A scouts’ woodland chapel has been demolished - its wooden pews and rudimentary cross and altar removed. In its place is a campfire circle.
The change has been imposed by the Scout Association, which believes the chapel excludes non-Christian Scouts.
The basic open-air structure in woodland surrounding Belchamps Scout Centre in Hockley, Essex, was built between the wars by volunteers.
They used old telegraph poles for pews and built a basic altar and cross. Visiting groups of Brownies, Guides, Cubs and Scouts, have used it for generations.
Centre manager Nigel Ruse, 42, said: “The updating of the chapel was done to turn it into a place of worship for all faiths and not to exclude any one from Scouting.
“This is a case of taking Scouting-forward.”
Last year, it was revealed that the Scout Association banned helpers from putting suncream on children unless they already had sunburn. This was to done to prevent allegations of child abuse.
I’m not a Christian, so I shouldn’t care. But when I see examples of prime twattishness such as this, I really do wonder if the end is nigh…
