A long simmering feud between the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts has broken out into the open with the decision by the Boy Scouts to accept females in their ranks.

The controversial decision by the Boy Scouts includes a weak and confusing justification.

Sacramento Bee:

The Boy Scouts of America announced Wednesday that its board of directors had unanimously approved a decision to begin admitting girls into its Cub Scout program and to develop a program that will allow girls to eventually attain the rank of Eagle Scout for the first time ever.

"This decision is true to the BSA's mission and core values outlined in the Scout Oath and Law. The values of Scouting – trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind, brave and reverent, for example – are important for both young men and women," said Michael Surbaugh, the BSA's Chief Scout Executive in a news release.

The organization has offered programs that include girls for decades, such as the Venturing high-adventure program and Explorers career-shadowing program. But this is the first time the organization has opened up its traditional programs to girls, including the option to reach Eagle Scout, a distinction only about 2 percent of scouts have ever achieved, according to the BSA.

A news release from the BSA said that high interest from parents and a desire to serve busy modern families contributed to the decision, as well as a more general desire to expand scouting programs to include as many people as possible.

"The BSA's record of producing leaders with high character and integrity is amazing," said Randall Stephenson, the BSA's national president. "It is time to make these outstanding leadership development programs available to girls."

The release outlines an extended plan for rolling out the new programs. Girls will be allowed to join the Cub Scouting program, which covers first through fifth grade, starting in early 2018. After that, a new program will be announced that will allow girls to continue through the entire program up to age 18 and reach the rank of Eagle Scout.

Although girls will now be able to join the Cub Scouts, groups will still be separated by gender. "This unique approach allows the organization to maintain the integrity of the single gender model while also meeting the needs of today's families," the news release said.

"True ... to the core values" of the Boy Scouts?  The Boy Scouts have apparently swallowed the "no difference between the sexes" Kool-Aid promoted by radical feminists.  The core values of the Boy Scouts were supposed to turn boys into honorable men.  How can those same "values" turn girls into women?

Beyond that, you have to question that if they are going to admit girls into the Boy Scouts, why still separate them by gender?  What's the point of having "Girl Boy Scouts" if they will be in an entirely separate program?

Needless to say, the Girl Scouts are not happy and accuse the Boy Scouts of making the change to increase revenue.

The Girl Scouts of the USA have criticized the initiative, saying it strains the century-old bond between the two organizations. Girl Scout officials have suggested the BSA's move was driven partly by a need to boost revenue, and they contended there is fiscal stress in part because of past settlements paid by the BSA in sex-abuse cases.

In August, the president of the Girl Scouts, Kathy Hopinkah Hannan, accused the Boy Scouts of seeking to covertly recruit girls into their programs while disparaging the Girl Scouts' operations. On Monday, Latino civic leader Charles Garcia, just days after being named to the Girl Scouts' national board, wrote an opinion piece for the Huffington Post calling the BSA's overture to girls "a terrible idea."

"The Boy Scouts' house is on fire," Garcia wrote. "Instead of addressing systemic issues of continuing sexual assault, financial mismanagement and deficient programming, BSA's senior management wants to add an accelerant to the house fire by recruiting girls."

Instead of recruiting girls, Garcia said the BSA should focus on attracting more black, Latino and Asian boys – particularly those from low-income households.

I think the Girl Scouts are on to something with their accusation.  Scouting has fallen on hard times – not only because of the sex abuse scandals and their embrace of gay scout masters, but because they are seen as something of an anachronism.  The oath taken by scouts sounds quaint by today's standards:

On my honor, I will do my best. To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

"God and country" used to be a part of every kid's upbringing.  Not today.  The secularization of society and the denigration of country have made the oath if not obsolete, certainly irrelevant.

I think admitting girls into the Boy Scouts sounds the death knell of scouting.  It is a last gasp at relevancy by a formerly honorable organization who has chosen to kowtow to modernity by letting go of its traditional, treasured past.