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I see Church summer camps everywhere and even the ones that are not Church based, might as well be. I was in CampFire Girls as a child and sure enough prayer was a huge part of camp activities. SOOOOO... IS there a summer camp for kids of Atheists and Agnostics out there somewhere???? IF not there should be.

#summercamps
misstuffy 7 Feb 3
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1

Level 8

There are plenty of themed camps that have nothing to do with religion, either way. Art, dance, music, sports, science, nature, gaming, academic, etc... my kids attended many and benefitted from nearly all. The only religious one was a camp that my son asked to attend because a school friend invited him. We knew it was vacation bible school going in. He attended, but never asked to again.

Zster Level 8 Feb 4, 2018
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I imagine all that religion made him uncomfortable, that tells me he is probably more intelligent that the camp counselers there! Just my opinion there.

Oh yeah! He's bright as all get out and learned much from the experience!
1

Level 8

Idk? That would be nice. I think there are science camps?

There is space camp and I wish sometimes I was still a kid just so I can attend that one
1

Level 7

I got in to Christian Leadership training because I joined a Summer Bible Camp because of a girl I liked. As I learned more, the more questions I had, so I worked harder. My mentors could not begin to answer my questions, so I turned to a Catholic Priest (unlike Protestants, they have a real process of scholarship and training) who was much better, but even they had to rightly declare that much was a mystery. I then turned to some other religions for a short spell. Eventually, after what I would call an Atheistic Agnostic phase, I became an Atheist.

You would think of thousands of years of people like us challenging the WORD, they would have come up with some good answers by now, but no, they havent because there are no good answers to these questions. Have Faith just doesnt cut it with intelligent kids

@misstuffy, They do the best they can with what they have got. The fact is they simply don't have the facts on their side.

@Reignmond I agree with you on that one. Sometimes I think we are still in the dark ages. It all reminds me of the cargo cults. Someone with superior technology and knowledge used it to lord it over some of humanity way back when and they still don't see the connection to what happened with the cargo cults. Nope, they are so blind they do not see the similarities at all.
2

Level 5

Religion has a way of creeping into our lives far too often, especially in politics. It seems that you can't be elected if you're not christian. In the junk mail and in ads they profess that they are christians and therefore you should vote for them and not their pagan opponents. They want you over look the ones in office who claim to be christian are just as crooked as an Ozark Mountain road.

I confess I believe those Ozark Mountain roads to be far straighter than any CHristian politician.

1

Level 6

I was a girl scout and where there was some religion, it wasn't overly done. I very much enjoyed girl scouts, but it was also before I even knew what an atheist was.

I used to help Boy and Girl Scouts with their various "Nature" badges (The Girl Scouts made me an honorary Girl Scout...got a pin and a shirt at a surprise ceremony). I always liked the Girl Scouts better because their badges were harder to get, and they were considerably less religious.

Agreed. I was a Girl Scout for my entire childhood through graduation, including being a summer camp counselor before I went to college. I remember very little religion. The pledge references g*d but there was nothing overt. Not sure how it is now, but going in with the right mindset opens up a lot of great programs. I got my love of the outdoors from scouts.

Week to week meetings were ok in Camp FIre GIrls but it was the summer camp that seemed to be a thinly veiled Bible camp to me
3

Level 8

You may find this interesting
[campquest.org]

Cool, another recommendation for my Nephews growing atheist family!

I donate to Camp Quest.
0

Level 8

Twice I was sent to Central Iowa Bible Camp Earlham Iowa woods gravel road TO CURE MY Atheism 1963 & 1964. ...they failed

Most likely you came home more entrenched in atheism than ever. That is the effect church had on me.

@misstuffy yes you are correct asking sincere questions sbout the growing war in Vietnam
....are the Buddhists going to hell ? Thou Shalt Not Kill does not have an exception commandment WHY NOT ? Who created Yahweh Adonai Holy Spirit ? Ignorant fuckers were so stupid to me

1

Level 8

The 2 Unitarian Universalists camps teach 6 major religions and Humanism against Atheist youth

My friend Glenn calls himself an agnostic though for all practical reasons I say he is an Atheist. He teaches comparative religions in various churches, including unitarian in Ankeny and Des Moines IA. Having known him over 40 years and recently becoming an Aron Ra fan I can say he is similar to Aron Ra

My friend Glenn calls himself an agnostic though for all practical reasons I say he is an Atheist. He teaches comparative religions in various churches, including unitarian in Ankeny and Des Moines IA. Having known him over 40 years and recently becoming an Aron Ra fan I can say he is similar to Aron Ra
1

Level 8

CampQuest going strong over twelve years now and Dawkins Foundations pay kids scholarships to go or be youth leaders with the adult teachers

Love it
3

Level 8

There does seem to be one
[abcnews.go.com]

and of course campfire songs for atheist children

I will have to recommend this to my Atheist nephew and niece in law as they have one child with a second on the way.
3

Level 7

There's another word for those camp fire prayers, um, brainwashing 🙂

In my case they failed.
3

Level 7

Many of the kids camps in Maine are non sectarian. Check out the brochures.

I do not have kids myself nor do I live out that way.Maybe it's just something in the midwest. The Camp Fire Girls were also supposedly secular. I say supposedly since they were not secular in practice as I was subjected to "prayer" constantly and when I taught 4H I didnt allow religious acts in our club if they were imposed on others.

@misstuffy both of my children were in 4H and they enjoyed it very much. As a government program it maintained a non-secular approach.

@Dwight had a very religious teen in my group who kept insisting on group prayers and I had to explain it could not be allowed. I had a muslim kid and two atheist kids and she wanted to pray to Jesus as part of the 4H meeting. She was not pleased.

@misstuffy we had a couple of Cambodian kids (boat people refugee survivors). We lived near a helicopter operator and every time the copter came over the kids hid and shivered with fear. Religion was never the issue.

@Dwight Considering what they went through in Cambodia I can't say as I blame them. IT had to be extremely traumatizing to go through that experience. They have my sympathies.
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