The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, has announced that it is ending its partnership with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) by 2020.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Mormon Church revealed that it is creating its own youth program that will cater to its global membership.
The Church stated that the new program will be aimed at helping "all girls and boys, young women and young men discover their eternal identity, build character and resilience, develop life skills and fulfill their divine roles as daughters and sons of God."
The move will put a stop to the automatic enrollment of young Mormon boys to the BSA, although boys will still be allowed to join the scouting organization individually.
The announcement follows the BSA's decision to change the name of its flagship program to Scouts BSA in light of its new its policy to take in female members.
The BSA announced last year that it would allow girls to join the scouting organization, and would let them become Eagle Scouts by 2019.
The recent policy changes within the BSA have increasingly alienated conservative parents and partners, including the Mormon church.
When the BSA announced in 2015 that it will start accepting gay troop leaders, the Mormon Church said that it was "deeply troubled" by the move. The religious denomination, however, decided to stay with the scouting organization after being assured that it would be able to appoint leaders in accordance with its religious beliefs.
According to the Associated Press, the Church had already pulled out 185,000 boys between the ages of 14 and 18 from the scouts last year. The remaining 425,000 boys will be removed from the scouting organization by December 31, 2019 to join the Church's new youth program.
The Mormon Church stressed in the statement that it will continue to support the BSA, despite ending its partnership with the organization.
"While the Church will no longer be a chartered partner of BSA or sponsor Scouting units ... it continues to support the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law and expresses its profound desire for Scouting's continuing and growing success in the years ahead," the statement read, as reported by Fortune.
In a statement, the BSA said that Mormon members who wished to remain within the BSA would be joined to other troops.
