Major funding for Backstory is provided by an anonymous donor, the National Endowment for the Humanities,

the University of Virginia, the Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation, and the Arthur Vining Davis foundations.

From the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, this is Backstory.

Welcome to Backstory. I'm Joanne Freeman.

I'm Brian Ballow. I'm Ed Ayers. And I'm Nathan Connolly.

Each week, Brian, Ed, Nathan, and I, all historians, take a topic from the headlines and try to see how we got here.

But every few weeks we mix it up with what we call the first draft, which is basically a more free willing conversation where each of us brings a new story that's caught our eye.

Today on the podcast, we'll tackle the Boy Scouts decision to admit girls, public support for a possible war with North Korea, and the prevailing idea that the United States is a Judeo-Christian nation. No big ideas there.

We'll also wrap up the conversation with a segment that we call footnotes, which is when one of us brings in something that we found in the archives that we really want to share with our co-hosts and with you.

So Ed, why don't you start us off?

Well, I have to admit, knowing that I have World War III in the Judeo-Christian tradition following me makes Boy Scouts seem not quite the moment to this issue.

Well, after World War III, we won't have to worry about it. It's your Judeo-Christian tradition.

Well, this is what we can ease into history. And, you know, I saw this story and the controversy of the day is that the Boy Scouts have announced that they will open some of their activities to girls.

People across the political spectrum are disenchanted with this. People on the right say this is one more instance of political correctness.

Other people see this as a sign of the attack on boys, as is so evident from every structure of power and authority in the country that men just don't have a chance these days.

But that this war on boys is this is just a part of a trend in which in think 2013 Boy Scouts admitted gay Scouts and then admitted gay leaders.

And now in 2015, admitted transgender youths.

So they're willing to end. They'll be tearing down the statue of George Washington before we know it.

So then you have on the other side, Girl Scouts say we don't need to have admission to the Boy Scouts.

We're a vibrant organization ourselves. And we think that it would make wiser for the Boy Scouts to do their thing, the Girl Scouts to do hours.

The main issue seems to be let's try a quick test. What's the highest award that you can get in Boy Scouts?

Eagle Scout. No, that's right. What's the highest award you can get in Girl Scouts?

...