I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
Atheist Summer Camps Luring Kids Away
I just watched a brief report on CNN about atheist summer camps where kids have a chance to go camping and hang out with other kids who don’t necessarily believe in God.
Sounds fine right? Well apparently critics say this is a way “to lure kids away from belief in the supernatural”. At which point they put a camp counselor on the screen who reassured everyone that it’s just a social get-together. Nothing bad going on here, we swear!
But really, would it really be so tragic if it was? First of all it’s summer camp. The kids aren’t exactly showing up on their own. The most likely situation is the parents are already teaching their kids not to belief in the supernatural, hence why they sent them to that summer camp rather than the “I love God and Jesus” camp. So there’s not really anyone being “lured away” that were already going in that direction.
But let’s say for a minute they were. Let’s say these counselors were going door to door, handing pamphlets to innocent kids about their summer camp, offering to talk to them about why God might not be real, and inviting to pick them up and drive them to the camp themselves. How would that be so different than churches who do the same? Going door to door, sharing their believes, pulling up in the little church bus and offering free rides, The gaggle of girls accosting us in the grocery store parking lot to stuff pamphlets in our hands and ask our kids if they know Jesus. The old man hanging out at the park talking to kids about heaven and hell without stopping to ask their parents if it’s OK. And the hundred of other ways that Christians try to “lure kids away” from atheism.
But because it’s church it’s OK. Where as if it’s a summer camp specifically for kids not being raised with religion suddenly there is this fear that they might be sucking kids in like a cult. Except that most cults have a religious basis backing them, at least I’ve never heard of an atheist or humanist cult.
OMGoddess! I swear, people need to just take a deep breath and let things go. The kids who go to Quest Camp are typically being raised by Atheist parents, so no one is being drawn away from “belief in the supernatural” by the camp, they are already being raised that way. What a colossal waste of a reporters time and energy to report on this. It’s no different (though probably in my book less offensive) then the 100’s of Jesus camps out there.
That camp looks pretty innocent to me.
And I agree completely. Proselytizing is something that many religious people do, they feel it’s their duty. I’ve known people who went to ‘horseback camp’ and came home born again. Which is fine, they’re trying to live their calling.
But it’s definitely hypocritical to criticize others for maybe (not really) behaving in the same way.
Thanks for posting about this. I don’t practice any religion and I worry about how I’ll raise my kids without all the religious influence coming from well-meaning people. In fact, I wrote a post about my choice not to believe in any god and have been afraid to post it because I still don’t feel like it’s acceptable to the majority of Americans. Doesn’t freedom of religion guarantee freedom not to practice, too?
Really fascinating! I find fundamentalism frightening no matter whose it is – including atheists. I am an atheist but I have never assumed my kids would be. I think it would be cool for them to have more friends from atheist families – as homeschoolers it hasn’t always been easy to find. But this CNN report doesn’t really give me any idea if one of these camps would be social support or preaching. Looking at the film, I was most stuck by how shoddy the tents were. I take the quality of my camping gear almost as seriously as my lack of religious belief.
@Amber, I *was* one of those born-again horseback riders.
@abbie, I did a blog post about being an atheist and was surprised by how supportive the response was, even from religious friends.
@abbie, sadly…no. “Freedom of religion” doesn’t include freedom FROM religion. It should….but it doesn’t.
There was a church in my (childhood) town that gave out candy bars for children who “chose” to get baptized. Yea…. and they’re upset about a camp that chooses not to talk about God? What is camp but….camping!!! For heaven sakes.
“At first glance, this could be any camp, anywhere.”
Although I think they showed the camp in a positive light, this first sentence made it seem so sinister.
I’m really glad you posted this video, because I honestly didn’t know that atheist camps existed. Cool!
Also didn’t know that Ireland has a blasphemy law.
Very interesting stuff! And, I totally agree: Hypocritical.
But understandable. Who wants their children to be “lured” into something that is going to ruin their life (especially the one to come)? These really are weighty matters, and so concern is natural and good (otherwise, it’s not really important to you).
But you’re totally right: Parents send their kids to camps that tend to align with their perspective, so the “luring” isn’t really going on.
Candy bars for baptism? Seriously? Ugh. Not surprising (and, perhaps innocently oblivious to the message), but still… come on!
~Luke
I watched a special on a “Bible Camp” They showed pictures of aborted fetuses to five year olds. I’m not Atheist but I’d send my kids to an Atheist camp before a bible camp anyday.
“We’re not teaching them WHAT to think, but HOW to think.” Pfft, sounds like doublespeak to me. Whether it’s Bible camp or atheist camp, they’re just indoctrinating the children. The kids aren’t old enough to form their own opinions yet, so they just believe what their parents tell them.