A camp for Freethinkers?

[DeusExMachina]

I was watching the Colbert Report tonight and he mentioned a camp geared toward atheists, agnostics, secularists, humanists, etc. I decided to search it and I was surprised that I never knew of its existence.

Camp Quest

Unfortunately, there's none around here. I'll just have to keep visiting the good ol' Christian camp in New Hampshire .

So, what do you think? It's been around since '96 and seems to be successful. Would you send your kids to it (if you had any)? There's one in Canada stern .

 

[Raziaar]

I don't see why camps have to have any form of religious agenda. it should be a place for kids to go away and learn about fun and cool things regarding nature(or whatever other thing the camp is geared towards)... and socializing with their peers.

 

[JNightshade]

Hmm... I might send my kids there. I mean, personally, I've always hated camps, but if they were up for it... sure :thumbs:

 

[Tr0n]

It's a camp for witchcraft!!!111

 

[CptStern]

hmm is it really that hard to find a non-religious camp in your area?

I dont see the point of an atheist camp ..I mean what kind of skills could they teach young impressionable kids? ..how not to answer the door when it's jehovah witnesses?, camp fire songs that dont contain the words "jesus" or "lord"? how to tell if your friend is jewish without asking him if you can see his weewee?

 

[Tr0n]

It's not just an "atheist" camp...Read the wiki, noob.

 

[DeusExMachina]

hmm is it really that hard to find a non-religious camp in your area?

I dont see the point of an atheist camp ..I mean what kind of skills could they teach young impressionable kids? ..how not to answer the door when it's jehovah witnesses?, camp fire songs that dont contain the words "jesus" or "lord"? how to tell if your friend is jewish without asking him if you can see his weewee?

It's a lot more than that. They learn about rational thought, different religions, biblical stories, skepticism, and even apply some of it to some activies in the camp. There's an ongoing contest for a camper to prove that the invisible pink unicorns that inhabit the camp that no one can hear, see, touch, smell, or anything don't exist. No one's done it yet.

 

[theotherguy]

I have been solicited by like 8 of my friends to come to their christian camps, and then when I tell them I don't want to go they get all pissed, and when they get back they want to "save me through the lord" because they've been so brainwashed.

After I wrote a song called "don't believe" about atheism my mother wanted to send me to some camp, but I resisted and didn't hear of it again. (she also said if I ever spoke of the song again she would 'take all of my instruments and sell them')

A camp such as this would be great, but I could never go, not without facing public humiliation in my family and kicked out onto the street.

I kind of have a desire to start my own pseudo-religion that offers all of the conveniences and good feelings of religious ritual while having a distinctly anti-god message.

The problem with atheism today is that it isn't really a movment. It's just a default state that has no chance of competing with entrenched religions and their brainwashing, social-clenching effects on a large scale. That is why there must be a proactive group of atheists, or rather anti-theists (or as I like to think of them, neotheists) whose doctrine is absolute opposition to all religion, and whose goal is remove religion from the face of the earth.

But that's just an extremist dream of mine.

 

[Tr0n]

And it's extremist that's the problem of this world, not religious people or anti-religious people.

 

[Sainku]

It seems like the smug levels at this camp could be dangerously high. If my kid wants to go to a camp I would send him the the 4-h one which is tied in with the schools around here. I'm hoping to teach him a wide variety of religious beliefs like my parents did with me when he is the right age. I really don't care if he chooses to follow a specific one or not and if a camp instructor gives him crap for it I am confident he would be able to deal with it himself in a mature way. No need to send him to a camp that is "beyond belief!"

 

[Raziaar]

It's kind of funny that people are wanting to send their kids to a athiest camp, and they deride religious people for wanting to send their kids to a religious camp.

If you ask me... there's no difference in sending your kid to an athiest camp than a religious one. If you have a problem with people sending their kid to a religious camp, maybe you should look at the fact that you're sending your kid to a camp that tries to avert your children from religion... when religion is something that should decided by themselves, not forced upon them either way.

Spirituality or lack of it... is something that needs to be decided by the individual.

 

[Flyingdebris]

screw camp. Sending a kid to "freethinking camp" is merely going to be an attempt to brainwash the kid in a different direction. And like Sainku said, the levels of smug will be rediculous.

Had I any children I'd avoid sending them to any camp that tried to instill some kind of agenda. I'd opt for a real camp, the kind that actually teaches stuff like wilderness survival without any leftist or rightist political crap.

The kids can worry about all the politics stuff later when they get older.

 

[Stigmata]

If I end up having kids, I'm not going to instill any political or religious beliefs in their minds until they're at an age where they can sufficiently decide those things for themselves.

All I'd want is for them to grow up being able to accept people, and to be willing to be critical of everyone and everything, including the government, social institutions, and themselves.

*shrugs* Just my two cents.

 

[Raziaar]

I'm glad my dad and uncle, when growing up... didn't talk to me about politics. The only thing I ever got from them in regards to politics, was when they were talking to each other about politics and I was listening in at the time. And 99% of the time I didn't understand the details.

Only in the latest years of my life, did I start getting into politics.

I immediately regretted it.

 

[DeusExMachina]

Jesus Christ, the camp isn't about enforcing atheism. I'm sure people who would actually go to the camp are already nontheists :|

 

[Raziaar]

Jesus Christ, the camp isn't about enforcing atheism. I'm sure people who would actually go to the camp are already nontheists :|

Because their parents beat them until they professed there was no god!

 

[gick]

I like the sound of this. If you actually read the wiki, it isnt persuading people to be atheists, its just teaching them to make up their own minds...

 

[Tr0n]

Exactly. It isn't really a camp for atheists, but mainly freethinking in general.

 

[Flyingdebris]

yes, but who is determining the definition of freethinking?

Scientologists seem to consider themselves freethinkers, but damn, they're narrowminded cultists.

The only person that could judge what is freethinking and what is not is yourself, otherwise that really isn't freethinking, its just another means of programming with a more pleasant name.

 

[mastag]

edit: double post sorry.

 

[mastag]

why does every camp nowadays have an agenda? what about just camps where kids go to have a good time?

 

[Absinthe]

If I have children some day, God forbid, I will raise them with the principles of freethought, skepticism, and logical reasoning.

Then they'll be atheists.

 

[DrDevin]

That sounds kind of fun and it is located fairly close to me (in Canada terms).

However I don't think a religious camp has much to do with a child if they were not brainwashed from a young age.

I can say this from experience since I went to a Daily Vacation Bible School for many years.

The only things I remember doing that were religious was singing wierd songs relating to bible topics and being taught some "lessons."

I can recall a cool lesson on a Behemoth. I was into dinosaurs as a kid so it sounded cool but I had never heard of it before.

Now I know it was just made up. :|

 

[DeusExMachina]

I used to go to a christian camp up until last year. I stopped going for Jesus years ago though, only went for the fun stuff and great friends I had made there. Even met a few other people who were like myself, nontheists, yet hanging out at a christian camp with christian kids .

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

concentration camp?

 

[Cole]

No Rakuari, thats the Super Camp for Freethinkers. Similar to South Parks Adventure Club vs Super Adventure Club.

I went to CCD for like 7 years, then I made up my mind. Athiest.

yes, but who is determining the definition of freethinking?

Think of it this way, they arn't forcing anything on you. They are giving different religions beliefs and etc.. They are simply giving you more knowledge.

That way when you are thinking about it you will have a deeper understanding.

 

[Flyingdebris]

i guess, but meh. I was never one for camp anyway. I grew up in Florida, with the wilderness being composed mostly of swampland, as such camps were scarce.