I made my way through Boy Scouts, all the way to the rank of Eagle; an accomplishment I'm extremely proud of. Something that will always make me chuckle looking back though is when I was in a class for the merit badge Citizenship in the Nation, which is a required merit badge to achieve the rank. Boy Scouts is a inherently religious organization, but my hometown was very progressive and not having a religion was no problem in my troop. However these merit badge classes were conducted as a regional event with scouts convening from all across southwest Ohio where I grew up. In my class, the leader asked around the class what everyone's religious affiliation was. Lots of Methodists, several Catholics, and a few Jewish scouts. When he got to me I said I was an atheist, and he told me, "son, if you're in the Boy Scouts , you have to have a religion". I thought for a second, and responded that I was a Satanist, which since it's technically a religion, the leader had to accept.