Word: scouting
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Most people probably think of the Boy Scouts of America as a Christian group--and not a particularly inclusive one, a reputation earned in part through its efforts to keep out gays, atheists and agnostics. But the Scouts insists it is open and diverse, especially in matters of faith. The Boy Scout oath includes a pledge to "do my best to do my duty to God and my country" but doesn't specify which god. There are Jewish, Hindu, Mormon and Baha'i scouts. There are Muslim scouts too, and for at least 20 years there have been all-Muslim...
There are now all-Muslim scout packs and troops in at least 22 states, involving more than 2,000 scouts and leaders. They can be found in big cities like Chicago and Atlanta, centers of the Arab-American community such as Dearborn, Mich., and smaller towns like Pottsville, Pa., and Rochester, Minn. Khadija Fuad started a troop last fall at the Islamic School of Louisville, Ky., even though her son Hussein also belongs to what she describes as a "very inclusive" troop at a Baptist church. "I wanted to get more people involved," she says of the new all-Muslim...
Siraj Narsi, whose son Shahmeer is in Troop 797, believes that their faith and scouting are mutually reinforcing. "The values of scouting are so similar to what we learn in Islam," says Narsi, who was a scout in Pakistan. He recites the 12 virtues in Scout law, which defines a scout as trustworthy, clean, obedient and helpful, as principles particularly prized by Muslims...
There are times, though, when differences between the worlds are jarringly apparent. Boy Scout officials proudly proclaim the group's commitment to pluralism--"We have a duty to God in our oath," says spokesman Robert Bork, "but not a Christian God." Yet that ideal is not always put into practice. Rehman, a jamboree chaplain's aide, recalls how, as he and the other chaplain's aides left a meeting, "everyone was handed a Bible. For a second, I thought it was a one-religion organization." Similarly, although halal meals were requested for Muslim scouts attending the jamboree, no one seems...
Still, the more the Muslim boys are set apart, the more they want to be thought of-- and treated--the same as other scouts. "We're the same. We're the same," insists Ali Raza Jiwani, 14. "We're the same as everyone else: humans made by God." Ali Raza and his buddies talk basketball. They tease one another about girls. They swear. And they are fervently patriotic. "We're proud to be Asian American," says Amin Ali, 15, who has thought about becoming a military pilot. "I love my country," says Salman. "My religion doesn't interfere with that...