Comments on: Why should there be an “Atheist Sumer Camp” like Camp Quest?

By: Alsee

Alsee — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 05:04:58 +0000

I was hoping you know, or could find out, what the aftermath was. Were civil authorities ever notified? Were there any consequences? Did anyone point out the fact that, as part of rescuing the victim, the use of LETHAL FORCE against the attacker could have been a morally and legally justified possibility? Did the attacker go home believing she was a good and faithful servant of God? Or did she realize she nearly murdered a person? Did the attacker’s parents approve of the attempted daemon-slaying? Did they simply shrug off the whole incident? Or, by some small miracle, did it dawn on them that *they* were responsible for filling their daughter’s head with evil insane shyte and that *they* were responsible for raising a would-be murderer? Unfortunately I have little faith in miracles :/

The whole thing is so outrageous that it’s hard to let go of it without some idea how it turned out.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:57:37 +0000

I know, right?

By: Alsee

Alsee — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 08:03:34 +0000

I really really hope you merely forgot to mention the part where the attacker was ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER, right?
Or did the camp staff COVER UP AN ATTEMPTED MURDER? And if so, didn’t Diane’s parents report the ATTEMPTED MURDER to the police?

Because the way you wrote the story it sounds like no one involved bothered reporting this extremely serious crime to the police, which is damn-near as appalling as the attack itself.

(And yeah I realize the attacker was a minor, but they damn well still should have been dealt with harshly by the juvenile court system.)

By: Ann

Ann — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:24:36 +0000

Nothing is preventing anyone from having a summer camp based on whatever they want. If you can’t find a camp for your beliefs/hobby/sport/group/whatever, start one. How’s that for free thinking?

By: megan

megan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:22:09 +0000

I am Wiccan, rather than Atheist,but find myself facing many of the same issues. In rural Southern Indiana, there aren’t too many options for summer camp that don’t involve “learning about the promises and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.” My children, ages 10 and 11 have both chosen Wicca/Paganism as their paths as well, but face constant pressure at school and with their friends. They are the ONLY Wiccan kids at their school. I am thankful that they have not been totally ostracized, but they still get plenty of teasing from several students.
I would love to send them to summer camp, but everything available around here is decidedly Christian in nature. Even the math/science camp option posited by another poster doesn’t seem to be an option anywhere in my vicinity. Sigh.

By: DuWayne

DuWayne — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:13:15 +0000

As the father of two boys who are currently living in TN and with the strong likelihood that I will be finishing my undergrad in Knoxville, I am extremely heartened to note that there is a Camp Quest in the area (even more excited about the Freethinkers of East TN also local). While the Knoxville area isn’t quite as bad as the majority of TN (Oak Ridge National Labs being close probably helps), it is still a place where religious diversity largely consists of different brands of Christianity. My eldest is being raised by non-religious parents, in my case atheist. Yet he is terribly fond of “Jesus” or “the Lord” books and wishes he could go to church. While I suspect this is largely due to the fact that he currently lives in the middle of nowhere and wants to make more friends, this is, nonetheless very disturbing.

I am actually looking forward to moving to the area to help provide him with more friends, almost as much as for simply being able to see my boys with great regularity. It is more than a little helpful to have completely non-religious options for exposing him to kids his own age, with whom he can form relationships. At the moment, he has exactly zero options for making friends who are not religious to some degree or another. School and daycare, he doesn’t know any kids he is aware are not religious.

I would love to be in a position to just pretend that everything is fine and if I just talk to him a little about it, he will be well positioned to just deal with whatever the religious throw at him. When we finally make it out to Portland this will be much easier. But right now he doesn’t have any non-religious options for friends and we have gone through losing friends because I’m not religious.

And Harvey, I am really glad that doing what you suggest is so very easy for you. I am glad that you apparently live someplace where it is as easy as all that. Not all of us have that easy of an option and by necessity have to seek out people for our children to engage with, who will not freak out simply because our children’s parents are atheists. And I could give a fuck if this somehow gives the ignorant the impression that atheism/skepticism/science is a fucking religion. I didn’t live my life in accordance with the biases of those around me when I was a Christian – I am not about to start now.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:24:54 +0000

Harvey, I’m a bit disturbed by your assertion that atheist kids shouldn’t go to a one-week secular summer camp because they need to “learn to cope”. This has a “suck it up, kids” feel that strikes me as unnecessarily cruel. What do you think the kids are doing the other 51 weeks out of the year? Not only can they use a respite now and again, but one of the best ways to learn to see the influence of the majority on society is to spend a bit of time surrounded by the minority.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:55:36 +0000

Sharon: Good point about the urgency. I don’t mean to over state it, but rather, to put on the table one data point that is one we should not forget. This event also was the result of one kid’s activities, not the nature of the camp itself. Yet, we do live in a society in which many children are raised with belief systems that would allow for this sort of behavior.

I assume a religious kid would be welcome at Camp Quest and probably would not be smothered.

By: AnneTanne

AnneTanne — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:49:02 +0000

Stories like this make me wonder what kind of society the US are… It’s so completely opposite to how it goes here in Belgium.

People here feel more embarrassed to tell they go to church weekly, than to say they are atheist (even among their peers in Catholic schools).
The former ‘Flemish organisation of Catholic Scouts and Girl Guides’, has recently changed it’s name into ‘Flemish Scouts and Guides’.
Churches are transformed into libraries and disco’s, because there aren’t enough people to come to services anymore…

By: datheism

datheism — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:25:57 +0000

http://community.history.com/topic/2477/master/1/

have I said this before…