{{short description|Children's humanist summer camp}} {{Infobox organization | headquarters = Staunton, Virginia | logo = CampQuestLogo220x86.png | name = Camp Quest | founding_location = Boone County, Kentucky | formation = 1996 | founders = Edwin Kagin, Helen Kagin, Ed McAndrews, Elizabeth Oldiges, Nikki Orlemann, David Scheidt and Vern Uchtman | type = Non Governmental Organization | status = Incorporated company | purpose = | website = {{URL|www.campquest.org}} }}
'''Camp Quest''' is an organisation providing humanist residential summer camps for children in the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Norway.<ref name="Camp Quest Mission">{{cite web |url=http://www.campquest.org/mission |title=Camp Quest Mission |publisher=Camp Quest, Inc |year=2011 |access-date=2011-06-05 |archive-date=2011-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610143228/http://www.campquest.org/mission |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=swiss2017/> It was first held 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.<ref name="kotv2017">{{cite web|title=Oklahoma Summer Camp Caters To Non-Religious Kids|url=http://www.newson6.com/story/22626731/summer-camp-caters-to-non-religious-science-minded-kids|website=News on 6|publisher=KOTV|accessdate=2 August 2017}}</ref> Camp Quest currently consists of 13 affiliated camp groups and its current executive director is Kim Newton.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://campquest.org/staff |title=Meet our Staff |publisher=Camp Quest |date= |accessdate=2015-07-20|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729220704/https://www.campquest.org/staff|archivedate=2017-07-29}}</ref>
==Formation== In 1995, at a meeting of the Council for Secular Humanism (CSH) in Amherst, New York, in response to the exclusion of non-religious children from the Boy Scouts of America and their camps, the idea for a secular summer camp for children of non-theistic and atheist families was proposed. Edwin Kagin, attending the meeting as a representative of the Free Inquiry Group of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky (FIG), brought the idea back to FIG and the group determined to actually do it, the planning committee chaired by Vern Uchtman.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.campquest.org/history|title = History}}</ref> Kagin was selected to become the camp's first director due to his having been an Eagle Scout when younger. Kagin's wife Helen Kagin and other members of FIG also took various roles at the camp. The name Camp Quest was chosen, the letters representing<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.campquest.org/ |title=Home |website=campquest.org}}</ref> "Question, Understand, Explore, Search, Test". The Morse Code for CQ (wireless call for "Seek You') also became a symbol on caps and shirts for the camp. Financial support was provided by CSH. On August 11, 1996, the first camp took place in premises owned by Bullittsburg Baptist Church in Boone County, Kentucky, with 20 children attending from five states.<ref name="Parenting Beyond Belief">{{cite book|title=Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids without Religion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nVSa06j3fgIC&pg=PA243|edition=Abridged ebook|date=15 February 2011|publisher=AMACOM|isbn=9780814474266|pages=242–243}}</ref><ref name="wp2017">{{cite news|last1=Hesse|first1=Monica|title=Camp Quest is atheists' answer to Bible school|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/camp-quest-is-atheists-answer-to-bible-school/2011/07/19/gIQAe1hRbI_story.html|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=30 July 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730095051/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/camp-quest-is-atheists-answer-to-bible-school/2011/07/19/gIQAe1hRbI_story.html|archivedate=2017-07-30}}</ref><ref name="Zuckerman_SecularLife">{{cite book|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Phil|authorlink1=Phil Zuckerman|title=Living the Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions|date=2014|publisher=Penguin Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1-59420-508-8|pages=107–109|chapter=5}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.edwinkagin.com/documents/bullittsburg/ |title=Camp Quest Lease of Baptist Summer Camp Spurs Legislative Efforts to Exempt Churches from Public Accommodation Laws |publisher=Edwin Kagin |year=1998}}</ref>
==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.<ref name=cq2017>{{cite web|title=Our History|url=https://www.campquest.org/history/|website=Camp Quest|accessdate=28 July 2017}}</ref> 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,<ref name=et2017>{{cite web|url=http://rationalists.org/|title=Rationalists of East Tennessee - Home|website=rationalists.org}}</ref> 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. The 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.<ref name="ind2017">{{cite web|title=Summertime camps boom: The 'Godless alternative' for non-believers|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/summertime-camps-boom-the-godless-alternative-for-non-believers-1675815.html|website=The Independent|date=5 January 2014|accessdate=29 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="jref"/> The first UK camp was supported by a grant from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, and was held in Somerset.