HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - An ad set to run in the Huntsville Times this weekend calls into question the Boy Scouts of America's apparent ban on participation by children who consider themselves to be atheists, agnostics or simply nonreligious.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) first ran the full-page ad in the June 23 edition of the New York Times. Huntsville will be just the second location the ad is run in the United States.

"We're so pleased Boy Scouts of America is moving forward on gay rights, and that it decided to lift its ban against gay Scouts," Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, said in a statement on Monday. "But why is it still choosing to exclude and shun nonreligious boys and their families?"

The ad consists of a cartoon by the late Don Addis of the St. Petersburg Times, which was penned specifically for FFRF. The cartoon shows a Boy Scout counting his badges, saying "This one's for swimming. This one's for woodcraft. This one's for religious bigotry . . ."

The ad will run in the Huntsville Times on Friday, June 28; Sunday, June 30; and Wednesday, July 3.



Joey Kiker, a spokesman for the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts, said the organization has no comment on the issue.



Gaylor told The Times on Tuesday that Huntsville was chosen for the campaign for a couple of reasons.

"It is a very educated community," Gaylor said in a telephone interview. "We also have very strong participation in Alabama."

The Alabama chapter of FFRF, called the Alabama Freethought Association, is based out of Talladega.

The July 3 ad, which will also be placed in about a dozen other newspapers across the U.S., is a "precursor" to the Alabama chapter's annual Fourth of July weekend celebration for its members, Gaylor said.

The Boy Scouts' youth membership application states that the organization "maintains that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God and, therefore, recognizes the religious element in the training of the member, but...is absolutely nonsectarian in its attitude toward that religious training."

The application further states that "the home and organization or group with which the member is connected shall give definite attention to religious life. Only persons willing to subscribe to these precepts of the Declaration of Religious Principle and to the Bylaws of the Boy Scouts of America shall be entitled to certificates of membership."

The application has not yet been adjusted to reflect allowance of gay Scouts. The organization voted last month to lift its long-running ban on openly gay youth.

The new rules take effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

To see the full-page ad by the Freedom from Religion Foundation,

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Updated at 4:08 p.m. with statement from the Greater Alabama Council of Boy Scouts of America.