‘Camp Atheist’

A group of kids in Britain will soon head off to the country’s first official atheist camp. It’s called Camp Quest. Anchor Lisa Mullins has details.
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LISA MULLINS: Children can learn a thing or two about nature when they go to summer camp. Whether they learn about evolution or creationism, well that might depend on what kind of camp they attend. It’s going to be evolution for those kids getting ready for Britain’s first-ever atheist summer camp. It’s called Camp Quest. And if the name sounds familiar, that’s because Camp Quest already operates at several locations here in the US. Campers in Britain are gonna take part in many of the usual camp activities, canoeing, and swimming, and making crafts. But the children, ages 8 through 17, will also take lessons in subjects such as evolution and rational skepticism. Samantha Stein is the director of the British Camp Quest. She says the purpose is not to spread atheism.

SAMANTHA STEIN: The idea of Camp Quest is really to let the children decide what they think. So we’re gonna run some activities on philosophy for children, and we’ll run activities on logical fallacies. So it’s really a way of getting the kids interested in thinking, interested in philosophy and questions of religion, and all sorts of scientific and critical thinking.

LISA MULLINS: One of the games played at Camp Quest is called the Invisible Unicorn Challenge. Campers are told that unicorns live in the area around their tents, and then they’re tasked with proving that the unicorns don’t exist. The aim is to illustrate the difficulty of proving a negative. Any children who manage the feat, will win a British ten pound note signed by Britain’s most famous atheist, author Richard Dawkins. His foundation is helping to fund the camp.

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