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I would say that if your child is male and you are looking at the Boy Scouts, I would not make mention of atheism. A duty to God is a requirement in Scouting. Many (most) Troops are affiliated with some type of church or temple, so your child will be placed into a religious atmosphere. Most Troops don’t go much beyond a prayer or grace at a meal, but espousing disbelief in God will probably not be taken well.From the BSA FAQ sheet regarding advancement requirements:“A Scout is called to do his duty to God by both the Scout Oath and Scout Law, and his belief in God should be acknowledged by his parent or guardian’s signature on the BSA Youth Application. A Scout’s declaration that he does not believe in God is grounds to deny rank advancement and could affect his continued membership in the troop. The situation should be approached with the utmost caution, recognizing that the Scout and his family are best served by a process in which the Scout remains positively engaged in his Scouting pursuits. Troop leadership should not attempt to counsel the Scout, but should contact the boy’s parents or guardians and allow the family time to discuss the situation with the youth. If the issue arises at a board of review, the board should be adjourned and reconvened at a later date, giving the family an opportunity to conduct that discussion with their son.”'Duty to God' included in new Boy Scout requirementshttp://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/2016BoyScoutrequirementsFAQs.pdf

Religion is, officially, a major part of Scouting. The Scout Oath includes the phrase “On my Honor, I will do my duty to God” and the Scout Law states “A Scout is Reverent.” Duty to God is a part of Scouting that is not going away.As others have stated, BSA does not endorse any particular religion. In order to become an Eagle Scout, you must have your Eagle Scout Application signed by your religious leader. If you do not practice an organized religion, but worship privately in your own home, a parent can sign that line instead.In 2016/2017, new rank requirements took/take effect. Here is a link to the FAQ about the requirements:http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/2016BoyScoutrequirementsFAQs.pdfThere are multiple pages about duty to God, which include the fact that no particular religion or even any organized religion at all is required. Here is the part most relevant to the OP’s question:Q. What if, during a Scoutmaster conference or board of review, a Scout says that he does not believe in God?A. A Scout is called to do his duty to God by both the Scout Oath and Scout Law, and his belief in God should be acknowledged by his parent or guardian’s signature on the BSA Youth Application. A Scout’s declaration that he does not believe in God is grounds to deny rank advancement and could affect his continued membership in the troop. The situation should be approached with the utmost caution, recognizing that the Scout and his family are best served by a process in which the Scout remains positively engaged in his Scouting pursuits. Troop leadership should not attempt to counsel the Scout, but should contact the boy’s parents or guardians and allow the family time to discuss the situation with the youth. If the issue arises at a board of review, the board should be adjourned and reconvened at a later date, giving the family an opportunity to conduct that discussion with their son.By official policy, a Scout must believe in God in order to advance to each new rank, and lack of a belief in God can be grounds for dismissal from a Boy Scout troop. In practice, this will vary from troop to troop. My troop, while chartered to a church, is very liberal, and has members from many religious backgrounds (at the very least, while I was a Scout, we had Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Hindus). Our only duty to God participation consists of non-denominational grace before meals and a non-denominational worship service conducted by the Scouts on each camping trip. I know that multiple Scouts in the troop are atheists, and it will not affect their membership or rank advancement at all. In a more conservative troop, duty to God may take on a more active role. As I understand it, many LDS churches intertwine Boy Scouting with their religious activities. If you join Boy Scouts, I recommend looking at several local troops (if available), and choosing one based on a number of factors including how that troop handles religion.TL;DR: If you are an atheist, you can be a Boy Scout in the right troop, but you might have a problem becoming an Eagle Scout.

Why did the U.S. corporations destroy the Boy Scouts of America?While poorly worded, I think I know what you're getting at with this question. The Boy Scouts of America is far from destroyed. It is alive, well, and continuing to serve millions of youth. So with a minor rephrasing, I'll give you an answer.Why did the U.S. corporations attack the Boy Scouts of America in the early part of the 21st century?First of all, I need to explain something that's commonly misunderstood. While it is an old organization with a long history and a lot of tradition...and therefore a very "large boat" that takes a while to turn, the BSA is a centrist organization. Contrary to popular opinion, love of country and moral conduct are not exclusively conservative values.As such, the BSA exists, or moves towards, whatever the cultural center is...though it does so slowly, as one might expect.There are many factors involved in the recent decline (not death) of the BSA, but I will touch on the one that I think is primarily relevant to the question at hand...gay rights.In the year 2000, gay rights were still a fairly sideline issue. This changed both dramatically and rapidly over the course of the 00s. The USA went through a significant cultural shift in the way that LGBTQ individuals were regarded, and how they were treated both legally and socially.At times, this cultural shift got fairly vicious, and the BSA (which, as an organization, banned participation by gay individuals...as did many other such organizations back in 2000) suffered a number of different attacks as one of the "enemies" of the gay rights movement.The first salvo of attacks were legal. The BSA was sued in court to attempt to force them to change their policies...a change that ultimately proved unsuccessful, as the BSA won their legal challenges to retain their membership policies.This was then followed by a wide variety of pressure tactics. Some governmental (BSA is discriminatory, so force any public/government entity to ban them) and some social (Don't do business with companies that donate to the BSA). Ultimately, these pressure tactics proved effective at causing significant damage to the BSA, both fiscally (lost income streams) and socially (the beginnings of a consistent drumbeat of bad media and bad press).This is where the first corporate connection comes in. Businesses that had previously been happy to provide financial support, donations, discounts, common event branding, and so forth to the BSA had to choose whether or not to continue that policy in the face of a public that was increasingly anti-BSA because of their discriminatory policies.So corporations that were more sympathetic to LGBTQ than they were to the BSA withdrew support.Now we get to the early 10s, and the cultural shift is pretty clear. Having won the legal right to set policies however they wanted, the BSA chose to change those policies themselves. Gay youth, gay leaders, transgender youth (accepting their application-listed gender), and most recently...all youth (welcoming girls into all program levels) have been, over the course of the last decade, invited into the program.This has, unfortunately, led to more of a backlash from those who stood by the BSA's original stance than it has managed to lure back the support of those who first turned their backs on the program. The second corporate connection comes in the form of businesses who saw the BSA as a bastion *against* the culture shift underway, and were upset that the BSA had changed their policies. THESE corporations began withdrawing their support from the BSA.So to sum up:1) The BSA is not dead, not dying, but has certainly suffered some big setbacks in the last 20 years.2) Some corporations valued LGBTQ more highly than the BSA, and withdrew support due to the BSA's previous stance.3) Some corporations valued anti-LGBTQ more highly than the BSA and withdrew support due to the BSA's current stance.