Britain Girl Guides Drop Oath to God .. Now Oath to Self

Originally posted by hotel1
It's all about me, yay me, go me, me me me me me. All joking aside isn't it somewhere in the Masonic oath about wanting to be good and useful or some such? Just my conspirational mind.

edit on 25-6-2013 by hotel1 because: (no reason given)

I think it's great that kids are being encouraged to be independent beings and have faith in THEMSELVES rather than in some invisible "God".

As mentioned, we are increasingly a secular society in the UK, and this is a great thing. There are a lot of benefits to this, not least culturally and legally. For instance, it's much harder for a religious group to do damage to society by forcing their beliefs onto others with assistance from the state. There's no real mention of religious belief in the election process, and as such religious views are not used to distract and divide people as happens in the US.

Religion holds nations back, this is a fact. You cannot have scientific and social development in all relevant areas when you have any religion controlling the public in any way. A principal of religion is an intention to hold society back and stick to outdated dogma, no matter how it harms the society an restricts scientific and social progress.

“be true to myself and develop my beliefs"

That is not an oath to oneself, it is an affirmation for girls not to be afraid of who they are and follow their hearts and beliefs. It's the epitome of Girl Power.

Originally posted by Rocker2013

Originally posted by hotel1
It's all about me, yay me, go me, me me me me me. All joking aside isn't it somewhere in the Masonic oath about wanting to be good and useful or some such? Just my conspirational mind.

edit on 25-6-2013 by hotel1 because: (no reason given)

I think it's great that kids are being encouraged to be independent beings and have faith in THEMSELVES rather than in some invisible "God".

As mentioned, we are increasingly a secular society in the UK, and this is a great thing. There are a lot of benefits to this, not least culturally and legally. For instance, it's much harder for a religious group to do damage to society by forcing their beliefs onto others with assistance from the state. There's no real mention of religious belief in the election process, and as such religious views are not used to distract and divide people as happens in the US.

Religion holds nations back, this is a fact. You cannot have scientific and social development in all relevant areas when you have any religion controlling the public in any way. A principal of religion is an intention to hold society back and stick to outdated dogma, no matter how it harms the society an restricts scientific and social progress.

In my jocular fashion I was alluding to people in general becoming increasingly solipsistic and self serving over a concern for the good of ones fellow creatures, I did not mean to offend or hurt feelings.

Kind regards

Originally posted by boymonkey74
Only following what is happening to Religion in the UK, we are becoming a secular society because most people just do not believe or do beleive but do not follow any Religion.
Good for them.

When any statistical analysis or polling of a diverse population shows a majority to be agnostic or atheist, I'll be interested to know. As it happens...

In the 2011 Census, Christianity was the largest religion, with 33.2 million people (59.3 per cent of the population). The second largest religious group were Muslims with 2.7 million people (4.8 per cent of the population).

14.1 million people, around a quarter of the population in England and Wales, reported they have no religion in 2011.

Source

It seems the vast majority are religious to one direction or another. Interesting how so many keep suggesting "most" aren't, when thats patently and provably untrue....world wide.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Many people just put Christian in the census because they were baptized etc but now they are not religious.
YouGov has a good poll here.

yougov.co.uk...

76% say they are not religious Half of us say we do not belong to a religion, but 61% say briton should be a christian country..
It is dying off religion in the UK, just look at the amount of old churches which are now a pub or flats, the vast majority of religious people are immigrants from Africa etc, I do not know one of my relatives who would say they are religious nor 99% of my pals.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I wouldn't trust anyone who swears an oath to themselves. And I can't fathom how anyone here thinks this is *OK*. If not to God, then at least to your countrymen, family or something similar.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

Many people just put Christian in the census because they were baptized etc but now they are not religious.
YouGov has a good poll here.

yougov.co.uk...

76% say they are not religious Half of us say we do not belong to a religion, but 61% say briton should be a christian country..
It is dying off religion in the UK, just look at the amount of old churches which are now a pub or flats, the vast majority of religious people are immigrants from Africa etc, I do not know one of my relatives who would say they are religious nor 99% of my pals.

That is an interesting point you raise about churches becoming pubs, flats etc. It makes me wonder if the same thing will happen to mosques a few decades down the line.

reply to post by hotel1


I hope so I really do....like my sig says

reply to post by boymonkey74


I think people are getting smarter and know that a belief in a higher power, does not mean you have to go to church or be part of a specific religion.

