There are various controversies and conflicts that involve the Scouting movement. Scouting has sometimes become entangled in social controversies such as in nationalist resistance movements in India. Scouting was introduced to Africa by British officials as an instrument of colonial authority but became a subversive challenge to the legitimacy of British imperialism as Scouting fostered solidarity amongst African Scouts. There are also controversies and challenges within the Scout Movement itself such as current efforts to turn Scouts Canada into a democratic organization (see also Non-aligned Scouting and Scout-like organisations).

Sectarian and secular conflict

Religion in Scouting and Guiding is an aspect of the Scout method which has been practiced differently and given different interpretations over the years. In contrast to the Christian-only Boys' Brigade which was started two decades earlier, Baden-Powell founded the Scout movement as a youth organization (with boys as 'Scouts' and girls as 'Guides') which was independent of any single faith or religion, yet still held that spirituality and a belief in a higher power were key to the development of young people.

Scouting organizations are free to interpret the method as laid down by the founder. As the modern world has become more secular and as many societies have become more religiously diverse, this has caused misunderstandings and controversies in some of the national member organizations. There are Scouting associations in some countries, such as France and Denmark, that are segregated on the basis of religious belief.

Conflict over atheism

In 1933 some Scout groups broke away from the national Boy Scout organization De Nederlandsche Padvinders (NPV, "Netherlands Pathfinders") to form the Padvinders Vereeniging Nederland (PVN, "Pathfinder Association of the Netherlands"), because difficulties concerning the "Scout Promise" arose. The problem was that boys who did not recognize a god still had to promise "To do my duty to God" and the groups were concerned that this could turn those boys into hypocrites. A Roman Catholic organization was founded in 1938, the Katholieke Verkenners (KV, "Catholic Scouts") because the Dutch Roman Catholic bishops decided that Catholic youth should not be under the control of an association whose governing board was not all Catholic. The NPV and the PVN almost reunited in 1940. All Dutch Scout and Guide organizations merged in 1973 into Scouting Nederland (SN).

The Dutch variant of the Scout Promise is one of the few in the world where the reference to God is optional as it has been granted an exception under WOSM guidelines. Since January 2014, The Scout Association allows scouts in the UK to make a promise either with or without reference to God.

Bans on Scouting by authoritarian regimes Scouting has been banned in certain nations and remains banned in some of them. Scouting was changed into a regime loyal Scout-like organization or banned in nearly all communist countries, most fascist countries, and some other countries with authoritarian regimes such as Afghanistan under the Taliban, Malawi, and Iran. Banning has caused Scouting to go underground in countries such as communist Poland, Francoist Spain, and socialist Myanmar. The Soviet Union banned Scouting in 1922, creating a separate Young Pioneers, which gave birth to the communist Pioneer movement, still existing in some fashion in China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam, Scouting in Hungary was banned at the beginning of World War II.

Prior to World War II, Germany, Italy, and Romania disbanded Scouting. Instead, Germany created the Hitler Youth organization; Mussolini had a fascist youth organization, the Balilla; and Romania under King Carol II had the Străjeria.

Currently, there are no externally recognized Scouting organizations in Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam and China (except for the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau).

Cuba

In 1914, the first Scout groups in Cuba were founded. In the following years more local groups emerged, but they were not connected through a national association until 1927 when the Asociación de Scouts de Cuba (ASC) was founded. In the same year the association became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). During its first years, Cuban Scouting followed mainly the model of the Boy Scouts of America.

Scouting existed in Cuba itself until the 1960s, when Cuban Scouting ceased operations after the Cuban revolution of 1959. Cuban Scouts rendered service during those times, directing traffic, collecting rations, helping in hospitals and establishing first aid stations. In 1961, the World Scout Conference terminated the WOSM membership of ASC claiming that they had ceased to exist. Communist leaders replaced the association with the José Martí Pioneer Organization. There is a Cubans-in-exile Association.

Cuba is now one of only six of the world's independent countries that do not have Scouting. Cuba was also a former member of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, with the Asociación de Guías de Cuba last mentioned in 1969.

Russia

In 1908, Baden-Powell's book Scouting for Boys came out in Russia by the order of Tsar Nicholas II. In 1909, the first Russian Scout troop was organized and in 1914, a society called Russian Scout, was established. Scouting spread rapidly across Russia and into Siberia.

After the October Revolution of 1917 and during the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1921, most of the Scoutmasters and many Scouts fought in the ranks of the White Army and interventionists against the Red Army. Some Scouts took the Bolsheviks' side, which would lead to the establishment of ideologically-altered Scoutlike organizations, such as ЮК (Юные Коммунисты, or young communists; pronounced as yuk) and others.

