My Scout experience was unique not because it reinforced many of the same lessons I was taught at church for three hours every Sunday morning. It was unique because it demanded that I learn values such as hard work, self-reliance and respect for tradition in a diverse community, with each element committed in its own way to these principles. In the Boy Scouts, you learned that you shared a lot in common, yet also had to reconcile your beliefs and practices, with Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Muslims and many others.