Summer Camp That's a Piece of Heaven for the Children, but...

[brooklynite]

Please, No Worshiping

HAMILTON, Ohio, June 25 - Fresh from a week at Camp Quest in southern Ohio, Alex Houseman can boast that his badminton game is a little better, his archery skills are a little sharper and he can now crank out tie-dye T-shirts on demand.

All that, and 12-year-old Alex got a rare chance to be around other children just like him - children whose parents do not go to church or any other place of worship, and who do not necessarily believe in God.

At the public school he attends in Boone County, Ky., he said, he has learned to keep quiet about the fact that his family left the fundamentalist Christian church it used to belong to, that his father now considers himself an atheist, and that his mother, if she believes in God at all, does not do so in a conventional way.

At Camp Quest, on the other hand, he was not worried that his fellow campers would judge him. "It's good to know there are other people out there who don't believe in God," he said.

http://nytimes.com/2005/06/29/education/29camp.html

Certainly don't think this was available when I went to YMCA camp.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I've met the Kagins (great people). They wanted me to a counsellor

at Camp Quest.

[tenshi816]

2. And yet...

it's the fundamentalists who claim that Christians are being persecuted!

Isn't it sad that there has to be a camp set up specifically for non-believers in order for them to be able to enjoy a summer camp experience without being pressured to convert to Christianity? I almost expect fundies to complain at not being invited inside the camp to proselytize.

[Mizmoon]

3. Sounds silly to me

:shrug:

[Cerridwen]

4. Why silly? n/t

[Mizmoon]

6. Is it really that big of a problem?

not believing in God so ... energetically ... it seems weird to me. I can understand why believers go so loco ... they "have the spirit" or whatever. But why would atheists go to so much effort?

[Cerridwen]

7. Well, it would appear that *they* think so.

As an adult who has had to keep quiet about my beliefs around family and co-workers, I can say it's a relief to gather with friends with whom I can be open.

I can't even imagine what it must be like for kids to have to "day in and day out" be silent. I remember what it was like to be teased and made fun of when I was a kid. Not a pleasant memory. Can you imagine having to hide and be silent about a part of your life; every time someone says something with which you agree, you daren't argue or speak otherwise. And what of the teachers, do they ostracize or punish for speaking against the "norm?"

I can see where it might be quite freeing for the kids.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Great idea

but a sad commentary that we have come to the point where we have to send our kids away to camp to get away from the fundies.

[northzax]

8. it's not jsut the fundies

to be honest, christianity plays a huge role in American life it can be uncomfortable to be an avowed outsider, especially for a kid. I remember as a boy wondering why my best friend Joey couldn't come to camp with me, it was a YMCA camp, about as secular as you can, (I come from an a family of lapsed unitarians, too many rules.) but Joey was Jewish, and his parents weren't comfortable sending him to even the YMCA camp. It's not persecution, per se, more of a feeling of not belonging, tought for kids, you know?