Economist article on an atheist summer camp.

garfielddean
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Economist article on an atheist summer camp.

I found this article interesting and thought provoking

 

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14031492

 

Garfield Dean.


cervello_marcio
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 I wish I'd had something

 I wish I'd had something like this growing up. I hope it's still around when my kids do.


Stosis
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Aren't there enough

Aren't there enough "secular" camps (those with no religious affiliation or lack there of)? I really don't see the need to indoctrinate children into atheism. Or is there something I'm missing here? Is the camp in the deep south.

 

 

 

Fine I'll take the time to look through the site.


ClockCat
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:3

Article wrote:

Campers are not told that there is no God; only that they should weigh the evidence. They learn about the scientific method. An amateur biologist invites them to gather creepy-crawlies from a nearby pond. They are told how sensitive each species is to pollution, and asked to work out from this how polluted the pond is. They find several critters that can survive only in clean water, and conclude that the pond is in good shape. The kids are encouraged to explore ethical questions, too. The more argumentative ones sit in a clearing and debate the nature of justice.

The kind of people who send their kids to Bible camp are appalled. Answers in Genesis, a Christian fundamentalist group, berates Camp Quest for drumming a “hopeless” world view into young minds.

 

...wow. Yeah, I think things like this aren't bad at all....although it SHOULD be covered in school, rather than just at camp.

 

I went to a "gifted" camp several years where we stayed on a college campus and got to study science and math, as well as use the labs to do experiments. I learned a lot, and had fun. I love the idea of educational camps, I just feel bad that most of them are either expensive, or exclusive in some way compared to the easily available christian-themed camps around.

 

Theism is why we can't have nice things.


Tapey
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The camp sounds boring tbh

The camp sounds boring tbh


ClockCat
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:o

Tapey wrote:

The camp sounds boring tbh

 

Well..yeah. It seems kind of like advanced summer school with science and philosophy, honestly. :I

 

Not that there is anything wrong with that. To each their own. I think I would of liked going though :3

 

 

One year I went to a christian-themed camp. There were jesus-singing sessions every night, and I really hated those parts because I thought they were the most boring thing ever, and they were "mandatory". I always tried to get out of it, and would frequently sneak away to play off on my own away from supervision.

 

I was bad.

Theism is why we can't have nice things.


Tapey
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Guess i was lucky i was in a

Guess i was lucky i was in a crappy school and everyone just said no to sing alongs (they were never christian though as we are the "rainbow nation"*barly conceeld laughter*) What we did do is start a forest fire, roughly 1 square kilometer went up in smoke... camps got banned afte that

 

Edit: we go on camps with our schools during term, i dont know i that is what happens in america

Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
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Vastet
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I like it. Best I had as a

I like it. Best I had as a kid were science camps, which were still pretty cool.

Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.