Britain Scouts replace chapel with worship circle

A woodlands chapel in Britain used by Boy Scouts and Girl Guides for nearly 70 years as an open-air place of peaceful worship has been demolished because scout officials feared it might offend non-Christians.

The Scout Association ordered removal of the rudimentary cross and basic altar, plus the wooden pews that had been fashioned from old telephone poles when the chapel was built by volunteers between World War I and World War II.

A campfire circle replaced the chapel near the Belchamps Scout Center at Hockley, in east England, as part of an “updating” that manager Nigel Ruse said would “turn it into a place of worship of all faiths and not to exclude anyone from scouting.”

But Keith Rooks-Cowell, who led Sunday services there for more than 30 years, said “anyone from any faith or any religion could go and use the chapel. It’s never been a problem. The chapel was already inclusive.”