Camp Quest is an organisation providing humanist residential summer camps for children in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway. It was created in 1996 in Kentucky to provide an alternative to the traditional religiously affiliated summer camps, for the children of nontheistic, humanist or freethinking families as well as children from a religious upbringing. Camp Quest currently consists of 13 affiliated camp groups and its current Executive Director is Kim Newton.
Formation
In 1995 Edwin Kagin, member of the Free Inquiry Group of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky (FIG), conceived of the idea for a secular summer camp for children of nontheistic and atheist families, in response to the exclusion of non-religious children from the Boy Scouts of America. He formed a small committee of members of FIG with himself and Helen Kagin acting as directors and on August 11, 1996 the first camp took place in premises owned by Bullittsburg Baptist Church in Boone County, Kentucky with 20 children attending..
In 1999 Camp Quest moved to a nearby YMCA camp in Ohio, Camp Kern, at which the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association then sought the legal right to restrict the use of their campgrounds based on religious beliefs. At their request, then-Kentucky Representative Tom Kerr sponsored legislation (House Bill 70) exempting religious organizations from anti-discrimination requirements of public accommodation laws. His legislation was not successful and the bill was passed over in 2000.
Camp Quest Inc.
In 2000 Camp Quest expanded with independent camps operating across the United States with the same mission statement, becoming Camp Quest Inc., an independent educational non-profit organization, in 2007 with Fred Edwords as its first president. Camp Quest Inc. now serves as an umbrella group for all Camp Quest affiliates in North America. Edwin and Helen Kagin continued as co-directors of the original Camp Quest based in Ohio until their retirement in 2005. The original Camp Quest moved to 4-H Camp Graham in Clarksville, Ohio, its current location.
The first affiliated group to begin operating a second Camp Quest summer camp session was the Rationalists of East Tennessee, which hosted its first camp session in Tennessee under the name Camp Quest of the Smoky Mountains in 2002.
in 2009 Camp Quest expanded outside North America with Camp Quest UK launching in the United Kingdom. Current Camp Quest UK director, Samantha Stein, became a volunteer for the organisation at a camp in Michigan and was prompted to start a camp in the UK with a group of volunteers. The first UK camp was supported by a grant from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and was held in Somerset. Stein fielded a considerable amount of press interest when the Sunday Times broadsheet newspaper ran a front page article on Camp Quest UK with the headline 'Dawkins sets up kids’ camp to groom atheists'. The Times later went on to include it in their Best kids camps in Britain and 10 best kids' adventure holidays. CQUK also received support from the Humanists UK.
Camp Quest Norway launched in 2011 followed by Camp Quest Switzerland in 2013. Camp Quest Ireland was held as a two day gathering in Dublin in 2010.
Purpose and identity
The camp's logo is based on original artwork by Edwin Kagin's daughter, Kathryn. The letters "C" and "Q" are combined into an infinity symbol. The name Quest is an acronym for Question, Understand, Explore, Search, Test. The camp's slogan is, "Camp Quest. It's beyond belief!" Camp Quest aims to provide a fun environment in which children can explore tasks using critical thinking and scientific reasoning as well as exploring ideas of ethics, mutual respect and democracy. The camp also exists to create a welcoming environment for non-religious children, who may otherwise feel excluded from church-based activities at home and religious summer camps, or want to feel confident to express spiritual or atheist beliefs with other children without disapproval. Camp Quest also welcomes children from any religious background. Camp Quest UK summarized their ethos, "it's not a case of being told what to think about concepts such as God, just how to think" about such concepts.
Programs and activities
Most camps' activities include traditional summer camp events: campfires, singing, crafts, games, swimming, canoeing and archery. Other activities explore science and nature and might include meteorology, astronomy, evolution or building rockets. Campers are also encouraged to explore mythology and philosophy, including discussing ethics in a camp version of Socrates Cafe. Campers might also learn American Sign Language, do drama or learn to build a radio. All the programs aim to introduce campers between the age of 8 and 17 to critical thinking, logic and freethought.
As of 2017 Camp Quest has expressed that it will not segregate activities by gender and has introduced policies to accommodate non binary gender and transgender campers and staff.
Invisible unicorn challenge
During Camp Quest attendees are tasked with the invisible unicorn challenge, aimed at showing that a negative cannot be proven. The task is one of the ways used to encourage children to exercise logic and explore ideas about the burden of proof and challenges the children to prove that invisible unicorns do not exist. The children are told that two invisible unicorns exist at Camp Quest and that there is a valuable book proving their existence which has been passed from generation to generation but no one is allowed to read. Any camper who can prove that the unicorns do not exist will win a godless one-hundred dollar bill (issued before 1957, the year the U.S. Congress mandated that "In God We Trust" be printed on American fiat currency.) In the UK the prize is a £10 note signed by Richard Dawkins. Since first offering this challenge in August 1996, the prize remains unclaimed.
Branches
Camp Quest affiliates in North America, and dates of their inaugural camp sessions, include:
- Camp Quest Arizona (June 2013).
- Camp Quest Mid-Atlantic (Chesapeake, Virginia) (July 2011).
- Camp Quest Colorado (July 2014).
- Camp Quest Kansas City (June 2013).
- Camp Quest Michigan (incorporated 2003, first camp August 2006).
- Camp Quest Montana (July 2011, no longer operating).
- Camp Quest New England (July 2014, no current registrations).
- Camp Quest North (Minnesota and Iowa) (July 2004).
- Camp Quest NorthWest (Washington state) (August 2012).
- Camp Quest Ohio, the original location for Camp Quest, held its first camp in 1996 in Kentucky and moved to Ohio in 1998.
- Camp Quest Oklahoma (June 2012).
- Camp Quest Smoky Mountains (2002).
- Camp Quest SouthEast (South Carolina) (October 2011).
- Camp Quest Texas (August 2010).
- Camp Quest West, (California) (July 2006).
International branches:
- Camp Quest UK (July 2009)
- Camp Quest Ireland (Held in 2010)
- Camp Quest Norway (July 2011)
- Camp Quest Schweiz (August 2013) in Switzerland.
See also
- Invisible Pink Unicorn
- Kibbo Kift
- Order of Woodcraft Chivalry
- Prometheus camps
- Scouting
- Wandervogel
- The Woodcraft Folk
References
External links
- Camp Quest Switzerland