Between 1918 and 1920, the second, third, and fourth All-Russian Congresses of the Russian Union of the Communist Youth decided to eradicate the Scout movement and create an organization of the communist type that would take youth under its umbrella. In 1922, the second All-Russian Komsomol Conference decided to create Pioneer units all over the country; these units were united later that year as the Young Pioneer organization of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union (USSR), which included Russia, was established in 1922 and dissolved in 1991. In 1990, the Russian Congress of People's Deputies with Boris Yeltsin as its chairman declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory.

The Young Pioneer organization was broken up in 1990 and the same year the Scout Movement began to reemerge when relaxation of government restrictions allowed youth organizations to be formed to fill the void left by the Pioneers, with various factions competing for recognition. Some former Pioneer leaders have formed Scout groups and there is some controversy as to their motivations in doing so (see Eurasian Scout Region controversies).

The Russian Association of Scouts/Navigators is now a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). It is co-educational and has 13,920 members as of 2004.

Germany

German Scouting first started in 1909. In Germany, Scouting later became involved with the German Youth Movement, of which the Wandervogel was a part. Scouting flourished until 1934–35, when nearly all associations were closed and their members had to join the Hitler Youth. In 1940, during World War II, the Nazis placed Robert Baden-Powell the founder of Scouting on their "Black Book", a list of people who were to be arrested in the event of a Nazi invasion of Britain planned to begin that year but was cancelled. This list was not publicly known until 1945, shortly after the Nazis were defeated. Baden-Powell never knew about his inclusion on the list because he died in 1941. In West Germany and West Berlin, Scouting was reestablished after 1945, but it was banned in East Germany until 1990 in favor of the Thälmann Pioneers and the Free German Youth (FDJ). Currently, Scouting is present in all parts of the unified Federal Republic of Germany and consists of about 150 different associations and federations with about 260,000 Scouts and Girl Guides.

Exclusion of Scouting associations from international organizations Most national Scouting associations have created international Scouting organizations to set standards for and to coordinate activities amongst member associations. There are at least six international organizations that serve several hundred national associations around the world. The largest international Scouting organization is the World Organization of the Scout Movement, founded in 1920. Scouting associations have been excluded or expelled from international Scouting organizations for various reasons.

Iraq

Iraq was one of the first Arab nations to embrace the Scouting movement, launching its program in 1921, just two years after the League of Nations had created the country out of the old Ottoman Empire. Iraq was a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1922 to 1940, and again from 1956 to 1999.

After the Baath Party took control in 1968 and especially after Saddam Hussein seized power in 1979, youth groups were retooled to serve the state. One replacement program, Saddam Cubs, offered "summer camps" where 10- to 15-year-old boys had up to 14-hour days filled with hand-to-hand fighting drills. In 1990, during the period when the Iraq Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Council was recognized by WOSM, there were 12,000 Scouts, however by 1999, Iraq had been expelled from the WOSM.

An Iraqi Scouts Initiative committee was formed by Americans in 2004 to formally re-establish a legal, recognized, and fully functioning Scouting program in Iraq. Since then, the movement has been taken over by Iraqis and is now run exclusively by them.

The Scout program is open to boys and girls of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and allows for local nuances to shape various regional program options. Iraqi Scouts are involved in community service such as helping police with traffic control, giving first aid, cultivating cotton, planting trees and helping during natural disasters. A National Iraqi Scouting Headquarters is envisioned for Baghdad and five national Scout camps are also planned.

Exclusion of individuals from Scouting membership Controversies have arisen from the exclusion of certain people, including atheists, agnostics, and/or LGBT people, from membership of some Scouting organisations; these are detailed below.

Atheists and agnostics "Duty to God" is a principle of Scouting worldwide, though it is applied differently among countries. Scouting America takes a strong position, excluding atheists and agnostics, while Girl Scouts of the USA takes a more neutral position. The United Kingdom Scout Association has published alternative promises for people of different or no religion, specifying "Atheists, Humanists and people of no specific religion", who make a promise to uphold Scouting values rather than a duty to God. Scouts Canada defines Duty to God broadly in terms of "adherence to spiritual principles" and does not require members to be part of an organized religion, but does require that they have some form of "personal spirituality". In other countries, especially in Europe, some Scouting organizations may be secularist or religiously neutral (such as Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs de France, Corpo Nazionale Giovani Esploratori ed Esploratrici Italiani and the Baden-Powell Service Association in the United States).

Homosexual people