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{"id":3405,"date":"2012-08-10T11:19:01","date_gmt":"2012-08-10T16:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/?p=3405"},"modified":"2012-08-10T11:19:17","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T16:19:17","slug":"relax-evangelical-voters-mitts-not-going-to-mess-with-the-boy-scouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/2012\/08\/10\/relax-evangelical-voters-mitts-not-going-to-mess-with-the-boy-scouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Relax, Evangelical Voters, Mitt’s Not Going to Mess With the Boy Scouts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning, I got a flurry of emails about Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul reaffirming<\/a> that Mitt supported the right of Boy Scouts to define their own membership policies but also would apparently prefer that the Scouts allow gay scoutmasters. \u00a0This has been Mitt\u2019s position since 1994, and \u2014 quite frankly \u2014 I (partly) disagree with him. I don\u2019t think the Scouts should have gay scoutmasters. \u00a0But I\u2019d go farther than the Scouts do \u2014 I would prefer that scoutmasters step down if they\u2019re engaged in any kind of extramarital sexual activity. \u00a0I don\u2019t want my son taught by an adulterous scoutmaster, by a scoutmaster who\u2019s shacking up with a girlfriend, or by a scoutmaster who\u2019s addicted to porn.<\/p>\n

(And frankly, a scout is far more likely to encounter an adulterous scoutmaster than a gay scoutmaster.)<\/p>\n

But from the standpoint of a government official \u2014 or an aspiring government official \u2014 the key policy question is whether you\u2019ll try to use government power to interfere with the membership policies of a private organizations. \u00a0And on that point, the only point that really matters for a President, Mitt\u2019s answer is exactly right: The Boy Scouts\u2019 personnel policies are for the Boy Scouts to decide.<\/p>\n

So relax, Mitt is not going to mess with the Scouts.<\/p>\n

But that brings up a larger point. \u00a0We are trying to defeat the most pro-abortion president in history, a man who\u2019s launched an unprecedented attack on religious liberty through HHS regulations that require Christian groups to violate their beliefs as a condition of doing business. \u00a0Our candidate is not only pro-life, he\u2019ll undo the Obama administration\u2019s HHS regulations within 24 hours of taking office. \u00a0The stakes are simply too big to waste one more second of time arguing about Mitt\u2019s personal opinion on Boy Scouts\u2019 personnel policies. As I\u2019ve argued before<\/a>, abortion is morally comparable to slavery \u2014 yet do you think the abolitionists let a candidate\u2019s irrelevant and extraneous personal opinions deter their support or diminish their zeal to transform our politics?<\/p>\n

There is not a politician alive who will agree with you on every point. \u00a0There is not a person alive who agrees with you on everything. \u00a0But the presidency is about getting the big things right, and Mitt\u2019s right about all the big things. \u00a0He\u2019s for life, he\u2019s for liberty (including the Scouts\u2019 liberty), and he understands our economy.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stay focused.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"