Boy Scouts" Gay Policies Benefit Alternative Groups An outing last month in Prospect Park by members of the 5th Brooklyn Scouts. For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America has had something of a monopoly on neckerchiefs, knot-tying, merit badges and all manner of backcountry skills for boys, treating snakebite and frostbite alike. The protracted debate over whether to allow gay scouts and scout leaders has angered many church leaders and parents across the political and religious spectrums. The result is a surge of enrollments in alternative outdoor and character-building programs that cater to pagans and Pentecostals and everyone in between. "Before the Boy Scouts was founded in 1908 you had all these independent scouting groups like the Sons of Daniel Boone and the League of Woodcraft Indians," said Jay Mechling, professor emeritus of American studies at the University of California, Davis, and the author of "On My Honor: Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth." Now we are starting to see those types of groups again. Some parents are seeking to sever ties with the Boy Scouts because of the May 23 vote to allow gay youths into the program. Still others are indignant that the scouts have not moved more quickly to adopt more inclusive policies. The variety of choices include the Royal Rangers, which offers "Christ-like character formation" for boys, as well as SpiralScouts International, founded by the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Wicca, which awards badges named for pagan holidays. Churches sponsor 70 percent of the Boy Scouts" 116,000 troops and packs. The two largest chartering organizations nationwide, the Mormon and the United Methodist Churches, have said they will continue their support. But other churches are rallying to dissolve their Boy Scout groups in favor of ones that take a more religious approach. At its annual meeting this month, the Southern Baptist Convention is expected to urge its nearly 46,000 churches in the United States to join or increase their participation in the Bible-based Royal Ambassadors program rather than continue sponsoring Boy Scout troops, said Roger Oldham, the Baptists" spokesman. Days after the Boy Scouts" vote on gay members, the Rev. Ernest Easley, pastor of Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., used his Sunday sermon to press church members to enroll their boys in the Royal Ambassadors. Roswell Street Baptist had sponsored Troop 204 since 1945, but Mr. Easley said the church had no choice but to leave the Scouts. "We cannot and will not put our arms around any organization that stands morally opposed to what God's word teaches," he said. A meeting of church leaders from a half-dozen denominations and parents who oppose the inclusion of gay scouts is scheduled this month in Louisville, Ky., to discuss building what the organizer, John Stemberger, calls a new "character-development organization for boys." Permitting gay scouts will lead to a "mass exodus from the Boy Scouts program," according to a statement posted on the Web site of the Royal Rangers, a Pentecostal program with about 81,000 members in the United States. Its spokesman, Keith Surface, said inquiries about new groups have doubled since May 23. "There have been some organizations and members that have decided not to continue with scouting, but we can't quantify the impact," Deron Smith, a Boy Scouts of America spokesman, said in a statement. If any church abandons scouting, the Boy Scouts of America will help them identify other suitable sponsors, Mr. Smith said. For some parents, the Boy Scouts were never an option for their children. "It was hard because I had this organization that I loved and got so much out of as a boy, but I just could not bring myself to sign my own son up," said Todd Schweikert, who was an Eagle Scout, the group's highest rank, in Ames, Iowa, and now lives in Brooklyn. "I just disagree with the Boy Scouts" policies that discriminate against people." This year, Mr. Schweikert, 33, started the 5th Brooklyn Scouts, a secular program for both boys and girls chartered by the Baden-Powell Service Association, named after Robert Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scout movement in the early 20th century. Mr. Schweikert's group has 45 members, including his son, Jonathan, 8. They have taken a wilderness survival class in Central Park and on Saturday will volunteer at a run hosted by Brooklyn Pride, which supports gay rights. Robbie Brown contributed reporting from Atlanta.