The Girl Guides are to drop references to ‘God’ and ‘country’ from their traditional pledge but are to retain a public expression of allegiance to the Queen, reports the Daily Telegraph.
In the new Promise, which will take effect from 1st September, the words ‘to love my God’, which already had an individualistic feel, is to be replaced with ‘to be true to myself and develop my beliefs’, sounding like something out of a New Age self-help manual.
The Guides have retained their pledge to the Queen, who just happens to be Patron of the UK Girl Guides, but the words ‘to serve the Queen and my community’, begging the question ‘who or what is “my community”?’ will replace ‘to serve the Queen and my country’. A vow to “help other people” and to “do my best” will remain part of the new promise.
The Guides have no evidence that the old pledge was putting girls off joining, so the whole exercise seems driven by the secularist spirit of the age embodied in the group’s new chief executive, Julie Bentley, who has been in post for just over six months. Ms Bentley stepped across from the militantly anti-Christian ‘fpa’, otherwise known as the Family Planning Association, and describes the Guides as “the ultimate feminist organisation”.
Stephen Evans, campaigns manager of the National Secular Society, applauded the Guides by getting out his secularist politically-correct phrase-book: “By omitting any explicit mention of God or religion the Guide Association has grasped the opportunity to make itself truly inclusive and relevant to the reality of 21st century Britain.
“The new secular promise can now be meaningful and relevant to all guides and potential leaders, whatever their beliefs – and sends a clear signal that Girlguiding is equally welcoming to all girls.”
The Guides website claims that the new promise will lead to them ‘welcoming more members’, but David Landrum, advocacy director at the Evangelical Alliance said: “No doubt, the Girls Brigade will be the main beneficiaries from this erroneous decision, because as the growing popularity of faith schools attests, parents will always seek to provide religious rather than secular humanist values for their children.”
In 2007 the Girl Guides started a programme called ‘Get Wise’ to teach about ‘sexual health’. The programme sank into embarrassed obscurity, but the organisation’s website had a page called ‘fit for life’ which promoted new age treatments such as aromatherapy, colour therapy (whatever that might be) and yoga. The guiding website forum urges girls to ‘indulge your inner gossip queen‘.
We understand there is still a weblink to the fpa in the GirlGuiding members area but another, to a Government url astonishingly called ‘www.playingsafely.co.uk’, as if sex is just an adolescent recreational activity, appears to have been dropped. The link was redirected straight to a suggestive NHS website called condomessentialwear.co.uk.
The Girl Guides were founded in 1909 by Agnes Baden-Powell, sister of Robert Baden-Powell, the architect of the Scouting movement.
Another victory for the atheist lobby as this country rushes to sever any connection with the Christian God it so faithfully served for centuries. Sadly there is little resistance to this any more as much of the Church, apart from a few exceptions, has become little different to its secular environment.
To those who pushed this through:
Psalm 53:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity …….
Matthew 18:6 “…….whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Plain speak: WATCH OUT if you lead children astray they are very precious to God.
So the pledge that excluded atheists, has be replaced with one that excludes those who don’t want to promote themselves as their own gods.
Is the promise to “develop” one’s beliefs, a promise to change one’s beliefs?
Thanks Steve for info on Girl Guides. All christians should write/email their MP, the Archbishop of Canterbury to get them to stand against this ridiculous putting in place a New Age agenda. I hope this will help people as i have written against this on the BBC news website under the BBCs, ‘Have Your Say’. At this present time i am not sure if the BBC monitor has included my letter with others. A sure sign the Lord Jesus is coming soon. We need to be ready.
The Catholics in the US are setting up their own Scouting organisation since the decision has been made to allow open homosexuals to join the official scouting movement. Perhaps new organisations for Christian boys and Christian girls could be set up in the Scouting/Guiding model in the UK. (The Baden- Powell’s must be spinning in their graves).
Isn’t it called the Boy’s Brigade / Girl’s Brigade ?
Actually, Lord Baden-Powell would encourage each individual to think about what their spiritual and religious values are. It was him who agreed to the phrase ‘with the help of God’ to be an optional rather obligatory element of the Dutch promise.
From Wikipedia:
Founder’s views
When creating the Scouting method, Baden-Powell was adamant that there was a place for God within it.
In Scouting for Boys, Baden-Powell wrote specifically about Christianity, since he was writing for youth groups in the United Kingdom:
We aim for the practice of Christianity in their everyday life and dealings, and not merely the profession of theology on Sundays…[1]
Indeed, the Scout Promise requires an incoming member to fulfil their “duty to God”.
However, the founder’s position moved shortly after the Scout movement began to grow rapidly around the world, and his writings and speeches allowed for all religions. He did continue to emphasise that God was a part of a Scout’s life:
When asked where religion came into Scouting and Guiding, Baden-Powell replied, It does not come in at all. It is already there. It is a fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding.[2]
How on earth does this count as religious hatred or religious persecution ? Nobody is telling members of the organisation that religion is not important. GIrlguiding is not a Christian organisation, now it has been better reflected in the promise.
As to it being driven by the secularist movement of the age, wrong again. It was done in consultation with members & interested parties from outside the movement – as I’m sure you’re aware. Even Christian members of the organisation were not happy with the wording of the promise as it was.
