Re: Why Bother?
This is the point a lot of people miss. Scouts are not making the promise TO God or TO the Queen. They are making the promise to themselves and to their fellow Scouts.
If you don't believe in God then duty to God means nothing to you, so you can hardly be at risk of breaking your promise. Duty to the Queen is a little trickier since we are citizens of this country and bound to her by its laws and the currency in our pockets, but the subtleties of that will be lost on most 8-year olds. They don't give a shit, they just want to have fun with their friends. Quite right too.