Mormon Church Officially Severs Ties With Boy Scouts

After a century-long relationship, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is parting ways with the Boy Scouts. Here's why. 

Earlier this week we learned The Boy Scouts of America will be changing their name to Scouts BSA.

Changes in recent years to the program, including allowing gay troop leaders, and now allowing girls to join has influenced the church to sever ties.

The Mormon church will now develop their own youth program based on their own beliefs.

According to KTVB, the Mormon boys leaving the Boy Scouts represent 18.5% of the Boy Scouts 2.3 million youth. They will be pulling 425,000 boys from the program.

The Mormon church has released an official statement that says their new program will start in 2020 and will "help all girls and boys, young women and young men discover their eternal identity, build character, and resilience, develop life skills and fulfill their divine roles as daughters and sons of God."

The new program will include outdoor activities and character building lessons but will not be modeled after the Boy Scouts and they will not be using the Boy Scout ranks.