Jane, it can be driven by the secularist spirit of the age and still ‘done in consultation’ with Uncle Tom Cobley and all. The two are not mutually exclusive. The Girl Guides obviously were Christian, otherwise they would not have pledged to love God for over 100 years. Religious hatred? I think so. Religious persecution? Just watch what happens when some Guide wants to pray or tell another about Jesus.
They haven’t pledged to love God for 100 years. They’ve promised to love God since the 1990s.
Nit-picking. God has been in their pledge from when they started. See The Independent.
I run a Guiding history website and have done extensive research into Guiding history. Guiding has been multifaith, both in the UK and around the world, from the very start. In the first Guide Handbook (How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire, 1912) it was made clear that leaders should encourage the girls in their unit to seek faith, but not to impose their own beliefs, and from the start of the movement, it has been a longstanding rule that written parental permission is needed for any girl to attend a church service, thus ensuring that parents’ wishes are followed. It has always been made clear that references to “God” in the promise referred to the God/Gods or equivalent figures in the person’s own religion, not only to the Christian God. Happy to supply references to the relevant rulebooks/scans of relevant pages if wished.
As early as the 1920s, a booklet was published within Guiding, giving Leaders advice on helping the girls with knowledge about reproduction and relationships, it isn’t some new idea. Girls will often approach their leaders with queries about biology, reproduction and relationships, and we are encouraged to handle these sensitively and within the long-standing guidelines we have.
As above, happy to help with correcting these and other factual errors in your blog.
Let’s have some actual quotes referenced from the publications you cite.
Comment Deleted
Jane, Until you clearly show how much of your comment is a quote, and where it is quoted from, it will not be published.
In addition, your comment will not be published unless you supply a valid email address.
Happy to do so. From the 1912 handbook:
“There are many kinds of religion, such as Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mohammedans, and so on, but the main point about them is that they all worship God, although in different ways. They are like an army which serves one king, though it is divided into different branches such as cavalry, artillery, and infantry. So, when you meet a person of a different religion to your own, you should not be hostile to him, but recognize that he is like a soldier in your own army, though in a different uniform, and still serving the same king as you.”
From ‘Policy, Organisation and Rules’ (the association’s official rulebook) 1935 edition:
“Every Guide should attend the services of the religious denomination to which she belongs.” And also “Where a company consists of Guides of various religions, they should be encouraged to attend the service of their own denomination, and in camp any form of daily prayer and of weekly Divine service should be of the simplest character, attendance being voluntary.”
The 1985 leaflet “The Religious Policy of the Girl Guides Association in the United Kingdom” stated “Membership of the Girl Guides Association is voluntary, and is open to girls and women without discrimination as to race, religion or any other circumstances, providing they are prepared to make the Promise.” It also stated “Where a Unit consists of Guides from various faiths or Christian denominations, members should be encouraged to attend their own places of worship. For such Units, at their regular meetings or in camp, any form of prayer or of divine service should be composed with all those present in mind, and with attendance clearly voluntary.”
From the Guiding Manual, 9th April 2013:
“Guiding does not subscribe to any particular faith or religion and believes that every member should be encouraged to take an active part in the religion or faith of her family and community. Leaders and Commissioners should take account of the special requirements of the faiths of unit members – such as dress, diet or holiday days – when planning unit programmes and other events. Attendance at any act of worship must always be voluntary and be seen as part of the spiritual development of the individual member. Attendance at church parade or any religious gathering is not part of the guiding programme. No young member under 16 may attend a service of a faith or denomination other than her own, at a guiding event, without the consent of an adult with parental responsibility for her.”
Happy to supply many further examples. Also, Guiding was founded in 1910, not 1909. And ‘Get Wise’ hasn’t “sunk into obscurity”, but has been replaced by successor programmes, and by the peer education project.
Thank you.
Despite what was written in 1912, 1935 and 1985, it is true, is it not, that the original Promise was ‘To do my duty to God and the King’ and in 1985, the Promise was ‘To do my duty to God’?
Not quite, the Promise in 1910 did not mention duty, it actually was:
I promise, on my honour,
1. To be loyal to God and the King
2. To try and do daily good turns to other people
3. To obey the Law of the Guides
In 1985 it was:
I promise that I will do my best, to do my duty to God, to serve the Queen and help other people, and to keep the Guide Law.
(the version in use in 1985 was actually in use from 1968 through to 1994)
So as we can see, it has always been up to the individual to decide for themselves what they ought to do in order to fulfil the requirements of the promise – what they felt they needed to do in order to be loyal, or to do their duty by their beliefs, just as it is currently up to each individual to decide for themselves what they will do to develop their beliefs.
It was made clear in all the relevant reference books for Leaders to use in helping girls to prepare for making their Promise that the God referred to could be the God (or Gods, or equivalent figures) from any recognised religion, whether that religion used the name ‘God’ for such a figure, or used another name. This followed discussion with many religious leaders from different faiths which has been carried on over many decades. And of course, every version of the Promise lays down the requirement of keeping the Guide Laws, which set out very clear guidelines of how to live as a good citizen.