A few months ago Girlguiding (in which I was a Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Young Leader and, since I was 18, an adult leader) held a consultation about the Promise. Just asking about it was exciting enough for me, as I had had problems with the wording since I was old enough to really understand what I was saying. However I obviously put up with it, because it never took away from the fact that it's an amazing organisation.
This is what the Promise has been for as long as I can remember:
I promise that I will do my best:
To love my God,
To serve the Queen and my country,
To help other people
and
To keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.
Which is fine, but must have been off-putting for newcomers to the organisation who, for example, were atheist or agnostic; or anyone who believed in another God and weren't able to make this apply to them. I even had a discussion with some fellow Guiders at a training once who were convinced that if you were an atheist you weren't allowed to be a leader. I'm nearly 100% certain that this was never the case, but it does put it into perspective when even people within the organisation were put off by it!
Well, I am very happy to say that today Girlguiding has announced a change in wording for the Promise, effective 1st September 2013. It now reads:
I promise that I will do my best:
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs,
To serve the Queen and my community,
To help other people
and
To keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.
So I no longer have to pretend that I believe in God every time I say the Promise! I can be my true agnostic self, who will wait for a divine being to be proven or disproven either way before I decide whether or not to love it! I no longer have to say my God is "chocolate" or something else silly just to justify the Promise to myself! Yays!
And to all of you who have used the Promise as an excuse not to help at your local unit: haha! You now have no excuse! Now get out there and go for it, I promise you won't regret it!
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