Originally posted by boymonkey74
reply to post by hotel1

 

I hope so I really do....like my sig




Or until the last stone from the last mosque falls on the last Iman

edit on 25-6-2013 by hotel1 because: (no reason given)

reply to post by littled16


I"m remembering being in Brownies 44 years ago and then in Girl Scouts for one year.
This was a small town in Connecticut. Every troop was connected with a church.
But .. that was then and this is now .. things change ...

reply to post by WilsonWilson


I agree the more intelligent society gets the more people understand that the question of God is not answerable, I believe in God but I will not fall for someone elses version of God when at the end of the day it is between me and him/she/it.

reply to post by FlyersFan
Both of my girls were in Scouting for 5 years. My niece graduated from Daisies to Brownies last year. Girl Scouts isn't as popular as it used to be. It's a shame because they learn so many skills that stay with them for life. Much more productive and educational than sitting on Farcebook or going to mini=cheerleader camp. Not to mention the cookies....numma numma!

Originally posted by maria_stardust
That is not an oath to oneself, it is an affirmation for girls not to be afraid of who they are and follow their hearts and beliefs. It's the epitome of Girl Power.

That is how I originally saw it. Some news outlets are saying it's an oath to self.
I can see both ... affirmation or oath to self ... depending on how it's looked at.

reply to post by littled16


40+ years ago the skills I learned in Girl Scouts was how to bake a cake and how to make French Toast. I got my toy making badge even though the toy I made was awful and didn't work. Weekly dues were 15 cents. I wore an old hand me down uniform from the neighbor. It was an hour of fun on a Tuesday night in a small New England town. The meetings were in the Congregational Church, even though most of us weren't Congregational. Most everyone went.

Nowadays ... I have no idea what they do for their badges or even if they have them. And I don't hear anyone talking about Girl Scouts except at cookie time when we see a table set up at the local grocery store with girl scout cookies. But I never recognize the scouts.

reply to post by FlyersFan
My kids improved their cooking, sewing, wilderness skills, did aerobic exercise, danced, went camping and canoeing, built bonfires, did service work, etc. The cookies were a bonus! They took lots of day trips to tour museums and libraries, police and fire station, and all became Red Cross certified lifeguards. We parents got to go on a few of the fun trips to amusement parks, ice skating and rafting the rapids. As soon as my grandgirl is old enough my daughter already decided to sign her up!

reply to post by boymonkey74


So, help me understand here. Your national census results that asked everyone are less accurate than a poll that sampled 1,828 people? Why would they be less accurate or honest on the Census but more so on a Poll people are rarely ever sure for origin or purpose on at the time they answer for it?

It's a pretty interesting question since my source from the English Government is essentially a mirror opposite of your poll. Someone isn't just off....they are off so far as to be deliberately fudging numbers. Which one? Hmm... I'll honestly say that's a fair question given the fact I don't trust how political national census efforts have become any more than I trust 1000-2000 person polls trying to represent 10's of millions of people.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Don't want to derail the thread because I already have so last post here.
People here are not religious, not one person on my street is religious, many are spiritual but not religious.
Like I said the religious people I meet are immigrants working here in the UK, I think the British are secular and are becoming more so.
humanism.org.uk...
This link answers many of your questions.

Oh and OP I wanted to join the cubs when I was a kid but my Dad said nope they are too religious and will have you praying...so I did Karate instead and learnt about shintoism instead

reply to post by boymonkey74


Well, thanks for the reply. It seemed well in topic, as it's a thread about a group dropping a traditional oath to God. No matter though.. Your reply is informative as another way folks see the situation over there. It fits along side other opinions from those who live there and it all helps to form a picture.

The oath to self is an interesting replacement emphasis as the OP story indicates, to be narrow to topic, but getting to be more and more common I suppose.

reply to post by Bob Sholtz


Im not talking about free speech, im talking about religious hate speech that separate people by religion and cause wars over it. Religion would be better if its personal, just like god, it should be personal. But now religion is multimillion dollar mafioso. or a hate filled human bombs.

i believe in non-violence, as do many others. i doubt you can say the same.

How am i being violent? how am i violent if i don't believe in a deity? aren't you the violent one, constrained by the word "god"?

What would happen to me if its absolute god doesn't exist? nothing, another day. You on the other hand, most likely turn to "bad ways".

Why is there Atheist running around killing people? "Do not believe or ill kill you!".. or are you going to parrot the stalin-polpot-mao copy/paste crap from uninformed religious sites?

Do you really want me to pull up all the National Anthems and Oath in many countries with "God" in it? or do you just not see it?