Editing Scouting (section)

==Controversies==
{{Main|Scouting controversy and conflict}}

In the United Kingdom, [[The Scout Association]] had been criticised for its insistence on the use of a religious promise,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/feb/04/scoutingwithoutgod|title= Scouting Without God|access-date=December 23, 2009 |work= The Guardian | location=London | first=Terry | last=Sanderson | date=February 4, 2008}}</ref> leading the organization to introduce an alternative in January 2014 for those not wanting to mention a god in their promise. This change made the organisation entirely non-discriminatory on the grounds of race, gender, sexuality, and religion (or lack thereof).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-24434510 |title=Scouts announce alternative promise for atheists |last1=Burns |first1=Judith |date=October 8, 2013 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |publisher=BBC News |access-date=February 13, 2014}}</ref>

The [[Boy Scouts of America]] was the focus of criticism in the United States for not allowing the open participation of homosexuals until removing the prohibition in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bsa-discrimination.org/html/gays-top.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031203122956/http://www.bsa-discrimination.org/html/gays-top.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 3, 2003|work=BSA Discrimination|title=BSA and Homosexuality|access-date=February 6, 2006}}</ref>

[[Communist state]]s such as the [[Soviet Union]] in 1920 and fascist regimes like [[Nazi Germany]] in 1934 often either absorbed the Scout movement into government-controlled organizations, or [[Scouting controversy and conflict#Bans on Scouting by authoritarian regimes|banned Scouting entirely]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Block | first = Nelson | year = 2009 | title = Scouting Frontiers: Youth and the Scout Movement's First Century | pages = 215–216 | isbn = 978-1-4438-0450-9}}</ref>