A Scout is Reverent in a Secular Troop

When your troop includes kids from 5 different faith backgrounds – or no faith background at all – being a reverent Latter-day Saint Scout can feel complicated.

You don’t want to be the person who turns every campout into a Sunday School lesson. You don’t want to make anyone feel excluded. You don’t want your faith to be a thing that separates you from your patrol.

But you also believe things. Real things. And those beliefs shape who you are, how you treat people, and why you’re even in Scouting to begin with.

So how do you live “A Scout is Reverent” in a troop where reverent means something different to everyone?

Here’s what we’ve seen work:

You don’t have to preach. You have to be consistent. The most powerful witness of faith isn’t a speech. It’s a Scout who quietly bows his head before meals when nobody told him to. A young woman who offers to pray when the patrol is nervous before a challenge. A teenager who is just… different. Calmer. More honest. Less caught up in things that don’t matter.

People notice consistency before they notice anything you say.

Your standards are an invitation, not a wall. A Latter-day Saint Scout in a diverse troop who lives the Scout Law without apology – who is genuinely trustworthy, kind, and reverent – doesn’t divide a patrol. He or she anchors it. Youth are drawn to people who know what they believe. Conviction is a positive attribute, especially when it’s worn lightly.

The interfaith worship service is your friend. Most Scout units conduct an interfaith service – called a Scouts’ Own – during some campouts that may last to Sunday. The intention of an interfaith service is to provide a spiritual focus during a camping experience that doesn’t reflect the views of a particular denomination, but rather promotes a fuller understanding of the Scout Oath and Law, with emphasis on Duty to God. As a Latter-day Saint Scouter, you have more to bring to that conversation than almost anyone. Offer to lead one. Open it with a prayer. Share something about duty to God that’s personal and true.

You don’t have to hide your faith to protect other people’s comfort. There’s a version of “being respectful” that means erasing yourself. That’s not what Scouting asks. A Scout is reverent – but reverent means having your own relationship with God and honoring others’ right to theirs. You can do both at once.

The original reason the Church affiliated with Scouting back in 1913 was, in part, for the missionary opportunity of Latter-day Saint boys associating with their peers. That opportunity hasn’t gone away. It’s just taken a different form.

You’re not in a diverse troop despite your faith. You’re there because of it.