Churches Cut Ties With Boy Scouts Over Vote To Allow Gay Youth Members

The Boy Scouts of America's recent decision to allow gay youths has prompted a number of churches to cut their ties with the 103-year-old organization.

Earlier this month, the Boy Scouts National Council voted 61-38 to lift the long-standing ban on openly gay Scouts, although homosexual adult Scout leaders are still prohibited from the private organization.

In protest, a number of church sponsors will no longer support the Scouts. According to the Boy Scouts of America, about 70 percent of all local Boy Scout troops are supported by religious groups.

Southern Baptist Convention president, Frank Page, told ABCNews.com that he and his many Southern Baptists are "disappointed" by the Scouts' vote.

"I think I can say with pretty strong accuracy that the vast majority of Southern Baptists are very disappointed in the latest change in policy ... deeply disappointed."

Page said that the Southern Baptist Convention, which is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S., will recommend that its 47,000 churches pull away from the Boy Scouts of America. He added that the Southern Baptist Convention currently sponsors "hundreds of troops, probably thousands."

The Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., which has about 300 families who participate in Scouting, also announced that it will break away from the Boy Scouts. Tim Hester, executive pastor of Southeast Christian, told the Courier-Journal that "Truly for us it's a logical decision. We cannot be distracted from the mission God has called us to."

On the other hand, the Mormon church, which sponsors most of the troops, as well as the National Jewish Committee on Scouting, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Metropolitan Community Church all support the repeal of the gay ban.