On the front lines of the culture war

Through no wish of their own, the Boy Scouts have been on the front lines of the culture war for well over the past 10 years. We noted the San Diego litigation evicting them from use of municipal property last week, on the ground that they were a religious organization. I noted that the first wave of litigation against the Scouts on behalf of atheists and homosexuals was premised on the claim that the Scouts were a public accommodation under state and local civil rights law, believing in nothing in particular. Now the same folks are telling us that leasing public property to the Scouts constitutes the establishment of religion. The one constant is the animus against the Scouts for their patriotism and morality.
Our friends at the Claremont Institute were among the first to note the existence of the war against the Scouts and the stakes involved. One page of its site is devoted to an index of articles and columns it has published on the subject. Click here to access it. Foremost among these items is William Donohue’s monograph: “On the Front Line of the Culture War: Recent Attacks on the Boy Scouts of America.” Although published 10 years ago, Donahue’s essay unfortunately retains its relevance to the ongoing war on the Scouts. If you have any interest in the issue, you will find reading it worth your time.
Another front in the same war attacks the pledge of allegiance. On Friday, Colorado federal district court judge Lewis Babcock issued a temporary injunction against the Colorado law requiring Colorado students and teachers to recite the pledge. The AP news account of the decision makes Judge Babcock sound like he simpy begs to differ with the Colorado legislators who adopted the law: “The judge also said the law pits students who choose to say the pledge against those who do not, and students against teachers.” I have not been able to find a copy of the judge’s ruling online yet, but I assume the rationale follows that of the Ninth Circuit in the Newdow case.
I do not believe that “tolerance” has anything to do with these battles, although it is frequently a flag of convenience for the warriors of the left who wage them. “Tolerance” cannot explain the hatred of organizations like the Scouts and the Church, which the left is not content to leave alone. On the contrary, it wants to destroy them. The impulse here is totalitarian. The ultimate object of these battles seems to me to be the transvaluation of values, requiring our indoctrination in the moral good of homosexuality and the moral evil of the United States.