All Things Considered, August 7, 2008 · Camp Inquiry in upstate New York seems at first like an ordinary summer camp: the campfire blazes as camp-goers in shorts and sandals toast marshmallows in anticipation of s'mores. A few yards away, some teenagers take turns squinting into a telescope to see Saturn.
As 12-year-old Chloe Morgan gazes at the stars, she says she does not see the handiwork of God.
"It seems kind of like an accident almost, like the Big Bang that created the universe was an accident," Morgan says. "It was a beautiful mistake or something."
Chloe and a dozen other campers begin discussing God, the planets and humanity's place in the universe. But at Camp Inquiry, which has a secular humanist focus, God takes a back seat to reason. Of course, the camp schedules familiar camp activities like hiking, swimming, and arts and crafts for kids ages 7 to 16; but the thrust of the camp is to teach children to think skeptically about everything, including religion and the supernatural.
5 comments:
Do you think they get their asses kicked by EVERY other camp in the area?
I wonder if the other camps schedule a trip to beat up these kids...this shit is fine for college age kids, but come on...let them just go to camp and kiss their first girl, drink stolen beer, etc.
I think miko has seen Meatballs too many times...
My God, can I sign up? The only camps I went to when I was a kid were Brown University Sports Camp (for several summers) and John Smith's Soccer Camp. I want to go to atheist camp, damnit!
There's another one called Camp Quest. http://www.camp-quest.org/
It has a few different locations.
Some friends of mine were joking about Z's name and how it's the perfect name for a heavy metal Christian singer. And you know, that would be the perfect rebellion against both of us.
True dat.
I'm kind of with Miko here; how about camp where this crap just doesn't come up?
Is camp really churchy, in general? I only ever did two stints at basketball camp. Ooh, I actually got a chill thinking about that. Fortunately each stint was only about five or six days.
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