If you came to this site to find out when the next Ten Commandments Hike will be, I unfortunately have to inform you that the event is history. The last one occurred on February 6, 1999. If you'd like to know more about what it was, and why it ended after a successful five-year existence, read on.
The Orlando Ten Commandments Hike began in 1995, and was modeled after a similar annual event held in Miami. I submitted it for consideration to the Chickasaw District of the Central Florida Council, and it was entusiastically received and approved. Then-DE (District Executive) Tom Schneider helped get the event off the ground and make it a success.
This event began as a Boy Scout hike, held on Scout Sunday. The twelfth point of the Scout Law is "A Scout is Reverent", and the event was designed to introduce the hikers to the history and beliefs of religions other than their own, with the hope that they would respect and revere them. From the very first hike, the objective was to visit as wide a variety of denominations as possible, including those with female ministers, non-Christians, those with a large number of gays and lesbians in their congregations, those whose congregations are predominantly black, and others considered by some to be outside of the "mainstream" religions.
The event was not a day of instruction in religious beliefs, nor was anyone encouraged to visit or join any religion. Instead, the speakers at each house of worship presented a brief history of their religions, a description of the special projects that the congregations had, and how their members viewed one of the Ten Commandments (or other similar teaching followed by them).
The first hike in 1995 had 68 participants. The event caught the attention of the national BSA, who sent a reporter and photograph to cover it. The Central Florida Council received some very nice publicity in a long article in Scouting magazine for this event which exemplified the Scouting ideal of Reverence.
For 1996, Girl Scouts and Brownies were invited to participate, and through 1998 comprised a majority of each year's hiking contingent. Beginning with 1998, church youth groups and other youth organizations were invited to walk with us. The number of hikers in 1996 grew to 331.
After the 1996 hike, a new DE came on board and Tom moved to California. I hear that his district out there is doing very well. I hope he is getting the recognition he deserves.
The list of denominations for the 1997 hike was presented to the district leadership five months before the hike, and all the necessary work was done for another successful event. Then something happened.
Shortly before the 1997 hike, the new DE received a call from a den leader who objected to one of the churches to be visited, on the ground that a significant number of the members of the congregation were gays and lesbians. I was contacted by the district leadership, and 8 days before the hike I was ordered to re-route the event. I declined, and was removed from its chairmanship. The DE took over and ran the event, which was attended by approximately 220 people.
The district decided not to sponsor the event for the following year, so I recruited a church to do that. They event was held in the same manner and the 1998 hike drew 72 walkers. Publicity was hampered by a prohibition against promoting the event at Roundtables, and when Scouters called the Council Service Center to find out when the event would be held, they were told that it was cancelled (instead of giving them my number to call).
I handled the 1999 hike without outside sponsorship, and 70 walkers enjoyed a day of learning about what others believe and how they celebrate their religious traditions. A couple of months before the event, I was called into the Council Executive's office and told that the council leadership's position with respect to the event had changed, that they now felt it was inappropriate for Scout leaders to introduce the youth that they lead to religious beliefs. He said that he was going to send out a letter to Scouters to let them know of the new council position and that the event was not sponsored by the council. What actually resulted was a post card sent to Cubmasters and other leaders which read as follows:
"You may have received promotional material about an event called the 'Orlando Ten Commandments Hike' scheduled for February 6, 1999. The purpose of this memo is to inform you that this event is not an official BSA sponsored event nor it it recommended by the Central Florida Council.
"While the Boy Scouts of America recognizes the importance of religious faith and duty, and that Scouts should respect the belief of others; it leaves religious instruction to the member's religious leaders and family."
The Council Executive also required that I not promote the event as an official Scouting event. That was easy, since it had not been for more than a year and a half. Scouters who called the Service Center were still given no information about the event.
Further, some Scouters took it upon themselves to police what the rest could hear. They contacted some of the churches along the routes and convinced them that they should not participate, because other stops on the routes involved denominations with differing religious beliefs. This caused a great deal of extra work, sometimes necessitating bringing in ministers from other communities to act as guest speakers, either at the pulpits of other participating churches, or in parking lots or fields along the route.
The main lesson that was learned in the day-long hikes is that there are more similarities than differences among the various religions that we visited, including:
Roman Catholic
Greek Orthodox
Liberal Judiasm
Primitive Baptist
United Methodist
Wicca
Metropolitan Community
Lutheran
Episcopal
Church of Christ
Hindu
Latter-Day Saints
Reorganized Latter-Day Saints
Presbyterian
Salvation Army
Sevent-Day Adventist
Missionary Baptist
Assembly of God
Church of God
African Methodist Episcopal
Southern Baptist
Religious Science
Nazarene
Unitarian Universalist
United Pentecostal
A second lesson that we unfortunately learned in our quest to enlighten our members and combat religious intolerance and prejudice, is that even within our Scouting community, some of our members oppose this goal and want to do what they can to prevent others from reaching this goal.
As a result, with others imposing restrictions and roadblocks, and some attempting to sabotage what many of us believed to be a worthwhile event, it was decided that it could not be a success in the future. I have spoken with hundreds of people who have walked one or more of the annual hikes, and have never had anyone say that we shouldn't have stopped at any of the houses of worship, or that listening to any of the speakers was a mistake. The only negative comments have come from those who never participated in the event, and still don't understand what we attempted to accomplish, and what we actually did. About all we can do is hope and pray that at some future time attitudes will change and we can all work together to break down the fears and prejudices that keep us apart.
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