Camp Quest UK - The first childrens summer camp for science, philosophy, critical thinking and atheist / secular free thought! CQUK » Events

Camp Quest 2009

By Richard • Sep 2nd, 2008 • Category: Events

Twenty-three campers crowded around a small camp fire in Somerset, England on a dusky Thursday evening in July. Satiated with the sweetness of toasted marshmallows, they closed into a circle, partly to keep warm in the unseasonably cold weather, and partly to hear what the guest speaker, noted philosopher AC Grayling, was saying about the two invisible unicorns; the infamous residents of Camp Quest, a summer camp program for the children of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, or anyone who subscribes to a natural, as opposed to supernatural, world-view.

Throughout the week, these unicorns had been talked about in newspapers the world over. Many of the newspapers committed unthinkable heresies; some claiming that there was but one unicorn, others claiming that the unicorns were pink. It was clear that the British media had been whipped up into a frenzy about the first ever Camp Quest UK, the supposed Dawkins-run Atheist Indoctrination Camp, which, in addition to pushing the atheist agenda on these poor innocent children, was furthermore teaching them to doubt the existence of unicorns! What next, doubting Santa? “Dawkins sets up kids’ camp to groom atheists” the Sunday Times gasped. The Daily Mail wondered, “Is Britain’s first atheist summer camp harmless fun or should we be worried?” Even the more sympathetic commentators sneered that summer camps are such an American tradition that they would never work here in Britain.

As the instigator of Camp Quest’s arrival on British shores, you’d be forgiven for thinking that I might too, have been worried that such an obviously American institution as the summer camp would have trouble translating into another culture. Well here’s the thing: kids like having fun. No matter what country or culture you find yourself, kids love camping out, toasting marshmallows, singing songs, getting wet, teasing their counsellors, putting on skits, making friends and playing with fire.

And what about the atheism? Surely a secular society would have no need for Camp Quest, for on Britain’s fair shores atheism abounds and religion exists only in the form of the Church of England, a quaint little establishment dedicated to bake sales, summer fetes and vicars riding bicycles down country lanes! Right?

Wrong! If anything, the experience of Camp Quest UK only further impressed upon me the importance of the program. The campers were, without exception, ferociously intelligent, curious children, but their relationship with atheism, scepticism and religion differed widely. Naomi Moylan Torke, aged 10, saw camp as a refuge. She said: “I met other kids like me, who had been told you would go to hell if you don’t believe in god … so now I don’t feel like the only weird kid in the world!” Other campers, including a girl from Turkey, had previously been to church camps, and their parents simply wanted to let them make up their own minds. Many were from sceptical or non-religious families, and some just wanted to come to summer camp. However, each child took home something different from the experience.

The Camp Quest programs go beyond reassuring the kids that they are not the only atheist in town. It allows them to develop themselves past what schools have deemed necessary for their age. It is about instilling a love of learning, not for the sake of passing standardised tests or achieving grades, but as nourishment for the human condition (certainly not for the soul!). I truly believe that it is one of the most progressive forms of education out there.