You may have heard that last year The Scout Association launched a 10 month consultation about making a promise for Atheists. Well, the results are in and from January 2014 there will indeed be a new version of the promise for Atheists.
It matters to us because when someone made the promise they meant it. So if an atheist swore they would do their duty to God, it undermined this somewhat.
The Scouting community in general wanted to include Atheists but didn’t want to abandon the promise that is almost the same as the promise first outlined in 1908. So the main promise will stay, but there will an alternate wording for Athiests, just as there is an alternate wording for Muslims or those who don’t call the UK their home.
The bottom line however is this – everyone can get involved with Scouting at any stage. So we challenge you to jump into the adventure and get stuck into this new era.