My pretty, blond-haired niece Peyton has perfected her sales pitch.
The 7-year-old flashes her sweet smile, looks me straight in the eyes and asks, "So how many boxes do you want?"
"How many do you have?" I am tempted to reply when confronted with that cheerful face.
But most recently, I settled for seven boxes of Peyton's Girl Scout cookies — including three boxes of my favorites: Do-si-dos, which are oatmeal cookies with peanut butter filling.
Who knew I was entering the culture wars by buying cookies?
An Indiana lawmaker is making headlines this week by calling the Girl Scouts a "radicalized organization." That prompted this note from a Facebook friend:
Yes, they are bad, bad people, spreading Samoas and Thin Mints across the country, corrupting people like me . . .
To my surprise, my own tiny amount of research revealed that the Girl Scouts are indeed becoming a flash point — at least in some circles — in the culture wars. Recent columns in the Washington Times and the Washington Post analyze the issue from opposite sides of the ideological spectrum.
The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind., is the source of the story distributed this week by The Associated Press. The Indiana newspaper reports:
INDIANAPOLIS – A Fort Wayne lawmaker's rant against the Girl Scouts went viral Monday after he called them a "radicalized organization" that supports abortion and promotes "homosexual lifestyles."
Rep. Bob Morris, R-Fort Wayne, sent a letter to Indiana House Republicans on Saturday explaining why he was the only member in the chamber not to sign onto a resolution last week celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts.
The resolution applauded the group "for the strong positive influence it has had on the American woman."
Morris said he did some Web-based research and found allegations that the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood, that they allow transgender females to join, "just like any real girl," and encourage sex.
This section of the story stood out to me:
Several Christian groups have been focused on growing concerns with the Girl Scouts in the past year, and a few websites exist solely to talk about the group's alleged leftward leanings.
Few independent reports on the issue exist.
That background information seems severely lacking: What Christian groups are we talking about? What concerns have they expressed? What evidence, if any, have they provided? Hopefully, any follow-up coverage will dig a little deeper.
I, for one, hate to see the Girl Scouts — particularly my favorite little cookie saleswoman — caught up in the culture wars. But if it's news, it demands to be told fairly and fully.
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