Giving the Gift of the Religious Emblem Award

Hello fellow Scouters,

Have you heard about the religious emblem program? My son is about to finish the second program offering of our faith, and I thought it would be good to discuss. The religious emblem program is a program that teaches your Scout about your religious faith, at his level. The program exists outside of Scouting – it is run through the particular denomination or religious organization that the Scout is a member of. Almost all religious faiths have a program. Scouting recognizes the programs and has an award to show completion of the program. Here’s a link that gives some more information on the youth religious emblem award:

http://www.usscouts.org/awards/religyouth.asp

Your religious organization will award your son some type of award, such as a medal. Upon earning this, your son can now wear the purple religious knot offered by BSA. The great thing about this knot is that once you earn it as a youth, you can wear it for life. If your son earns it as a Cub Scout, he can wear this knot on his Boy Scout uniform. And if he becomes a Scout leader one day, he can wear this knot on his leader uniform.

The purple knot cannot be earned as an adult. There is a knot for adult religious awards, for those that go through the adult religious program, offered by many faith organizations. Here’s a link that gives more details on the adult religious awards:

http://www.usscouts.org/awards/religadult.asp

 

So should you look into this for your son? I would say – YES! I consider this award as one of the best gifts you can give your son. First, anytime we spend time learning about the God that made us and our particular faith equips us for life. Second, as an adult, he can wear his purple knot on his uniform showing his devotion to his faith and knowing that his parents helped him earn it.

So what can you do? First, check with your church or religious organization and see if they offer the program. If they don’t, see if there is someone in your unit that you can talk to about this (maybe your unit trainer, or a religious emblems committee member). Or maybe you can be that person! If you cannot find any resources, check out the links offered through PRAY publishing, to find your faith. Maybe you can take this to your religious organization, and start the process for your son and other scouts. Then you can give him the gift of the religious knot.

http://www.praypub.org/awards_main.htm

“A Scout is reverent”

In Scouting,

-Scouter Jeff

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