A threat to expel a Girl Guides unit which refuses to ditch its 103-year-old oath to God has been strongly criticised by Christian Concern.
“The threat to force the Newcastle Girl Guides to drop God from their traditional pledge is a deliberate attempt to exclude Christianity which has underpinned the ethos of this worldwide movement for over a century,” says Andrea Williams, CEO of Christian Concern.
She argues that the ban on including God in the guides’ pledge side-lines girls of faith and at the very least the movement should offer a choice – a Christian oath as well as a humanist promise of allegiance.
Dismay
Leaders of the 37th Newcastle Guide Unit expressed dismay that the promise to “love my God” had been removed from the Girlguiding promise, saying they would prefer to give new members the option of using the traditional oath.
But in an ‘aggressive’ letter to the leaders, Girlguiding UK’s chief commissioner in the North East warned the group that its membership would be terminated on 31th December if it refused to comply.
Expulsion from the movement would force the group, which includes over 100 girls in Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers, to meet as an independent group.
‘Surprisingly aggressive’
“This letter, which is surprisingly aggressive, says that we ‘will not use’ the new promise and that simply isn’t true,” said Glynis Mackie (55) who has led the group in Jesmond for over 25 years.
“We would use this new form of words but we do want the children to have the choice to say the old Promise if they want to.”
Girl Guiding UK admitted that it had received over 800 complaints about the new oath, which replaces the promise to “love my God" with a pledge “to be true to myself” and “develop my beliefs”.
Chief Guide Gill Slocombe said the new wording will help the organisation’s 550,000 members to say it the promise with sincerity.
Side-lining faith
But Ms Mackie argued that the new secular oath “side-lined” faith, describing it as a “‘fridge magnet promise that doesn’t really mean anything”.
She added: “This is an example of people not realising the importance of faith, of all faiths, in our community.
“I would go as far as saying that it is an example of faith being side-lined in society.
“I imagine changing the pledge was intended to include more people, but what it is actually doing is excluding those who have faith.
“I understand why an atheist might not want to make a promise to God, and that is fine by me, but it has to be up to the individual.’
‘Exclusion’
David Holloway, the vicar of Jesmond Parish Church, wrote in the church’s monthly newsletter: “The hard reality is that this new promise is, whether intentionally or not, a move for exclusion.”
Earlier this year, a group of Christian Girl Guide leaders, who also refused to drop "God" from their promise, were forced to use the movement's new oath after facing pressureto accept the change from an atheist volunteer and the National Secular Society.
Sources:
Related stories:
Girl Guides drop God from promise
Christian Girl Guide leaders agree to use non-religious oath amid pressure from secularists