I don't like camps in general, but the most attractive option would be a neutral camp. Rational thought is a way of life, not something that you reinforce with camps.
I know this was addressed to lyx2no, but I just wanted to throw my two cents in. I grew up going to an Episcopal camp, that also ended up volunteering and later working at. I started out there as a pretty faithful kid already, so I obviously didn't have anyone bullying me for religious reasons. However, I also don't remember ANYONE ever getting bullied for religious reasons (doesn't mean it didn't happen) and I also know that it was a place where critical thinking and free questioning was completely allowed. As a volunteer counselor and later staff member at this camp I remember talking to plenty of kids during small group time who talked about being atheist, agnostic, or just skeptical about certain parts of christianity. I loved having these kids in my group because it sparked real and interesting discussion. Sometimes it would result in someone becoming more religious, sometimes it resulted in other questioning their own faith. Sometimes people got really upset. But my point is that there was some great discussion. This camp also functioned as a wonderful place for emotional support. Quite a few of the campers I've encountered at this camp came from very difficult home situations, and it was at this camp more than any other place that these kids felt accepted and able to be open and honest about themselves. Obviously, this didn't happen with every single camper, and some campers didn't also have the best experiences (in fact I remember talking with some particularly fundamentalist kids who felt outnumbered and frustrated by the more liberal campers). And for me personally, even though I've become an atheist, I'm still a part of this camp community, and the others members of this community still accept me whole heartedly. Anyhow, my point is that, when done right, camps can have a huge net benefit for the children that attend them. I'm not positive camp quest is one of these camps, but it should not be dismissed out of hand simply for being a camp.
Edited by Stagamancer, : No reason given.
Edited by Stagamancer, : clean up
We have many intuitions in our life and the point is that many of these intuitions are wrong. The question is, are we going to test those intuitions?
-Dan Ariely
™ Version 4.2
