In November 1995, a meeting was hosted by the Council For Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH, now the Council for Secular Humanism), focusing on ways to promote secular humanism. A member of the Free Inquiry Group of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky (FIG), attorney and Eagle Scout Edwin Kagin, presented the idea for a secular summer camp to counter the exclusion of non-theists from the Boy Scouts of America.

Though many participants were skeptical of the feasibility, and a few opposed it in principle, Paul Kurtz (founder of CODESH, CFI and much of the American Humanist movement) encouraged Kagin and FIG to create the camp.

The first camp began August 11, 1996 as a project of FIG, with Kagin as camp director. For the first two years the camp was held at a facility owned by the Bullitsburg Baptist Assembly in Boone County, Kentucky. Despite minor complaints from both Camp Quest and the Baptist group, the sessions went smoothly.

For the camp’s third year, FIG had decided to relocate to a nearby YMCA camp. The Northern Kentucky Baptist Association then sought the legal right to restrict the use of their campgrounds based on religious beliefs. At their request, then-Kentucky Representative Tom Kerr sponsored legislation (House Bill 70) exempting religious organizations from the common anti-discrimination requirements of public accommodation laws. That bill passed over the governor’s veto in 2000.

In 2002, Camp Quest moved to its present location, another YMCA-owned facility, Camp Campbell Gard, which is located in Hamilton, Ohio, approximately 40 miles north of Cincinnati. It then became Camp Quest, Inc., an independent non-profit organization. Edwin Kagin, with his wife Helen, continued as co-directors of the camp until their retirement after the summer of 2005. Since then many other camps have been started throughout North America.

Camp Quest UK was founded in 2008 by current Camp Director Samantha Stein. She had previously volunteered at Camp Quest Michigan in 2007, and was so impressed with the camp there that she decided to bring the idea to the UK. The first camp was held in July 2009 and was the subject of intense international media attention.

As well as our excellent camp counsellors, we were fortunate enough to have two special guests at our camp in 2009: David Haines, composer and songwriter, who delivered a fantastic science-based singing session to the campers and world-renowned philosopher A.C. Grayling, who discussed evidence and the nature of proof while we all huddled around the camp fire.

The public reaction to the idea of Camp Quest has been overwhelmingly positive and CQUK is expanding to two camps for 2010 to try to meet demand for places.

Branches

• Camp Quest of the Smoky Mountains, a project of the Rationalists of East Tennessee, held its first camp in 2002.
• Camp Quest of Michigan was incorporated in 2003 and, after several setbacks, held its first camp in August 2006.
• Camp Quest of Minnesota held its first session in July 2004.
• Camp Quest Ontario held its first session in August 2004.
• Camp Quest West, a project of the Atheist Alliance International, held its first session near Sacramento, California, in July 2006.
• Camp Quest Texas held a day camp in August 2009 and is due to hold a week-long camp in 2010.
• Camp Quest Florida was due to hold its first camp in December 2009, but unfortunately had to be cancelled.

Our Name

The camp’s logo is based on an idea of Edwin Kagin and the original artwork of his daughter, Kathryn. The letters “C” and “Q” are combined into a sort of infinity symbol. The letters “CQ” are usually accompanied by the Morse Code for those letters, which is code shorthand for “does anybody want to talk?”

Question.

Understand.

Explore

Search.