The Sun newspaper UK 19 October 2012 08.17 AM


11 year old GEORGE Pratt was unable to swear allegiance to God and the Queen because he is an atheist so the 11-year-old boy has been banned from joining the Scouts because he doesn't believe in GOD.

George Pratt has been attending his local Scout group for ten months and was over the moon when they invited him to invest in the group.

But the schoolboy was unable to swear allegiance to God and the Queen because he is an atheist.

As a result he has been banned from attending and his furious dad Nick, 45, has accused the Christian movement of being "intolerant".

Nick said: "Christianity is meant to be about being tolerant, forgiving and understanding. You are allowed to join if you are a Christian or a Muslim but you can't not believe in God. This is regardless of the fact that you are sensitive, generous, kind and genuinely a good person. There are a lot of Christian organisations which do not exclude anybody. It just seems the Scouts in this area isn't one of them."

George began attending the 1st Midsomer Norton Group in Somerset which meets in a hall opposite his house, in January. But to become a full member he must now take the Scout Promise, which reads:

"On my honour, I promise that I will do my best, To do my duty to God and to the Queen, To help other people, And to keep the Scout Law."

Different versions of the oath are available for different faiths, such as the use of "Allah" to replace "God" for Muslims.

George said: "I am really disappointed about not being able to go anymore just because I don't believe in God. We have spoken about it with the Scout Leader but he won't change his decision, it is very unfair. Everyone is going caving soon and I've never been before. It is something I would love to do but I'm not allowed. I'm not going to change my decision though."

Report by: j.coles@the-sun.co.uk


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