Non-religious summer camps develop niche

[Synnical]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--campquest0518may18,0,5121290.story

By VALERIE BAUMAN | Associated Press Writer
May 18, 2008



ALBANY, N.Y. - When Joe Fox sends his daughters away to summer camp, he's confident they'll be surrounded by kids who share his family's beliefs and values.

. . . .


Parents have plenty of summer camp options from Boy Scout and Girl Scouts to the YMCA to soccer, dance, music and drama camps. Many claim no religious affiliation while others are specifically Jewish, Catholic or fundamentalist Christian. The Camp Quest concept started in 1996 with 20 kids at a site in Ohio with the slogan "Beyond Belief."

Since then, demand has grown and weeklong camps have been added in Minnesota, Michigan, Ontario, California and Tennessee. In 2007 the camps accommodated 150 kids, generally ages 8-17. The projection for 2008 is more than 200 campers and new camps are also being considered in Vermont and the United Kingdom.
. . .

Camp Quest is a not-for-profit backed by the Albany, N.Y.-based Institute for Humanist studies, a think tank supporting the nonreligious Humanist philosophy, which emphasizes science, evolution, compassion and critical thinking.

. . .

In one exercise, counselors tell the kids about different invisible creatures that live in the camp and then challenge the campers to prove that they don't exist. In some cases, it's a pair of unicorns, in other cases, a dragon. In each instance, the campers are told they can't see, touch or taste the creatures.

. . . .

Critics say the camps appear to espouse a particular point of view.

More at link, limited by copyright rules.

Camp Quest rocks! :-)

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[frogmarch]

1. Yes, it does rock!

another excerpt from your link:


In one exercise, counselors tell the kids about different invisible creatures that live in the camp and then challenge the campers to prove that they don't exist. In some cases, it's a pair of unicorns, in other cases, a dragon. In each instance, the campers are told they can't see, touch or taste the creatures.

The point is that a belief isn't automatically valid just because it can't be proven wrong. The exercise is supposed to help kids who don't believe in God prepare for questions from their peers who ask them to prove a higher power doesn't exist.

If campers manage to prove the creatures don't exist, the prize is a $100 bill from before 1954 _ when the government put "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency.

~~

[onager]

2. You can see some of those kids in the documentary...

"Atheism--Spreading The Word." It was on CBC a while back and may be hanging around the Internets. Fortunately, a copy fell off a donkey here in Egypt and I was able to see it. One of those atheist miracle things, I guess.

The kids in that documentary bode well for the future. They ranged from teens down to about 8 or 9, I would guess, and even the younger ones don't seem inclined to take any crap from believers. Some of them really seem happy to be among kindred spirits.

You'll have to overlook the host, a "fence-sitting agnostic," and the smarmy Guest Xian, Tom Harpur. I was irked that they gave Harpur so much airtime, in a show ostensibly about atheists.

CBC shows some really great documentaries, with viewpoints I don't think you'd ever see expressed in the U.S. equivalents. Their documentary "Mortgage Meltdown" is also worth watching. Good overview of the world-wide effects of the subprime disaster.

[Synnical]

3. Yes, it's online, thanks, just listened to it as I'm paying bills

"In Canada, we don't have separation of church and state written into our Constitution as the US does, but we consider ourself a secular nation." Sad and true.

http://www.videosift.com/video/Atheism-Spreading-the-Word

Have I told you recently how insanely jealous I am of you being in Egypt? x(

-Cindy
:-)