Camp Quest is like a regular summer camp — campers canoe and swim — except that one of the main activities is trying to prove unicorns do not exist in order to win a ?10 note signed by Richard Dawkins. Dawkins praises the summer camp for atheists,which “encourage[s] children to think for themselves, sceptically and rationally.” [%comments]
Camp Fires and Skepticism
TAGS: religion, Richard Dawkins
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I wish I could have gone to that when I was young.
I hope their solution is to point out that you can’t prove a negative, but agree that the overwhelming evidence we have is that unicorns do not currently exist on this planet.
@Doctor Gonzo
Wouldn’t that be an agnostic summer camp?
from the article that’s exactly what they’re trying to show:
“The unicorns are not necessarily a metaphor for God, they are to show kids that you can’t prove a negative,” said Samantha Stein, who is leading next month’s camp at the Mill on the Brue outdoor activity centre close to Bruton, Somerset.
I hope they’re not learning manners from Richard Dawkins, that guy has no tact.
Please, please, please get the facts straight!
When this story first hit 2 weeks ago in the Sunday Times, Camp Quest UK were forced to issue a rebuttal…which can be seen at their actual web page here: http://www.camp-quest.org.uk/ (you have listed the US parent companies web site for which the UK camp is an off shoot).
One key point for readers is that Richard Dawkins didn’t start the camp, but his foundation did make a donation. He believes in rational thinking and the scientific method, and put money into a summer camp with an ethos based around critical thinking.
Another is that it isn’t atheist but open to all…and not intended as a rival to summer camps with a religious theme.
On unicorns…the whole point about the unicorn exercise is that nobody can win the prize…and nobody has in the US camps since they were founded ten years ago. It just is an exercise to show that you cannot prove a negative (in this case that invisible unicorns who cannot be heard, smelt or touched but whose existence is recorded in an ancient book that you aren’t allowed to look at, do not exist). Basically it is a lesson that you CANNOT disprove the existence of God…
Unfortunately a very negative spin was put on the camp by some UK “religion correspondents”. Some of the language used would appear to be deliberately chosen to create a negative framing of the story: the Sunday Times’ headline breaking the story was “Dawkins sets up kids’ camp to groom atheists”. I’m not sure about in the US but over here in the UK the word groom has very strong links to predatory child abusers.
Do people setting up a camp for children to learn deserve this? I would say no. I would also say it would be equally outrageous to use the same language to frame an article about a bible study camp…or scout camp.
Whether you like Dawkins or not, and lets face it he enjoys getting up people’s noses, a little bit of critical thinking goes along way. This is true whether applied to science, theology…or economics…
That’s a thought … what about a Freakonomics Summer Camp for budding economists?
How about a free market for breakfast ingrediants? Choosing the tug of war team by auction? Any other ideas for activities?
Dawkins didn’t start the camp; Camp Quest was started 10 years ago as a response to the Boy Scouts of America refusing membership to atheists. Dawkins provided some funding to start a Camp Quest franchise in the UK.
@Sheila
No, it would be atheist camp. The vast majority of atheists, like Dawkins, think that Fod is as highly unlikely as unicorns (or flying spaghetti monsters, or teapots flying around Mars).
Very few atheists go to the extreme of stating that there is 0% chance that Fod exists, because they understand that you can’t prove a negative.
Agnostic gets a bit complicated. You’d better just read the Wikipedia article on it.