The Blue Mountain Council plans to continue serving as numerous 3,666 Boy Scouts that want to remain, following the Mormon church's decision to pull its 14- to 18-year-old youth out of the Varsity and Venturing programs and start its own organization.
On its website, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it would discontinue its Varsity and Venturing Scouting programs for boys ages 14 to 18, beginning January 1, 2018. Boys ages 8 to 13 will continue to enroll in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts.
Currently, there are 2.3 million youths participating in Boy Scouts, but the organization has seen dwindling membership for years.
The Mormon church said it is replacing Boy Scouts programs for youths ages 14 to 18 with its own activities.
Tri-City Mormon leaders were informed to direct all news media inquires to a post on the church's news' service, according to the national headquarters. "There are a lot of merits to Scouting, but I just didn't think the church had a lot to gain from being tied to the Boy Scouts for the Varsity and Venturing programs".
However, it is not the first time that a church is separating itself from a scouting program. The church did not say when the younger boys will be withdrawn from the Boy Scouts.
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The faith said the decision wasn't triggered by Boy Scouts policy change in 2015 to allow gay troop leaders since Mormon troops were allowed to run their groups to adhere to church teachings.
Like other conservative religions, the Mormon church opposes gay marriage and teaches that being in a homosexual relationship is a sin.
An 11-year-old boy looks over a Boy Scout-themed Norman Rockwell exhibition at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, Utah.
"We anticipate that many youth from the LDS Church will continue to participate in Scouting beyond the age of 14 as young men work to earn the Eagle Scout rank". The LDS church reacted immediately with a statement that it was "deeply troubled" and that "the century-long association with Scouting will need to be examined". That being said, we know that there's strength in the Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs, and they see value in it. On Thursday, the church said the new program that will replace Varsity and Venturing will correct that spending imbalance.
More than 300,000 Mormon boys participate in the Scouts, and many older teenagers may continue to do so.
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