The National Islamic Committee on Girl Scouting gives Girl Scouts religious recognition awards for learning about Islam. Girl Scouts of the USA allows scouts to wear patches on their uniforms from NICGS and 28 other organizations that give out religious awards. Some of the NICGS patches asked Girl Scouts to learn about the five pillars of Islam or carry out activities in a mosque.
Girl Scouts of the USA does not give out awards related to one specific religion. Rather, the organization allows Girl Scouts to wear patches on their uniforms earned through programs developed and administered by independent religious scouting organizations. GSUSA's own faith-related pins are not tied to a specific religion or church.
A claim (archived) circulated online in August 2026 that Girl Scouts of the USA offered "Muslim badges" that members could earn by learning the five pillars of Islam or visiting a mosque.
News of the alleged badges drew anger online, where some social media users pledged to never buy Girl Scout cookies again. One Facebook user wrote:
Girl Scouts of the USA has fully surrendered to the cultural invasion by offering badges that require girls to study the five pillars of Islam, tour mosques, and practice Muslim prayer and Ramadan rituals. This is not education. It is the deliberate Islamization of an American institution once dedicated to traditional values and patriotism.
Similar posts also circulated on Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), X (archived) and Reddit (archived). A number of Snopes readers contacted us about the rumor.
The claim contained a mixture of true and false elements.
It was true that scouts could earn two types of religious awards. The first, which was the focus of online claims, was a religious recognition program developed and awarded by the National Islamic Committee on Girl Scouting. That program allowed scouts to earn patches for learning about Islam, which GSUSA allowed them to wear on their uniform. Some patches involved learning about the five pillars of Islam or attending prayers at a mosque.
The NICGS' program was one of 29 independent programs that also included Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism.
However, GSUSA said in a document about such programs that it did not develop or administer faith-specific religious recognition programs. Therefore, it was false that GSUSA gave out Islam-specific badges or other insignia.
GSUSA itself does award a nondenominational pin called "My Promise, My Faith," which invites Girl Scouts to explore "the connections between the Girl Scout Law and teachings from their faith." The organization's programming does not specify that members must learn about the five pillars of Islam or visit a mosque.
We contacted Girl Scouts and the NICGS about the online backlash at the Islam-specific religious recognition awards and await replies to our queries.
A GSUSA spokesperson said in a written statement on Aug. 26, 2026:
Girl Scouts is proudly for every girl. Contrary to misinformation circulating online, Girl Scouts is not a religious organization and does not teach religion. For more than a century, we've welcomed girls of every faith and background. Our national My Promise, My Faith pin invites girls to connect the Girl Scout Law with their own faith. Any other faith-based patches are developed by independent faith organizations, not GSUSA, and participation in these programs is always optional.
We will update this report if we hear back from the NICGS.
Claims about Girl Scouts giving out "Muslim badges" appeared to originate from posts by Natalie G. Winters, the White House correspondent for the "War Room" podcast hosted by Republican political strategist Steve Bannon.
In an X post on Aug. 24, 2026, Winters posted (archived) about the "Islamization" of the Girl Scouts through patches and activities promoting Islam. Winters specifically highlighted the NICGS' religious recognition program as well as another patch (archived) created by two scouts.
Winters' posts did not mention the 28 other religious recognition programs aside from NICGS whose awards GSUSA also allows scouts to wear, nor note that participation in any of these programs was voluntary. We contacted Winters through the "War Room" podcast to ask why she made those omissions and await a reply.
Understanding religious Girl Scout patches
GSUSA distinguishes between badges, which scouts can earn by following GSUSA's own programming, and fun patches, which Girl Scouts buy or earn by following programming that is not created by GSUSA.
Scouts wear insignia, badges and pins earned through GSUSA programming on the front of their uniform and fun patches on the back.
GSUSA wrote in its document about religious recognition programs that each religious organization "develops and administers its own program," meaning insignia earned through programs such as the NICGS' would be considered a fun patch, rather than a badge or pin.
According to to the NICGS, scouts could earn the Bismillah, In the name of Allah, Qurat ul Ain and Muslimeen awards depending on their age, as well as 11 other fun patches. Through the patches, scouts could learn about Hajj and Salah, which are two of the five pillars of Islam, as well as Jumma Friday prayer. To earn the Jumma badge, a scout needed to attend a mosque for Friday prayers.
GSUSA does not require scouts to earn any specific patches, meaning participation in programs like the NICGS' are voluntary.
The "All About Islam" patch that Winters featured in her post about the "Islamization" of GSUSA was a project by two junior, meaning fourth- or fifth-grade, scouts to earn a GSUSA award. A website laid out the different tasks various ranks of scouts could complete to earn the patch with an option to buy it at the end. This patch also was voluntary.
For further reading, Snopes previously investigated a number of claims about Girl Scouts.
Facts Only
* The National Islamic Committee on Girl Scouting gives religious recognition awards for learning about Islam.
* Girl Scouts of the USA allows scouts to wear patches from the NICGS and 28 other religious organizations.
* Some NICGS patches required learning about the five pillars of Islam or activities in a mosque.
* GSUSA does not develop or administer faith-specific religious recognition programs.
* GSUSA awards a nondenominational pin called "My Promise, My Faith."
* Religious recognition programs, such as the NICGS's, are developed and administered by independent religious organizations.
* The NICGS program included awards for learning about Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
* Scouts can earn insignia from these programs, which GSUSA considers fun patches rather than badges or pins.
* The "All About Islam" patch mentioned in the text was a project by two junior scouts, and participation was voluntary.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The conflict centers on the distinction between an organization's own faith-neutral messaging and the external recognition it permits from affiliated groups, creating an ambiguity around institutional authority. The narrative employs manufactured outrage by focusing intensely on specific elements—the "five pillars" and mosque visits—as proof of deliberate indoctrination, effectively framing voluntary participation as coercion. This reflects a pattern where institutional boundaries are scrutinized when they permit diverse, self-directed expression, suggesting an underlying tension between universal organizational identity and religiously specific affiliation. The use of terms like "Islamization" signals a reaction against perceived cultural shifts rather than a factual assessment of administrative structure. The mechanism of the claim relies on linking voluntary, independently administered activities to a monolithic, hostile intent imposed by the parent body, which functions as a form of emotional exploitation designed to elicit immediate rejection. The implication is that legitimate pluralism, when offered, must be viewed through a narrow lens of doctrinal purity rather than structural reality.
Patterns detected: Emotional exploitation, Distortion, False framing