Camp Quest - Atheist camp?

Dave! · 03-04-2009 9:12pm #1

http://www.camp-quest.org.uk/

Yo,

Does anyone find this a bit disconcerting...?

CQUK is the first residential summer camp for the children of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and all those who embrace a naturalistic rather than supernatural world view.

...

The hallmark of any week at Camp Quest is the invisible unicorn challenge. As you may know, there are two invisible unicorns who live at Camp Quest, but who cannot be seen, heard, felt, smelt and do not leave a trace. All counsellors are staunch believers in these unicorns. Any child who can successfully prove that the invisible unicorns do not exist is rewarded with a prize - a £10 Darwin note signed by Richard Dawkins himself! This challenge runs throughout the week.

I thought it might be a parody of Jesus Camp or somethin.... but apparently not

Is this not weird?

coffee_cake · 03-04-2009 9:16pm

Dave! wrote: »

Is this not weird?

Any brainwashing camp is weird

kiffer · 03-04-2009 9:57pm

Considering the Scouts Official stance on religion is basically no atheists (or at least don't ask don't tell) I'm not surprised that such camps crop up... but I this might be making a bit to big a deal of it.

That said...
Philosophy for Children (P4C): Good, basic philosophy, good ground work helps everyone...
pseudoscience: Good, Sometimes it slips our mind as to how easy it is for some people to have trouble telling the difference between pseudoscience and science...
astronomy: Good, Stargazing is fun, space is interesting...
evolution: :-) I really wish this didn't need to be listed as it's own subject, and not just as part of biology, nature studies or such.
critical thinking: Important for all concerned.
nature games: As long as they're not Naturist games

the famous Invisible Unicorns Challenge: I'm not so sure what to make of this activity...

Valmont · 03-04-2009 10:26pm

Kids don't care about these things, I know I didn't when I was that age. I'd be opposed to anything that serves to indoctrinate children one way or the other. I'm of the make-up-your-own-mind school. Atheist camp, christ.

Bottle_of_Smoke · 04-04-2009 3:38am

Hmmm, its a bit odd.

The darwin note unicorn challenge really does seem very like a parody, and hopefully its unwinnable. Would be horrified if everyone won it for saying something like "its not scientific"

Can't wait to see the chick publishing response tract.

Zillah · 04-04-2009 5:52am

Dave! wrote: »

The hallmark of any week at Camp Quest is the invisible unicorn challenge. As you may know, there are two invisible unicorns who live at Camp Quest, but who cannot be seen, heard, felt, smelt and do not leave a trace. All counsellors are staunch believers in these unicorns. Any child who can successfully prove that the invisible unicorns do not exist is rewarded with a prize - a £10 Darwin note signed by Richard Dawkins himself! This challenge runs throughout the week.

Haha, that's awesome. I think this is a great idea. Equipping a whole generation to grasp why the whole "You can't prove God doesn't exist" argument is meaningless.

They do need to keep a light touch to prevent it from becoming creepy though. I'd need to know a lot more before I judge.

Hivemind187 · 04-04-2009 7:51am

I dunno. I can see a lot more positive stuff coming out of camp quest than out of say, "hell house" or any of the "do as we say or you'll ****in burn" religious camps.

Camp was ALWAYS creepy anyway. The hired sex offenders counsellors were always so chirpy it actually made you feel physically sick. The activities were inane or mundane (playing football is something we can do at home you jerk!). The food was mostly compressed hog-anus. All in all a none too enjoyable experience to have topped off with a dollop of fire and brimstone.

So if one camp tries to instil a sense of discovery, exploration and insufferable questioning and analysis of answers given then I'm all for it.

Beisdes ... a brainwashed army of atheistic kiddies would do wonders when the eventual open war between robindch Atheists and PDN religious types comes around

Zillah · 04-04-2009 8:54am

Hivemind187 wrote: »

Beisdes ... a brainwashed army of atheistic kiddies would do wonders when the eventual open war between robindch Atheists and PDN religious types comes around

I dunno, they have so much more experience at it than we do

Rev Hellfire · 04-04-2009 9:04am

I can see a whole new generation growing up and rebelling against their parents, perhaps this is a cunning ploy by theists for more fundamental recruits.
I can see the anti-Zillah coming out of this

studiorat · 04-04-2009 12:18pm

A Unicorn???

Goduznt Xzst · 04-04-2009 1:38pm

studiorat wrote: »

A Unicorn???

They tried it with Santa first, but it turned out most of the Atheist parents still wanted their children to believe he exists, and wheren't too happy when their kids came home and they no longer had a way of keeping them behaved when the inlaws where around for Christmas

PDN · 04-04-2009 2:21pm

studiorat wrote: »

A Unicorn???

Because of the declining moral standards of young people today (I can't be arsed linking to whatever thread has meandered into that territory) young people might actually have a lion in the attic.

Galvasean · 04-04-2009 2:29pm

Wahts the odds one of the kids will find a mutilated deer carcass, drags it back to camp yelling, "I won I won!"

kiffer · 04-04-2009 3:16pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Wahts the odds one of the kids will find a mutilated deer carcass, drags it back to camp yelling, "I won I won!"

