan/etc. Buddhists do not technically believe in a supernatural power either...

Yes, I wondered about why they allow Buddhists who are basically atheists who follow a philosophy (I know some Buddhists are a bit more supernatural than others). I have some devout Christian friends who seem to regard Buddhism as even more evil than atheism. My guiding career ended for the same reason, but I didn't mind. I'd rather be the teenager who walked out than the teenager who mindlessly chants a promise without even thinking about what it means. I thought the guides would be more inclusive and have better guidelines these days. Mind you, I have heard terrible stories from the USA about the way some scouting groups have treated atheists so perhaps it's not surprising.

Could she not say she is a humanist as that is a very well recognised philosophy and the leader would have presumably heard of it because of humanist funerals/weddings etc.

Hermia

barbiedoll wrote: »

Absolutely! It's for everyone who is disillusioned with religious interference in matters of State, the way that religion is given special status when it is unwarranted, the interference from religion in matters such as OP's, etc etc. All are welcome!

poet123 wrote: »

So, not anyone then?

It amazes me that you cannot see the irony when set against your previous post.

The above is really just a definition of secularism and some religious people do believe in the separation of church and state too.

Personally I always find the whole Brights thing a bit cringeworthy as do some other atheists. I think I'd rather be known as a heathen!

gibson123

I have not read all the posts so apologies if this has been covered.

What i did was have a word with the leader that basically said that in our family we wait until we are adults before deciding on faith matters (true), and we respect the religions and beliefs of others. My daughter did make her promise, but as she has not decided which god or no god to respect and worship it is a moot point as she has has not decided who her 2my god" will be.

Person_one

Georgina wrote: »

Seems to be quite a few misconceptions about Girlguiding on this thread - GGUK has half a million members in the UK, whilst Scouting has less than that and takes both girls and boys, so Brownies and Guides are obviously not quite as boring/rubbish as some would like to make out! :rotfl:

Do they still do the invisible table thing?

zaxdog

And they appear to have a lot of badges geared towards domestic duties and one for chocolate !!!!!!!!!

Give me scouting with it's hikes, camping, rugby, basketball, survival courses etc:j

scottishchick27

valk_scot wrote: »

Yeah, I'd go with this one too. My DD dropped her Brownie pack and their pamper parties and girly crafts like a hot cake when we found a Cub & Scout group in the next village that took girls. Proper camping in tents, axes, fires, knives, woodcraft, sailing.....she never looked back, lol. There's quite a few girls there and they're all of one mind...sporty and active and with a strong determination to outdo the boys at ever activity!

We are vaguely religeous in a sort of hippy way btw so the promise wasn't a problem. But if the parents request the line about God can just be skipped, the child just doesn't say that line along with the others. I did ask what would happen if a family was a rabid anti-Royalist one, Scout Leader said it was enough to promise to try to be a decent human being and serve the community in his book.

My Dd was exactly the same and she joined the cubs, two years later she's about to start scouts and absolutely loves it.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

What a load of nonsense.


I was a Guider for ages. Helped at Rainbows as well.

Nobody ever asked me if I was religious. And I was never required to attend a church service. I did, occasionally, but did not participate in singing or prayers. I wasn't struck down by lightening, and it made no difference to the kids, as I wasn't trying to be a religious leader.

If somebody was uncomfortable with God featuring in the promise, we let them say 'I promise that I will do my best/To do my Duty/To serve....' and nobody ever complained.


So, if I can be in charge of a bunch of children without religion coming into it, I don't see why a child should be forbidden entry.

Filey

I am an old lady. When i became a G.G. many many years ago I remember my 'promise' was along the lines of "I promise on my honour to do my best to do my duty to God and the King'. I said it because that was what you did. It didn't really mean anything to me but was part of the ritual you went through in order to join. And anyway I didn't know quite what it meant but said it because it was required.

Sad really, looking back, but as a child long ago you did what you had to. Now of course I would do it differently. A bit of hypocrisy comes in handy some times.

Mrs_Imp

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about Guiding on here.

Knitting!!? Making tea!!? Pamper parties??

Yes we teach our brownies how to make a decent cup of tea, and to ask if people would like milk/sugar etc, but we also teach them how to put up tents, cook on barbeques, research their local history, etc etc.

They learn a wide range of useful skills that they will be able to use in years to come.

When I was in Guides we camped with proper tents, went skiing, abseiling, canoeing, did a 50 mile 3 day hike etc etc.

If the girls want to do something more adventurous, then they need to speak up and tell their leader what they'd like to do, rather than run away.