It gives me no pleasure to note the announcement this week that the Boy Scouts of America have settled sexual abuse cases in the amount of $850 million. Last year the organization declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and this latest announcement is yet another sign of its slow and precipitous decline.
Down 61% in membership since 2019, it should be obvious to even its most ardent supporters that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the right choice in distancing itself from the Boy Scouts. Its current curriculum for young men is infinitely more advantageous than the old one that included Scouting. These latest revelations about sexual abuse were long rumored and are now confirmed by the court cases that proved their veracity.
For many years, I wrote about the tenuous relationship between the Church and the Boy Scouts. I always believed we could find a higher and better path than tethering ourselves to scouting as it has compromised itself into weakness. You can read my extended reasoning here in 2003, and here in 2013 .
Estimated at 84,000 individuals who were affected by sexual abuse at the hands of Boy Scout leaders, it was so sad for me to read that these victims are now in their 60s and 70s. It has taken all these years for this first wave of cases to be resolved for the first 16,800 who filed suits. There will be years of future court cases and potentially billions of dollars in settlements to be paid out. This first settlement is the largest child sex abuse case in U.S. history. How ironic that it has arisen from a Scout Law that advocated for moral turpitude among its members.
I can still recite the Scout Law from memory: A Scout is: Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Sadly, now if you search Google for "scout law" what you end up with is references to "scout law suits."
We are living in a day of declining moral values. As young scouts, we internalized the Scout Law as obedient participants, but now we know there were predators among the ranks of the leaders who preyed upon the youthful boys in their troops. Those facts will continue to emerge in the years ahead. There may be fewer and fewer who will be traumatized by these details, but there are still many who will feel the ripples in the pond from the actions of those perpetrators for generations yet to come. Often the victims of sexual abuse become the practitioners.
We can agonize all we want about how wicked the world has become, but it is all a fulfillment of prophecy: "And until that hour there will be foolish virgins among the wise - and at that hour cometh an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked; and in that day will I send mine angels to pluck out the wicked and cast them into unquenchable fire." (D&C 63:54).
We are moving toward that day of final separation, and it should not surprise us when these tragic stories are broadcast to the world. Black is becoming blacker and white is becoming whiter. We all have a precious gift to choose God first and discern truth from error: "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." (2 Nephi 2:27).
I have abiding and profound confidence in the living prophets who preside in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our current Prophet uses words like invite, plead, encourage, and promise to help us find peace in this ever-darkening world around us. Read again the words of President Russell M. Nelson as he delivered the closing sermon at the General Conference in which he was sustained as the President of the Church:
Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again. We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.
My beloved brothers and sisters, I plead with you to increase your spiritual capacity to receive revelation. Let this Easter Sunday be a defining moment in your life. Choose to do the spiritual work required to enjoy the gift of the Holy Ghost and hear the voice of the Spirit more frequently and more clearly.
With Moroni, I exhort you on this Easter Sabbath to “come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift,” (Moroni 10:30) beginning with the gift of the Holy Ghost, which gift can and will change your life.
We are followers of Jesus Christ. The most important truth the Holy Ghost will ever witness to you is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. He lives! He is our Advocate with the Father, our Exemplar, and our Redeemer. On this Easter Sunday, we commemorate His atoning sacrifice, His literal Resurrection, and His divinity.