Ahhh but that unicorn fails important parts of the test... it's not invisible, it's red and brown... it's just a False Unicorn...

PDN · 04-04-2009 3:20pm

kiffer wrote: »

Ahhh but that unicorn fails important parts of the test... it's not invisible, it's red and brown... it's just a False Unicorn...

Invisible unicorns become visible when they die. I saw it on a programme on National Geographic.

Galvasean · 04-04-2009 3:20pm

kiffer wrote: »

Ahhh but that unicorn fails important parts of the test... it's not invisible, it's red and brown... it's just a False Unicorn...

He was invisible, but his cloaking device wears off once killed.

kiffer · 04-04-2009 3:39pm

Galvasean wrote: »

He was invisible, but his cloaking device wears off once killed.

Sorry but the Campers are fundamental Pink Unicornists ... when killed Pink Unicorns explode in a shower of coloured quarks...

ShooterSF · 04-04-2009 8:13pm

I don't know, on one side I'd rather it just left out religion and focus on having proper no hidden meaning fun. The kids spend 9 months in school can they not have some childhood? On the other hand even if you don't believe in God your kids are likely to meet the idea in school in this country if they don't live near these new schools (forget the name) and a counter balance might be good.

Thinking over it, I am atm against the idea. Us in our mid-20 grew up in a time when being openly atheist in one's teens was for the most a phase or worse, however we managed to make up our own mind. Hell I didn't have to go to no camp to find out Santa doesn't exist. I have faith in the next generations intelligence along with the fact that more and more will be raised as free to decide themselves and will share their beliefs with other kids.
The most important thing in life is not religion but learning to enjoy yourself and have fun. This is where the focus needs to be.

Zillah · 04-04-2009 11:55pm

studiorat wrote: »

A Unicorn???

Yes.

Zillah · 05-04-2009 12:00am

ShooterSF wrote: »

The most important thing in life is not religion but learning to enjoy yourself and have fun.

When we're talking about Catholicism these two are often mutually exclusive.

studiorat · 05-04-2009 12:16am

Zillah wrote: »

Yes.

underground ubiquity?

Phototoxin · 05-04-2009 10:56am

its not fair coz since magic doesn't exist on this plane you cannot have a wizard with purge invisiblity so the unicorns get +2 defence and +2 to attack against the kids. The wee things don't have a chance!!

Dades · 05-04-2009 12:29pm

Bizzare methinks. There's a market for every whim.

Húrin · 09-04-2009 12:25am

Richard Dawkins' personality cult is on the ascent. The camp seems to be negative. Are they training an 'army' of atheists to argue religion out of people?

Fanny Cradock · 09-04-2009 1:29am

I would find this slightly less odd than the Creationism theme park.

lostexpectation · 09-04-2009 1:49am

if most the camps about are religious then its fine to have an atheist one, i'd prefer to go to band camp ;p

Zombrex · 24-07-2009 10:07am

Read about this in this weeks Economist.

Personally I think it is a great idea.

According to the Economist the idea of camps are an American concept that stem from the long school holidays and short working holidays in America. May seem a bit creepy to us in Europe but can't see it being any worse than Irish college (*shudder*)

The camps are presented as atheists camps but they actually take people of all religions (unlike many religious camps) and don't instruct people that there is no god. In fact "god" is not mentioned, at least according to the Economist.

So they seem to have their priorities straight, it is not about telling children there is no god but equiping them with the mental reasoning to question supernatural ideas properly.

And again can't be worse than Irish college :pac:

ChocolateSauce · 24-07-2009 10:20am

A bit odd, but I don't really see the problem with it. Teaching children how to question the invisible is a valuable skill, and the camp appears to insist it does not claim there is no god, only to question the claim that there is. Furthermore, they don't accept children under 8, which is around (if not slightly past) the age most children start questioning what they're told.

It is especially soft-touch when compared to most bible-camps, where the camps insist their version of events is divine, (sometimes literally) true, and that other people are wrong. Some even go so far as to drill hate and lies about non-Christians into their young minds, not to mention (in the US) a godly-inspired patriotism.

Anyway, check it out! I found a photograph of the invisible pink unicorn! It's right beside that hairy pony:

http://science.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Science/Images/Content/mongolian-steppe-737086-sw.jpg

ChocolateSauce · 24-07-2009 10:23am

Húrin wrote: »

Richard Dawkins' personality cult is on the ascent. The camp seems to be negative. Are they training an 'army' of atheists to argue religion out of people?

Even if they are, it seems a lot less sinister than many places in the middle east where they train armies of young people to bomb the sh!t out of people.
Muslim fanatics blow people up.
Christian fanatics murder abortion doctors.
Atheist "fanatics" write books.

Goduznt Xzst · 24-07-2009 10:30am

ChocolateSauce wrote: »

Atheist "fanatics" write books.

What about Stalin... he was an Atheist fanatic? *I miss the old days

*

ChocolateSauce · 24-07-2009 11:14am

Goduznt Xzst wrote: »

What about Stalin... he was an Atheist fanatic? *I miss the old days *

Huh? I thought you were PDN for a second there! No, he was a fanatic who was an atheist.

Camp Quest - Atheist camp?

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