Scouts Read Sacred Texts—proposed by Scouting America’s National Religious Relationships Committee—encourages Scouts to commit time each week to reading a sacred text from their tradition. The activity is held in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer (May 1, 2025).

This year, the Northern Illinois Conference scouting ministry invites Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and youth in other organizations and from all religions to join them in supporting faith. They will read their texts on May 1 or another convenient day that week.

It started with Scouting America's proposal to support one of the Boy Scout oaths, “to do my duty to God.” Eventually, members of Girl Scouts of the USA (which has a similar vow), youth groups, and others joined the Boy Scouts in this activity. 

Last May, 3,673 Scout participants made history by taking time to read and log their participation on May 2, 2024. This greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations. Scouts spent over 800 hours reading sacred texts.

Most Scouts read at home with their families. In addition to the United States, Scouts from Kenya, Nigeria, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Bangladesh, Chile, Singapore, Okinawa, and the Philippines participated.

Here are the components of this activity in the NIC:

• We ask all Scouts and participating youth to read on the evening of May 1 (National Day of Prayer) or another convenient time that week.
• We suggest that youth and their families or faith leaders decide which texts to read.
• We invite all young people from other youth-serving organizations and all faith groups to participate.

To learn more about Scouts Read Sacred Texts, watch this video.

To learn more about how the NIC relates to Scouting, contact Jim Loeppert ( [847] 721-5578), NIC scouting coordinator.