Do the Scouts still say the pledge of allegiance at their meetings?
Yes.
And the first question they will ask at a board of review to earn Eagle Rank is “Do you believe in a higher power?”
What if a candidate says no?
Technically, the board should stop right there and the scout would not be awarded Eagle Rank, at least according to the guy from district that has chaired the three or four review boards I have sat in on.
I’m not a fan of the requirement, (and I was only a Cub Scout, so no personal experience in it other than my son earning the rank) but from day 1, everyone is aware that there there is a religious underpinning to the whole scouting program, and at least in our troop, they are aware years in advance that that question is going to be asked. I personally feel someone’s belief in a higher power is theirs and theirs alone, and putting a 13-17 year old on the spot and making them declare one way or the other is just not right to me.
Guess the kid could always lie, but then again, one of the points of the scout law is “a scout is honest”….
ETA: there is an appeal process if the rank is not awarded. I think it exists moreso if a family feels there is some sort of personal beef with the troop leadership that led to being denied. If we think a leader or committee member is a hard “no” in advance because they don’t like the kid, or think the family did the project and not the scout, we just ask somebody else to sit on the board. We’ve been asked to have someone sit on a board by a neighboring troop for just those reasons.