<ref name="guardian">{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/29/atheist-summer-camp-somerset |title= Summer camp offers 'godless' alternative for atheists |date= 29 July 2009 |accessdate= 13 April 2014 |first= Steven |last= Morris |work= The Guardian}}</ref> 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'.<ref name="jref">{{cite web |url= http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1761-philosophising-children-and-camp-quest-uk-interview-with-samantha-stein.html |title= Philosophising Children And Camp Quest UK – Interview With Samantha Stein |accessdate= 13 April 2014 |first= Kylie |last= Sturgess |authorlink=Kylie Sturgess|work= James Randi Educational Foundation}}</ref><ref name="tele2017">{{cite web |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/5674934/Richard-Dawkins-launches-childrens-summer-camp-for-atheists.html |title= Richard Dawkins launches children's summer camp for atheists |date= 28 June 2009 |first= Ben |last= Leach |work= The Telegraph}}</ref> The Times later went on to include it in their ''Best kids camps in Britain''<ref>{{cite news|last1=Brookes|first1=Julia|title=The best kids camps in Britain|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/the-best-kids-camps-in-britain-6bxqt3f99nh|website=The Times|access-date=29 July 2017}}</ref> and ''10 best kids' adventure holidays''.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bleach|first1=Stephen|title=Britain's 10 best kids' adventure holidays|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/britains-10-best-kids-adventure-holidays-fqr3chvv3gl|website=The Times|access-date=29 July 2017}}</ref> CQUK also received support from the Humanists UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=Our supporters|url=http://camp-quest.org.uk/supporters/|website=Camp Quest UK|date=7 December 2015|accessdate=4 August 2017|archive-date=5 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805055854/http://camp-quest.org.uk/supporters/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Camp Quest Norway launched in 2011<ref name="frit2017">{{cite web|last1=Gran|first1=Even|title=Første norske Camp quest-leir neste sommer (First Norwegian Camp Quest camp next summer)|url=http://fritanke.no/index.php?page=vis_nyhet&NyhetID=6934|website=Fritanke.no|date=15 November 2010|accessdate=29 July 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729230152/http://fritanke.no/index.php?page=vis_nyhet&NyhetID=6934|archivedate=2017-07-29}}</ref> followed by Camp Quest Switzerland in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|title=Camp Quest|url=http://www.frei-denken.ch/de/ziele/evolutionarer-humanismus/camp-quest/|website=Frei Denken|accessdate=29 July 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729230710/http://www.frei-denken.ch/de/ziele/evolutionarer-humanismus/camp-quest/|archivedate=2017-07-29}}</ref> Camp Quest Ireland was held as a two-day gathering in Dublin in 2010.<ref name=ire2017>{{cite web|title=Camp Quest Ireland|url=https://www.humanism.ie/2010/04/camp-quest-ireland/|website=Humanist Association of Ireland|accessdate=29 July 2017|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729232405/https://www.humanism.ie/2010/04/camp-quest-ireland/|archivedate=2017-07-29}}</ref>
==Programs and activities== Most camps' activities include traditional summer camp events: campfires, singing, crafts, games,<ref name=wp2017/> swimming, canoeing and archery.<ref name="econ2017">{{cite news|title=Glad to be godless|url=https://www.economist.com/united-states/2009/07/16/glad-to-be-godless|newspaper=The Economist|date=16 July 2009|access-date=30 July 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101106040940/http://www.economist.com/node/14031492|archive-date=2010-11-06}}</ref> Other activities explore science and nature and might include meteorology,<ref name="nyt2017">{{cite news|last1=Hansen|first1=Susan|title=Summer Camp That's a Piece of Heaven for the Children, but Please, No Worshiping|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/29/education/summer-camp-thats-a-piece-of-heaven-for-the-children-but-please.html|website=New York Times|date=29 June 2005|accessdate=2 August 2017}}</ref> astronomy,<ref name=gua2017/> evolution or building rockets.<ref name=kotv2017/> Campers are also encouraged to explore mythology and philosophy,<ref name=frit2017/> including discussing ethics in a camp version of Socrates Cafe.<ref name="wp22017">{{cite news|last1=Mitchell|first1=Corrie|title=Camp Quest provides summer fun for atheist kids|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/camp-quest-provides-summer-fun-for-atheist-kids/2013/07/30/c441bc24-f959-11e2-a954-358d90d5d72d_story.html|newspaper=Washington Post|accessdate=2 August 2017}}</ref> Campers might also learn American Sign Language, do drama or learn to build a radio.<ref name="cqnw2017">{{cite web|title=Life at camp|url=https://campquestnorthwest.org/life-at-camp/|website=Camp Quest North West|accessdate=4 August 2017}}</ref> All the programs aim to introduce campers between the age of 8 and 17 to critical thinking, logic and freethought.<ref name=wp2017/><ref>{{cite book | title=Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe | publisher=HarperCollins | author=Epstein, Greg | year=2010 | page=237 | isbn=978-0061670121}}</ref>
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.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Marusic|first1=Kristina|title=This Camp Is Making Itself Trans-Inclusive In The Most Amazing Way|url=http://www.newnownext.com/transgender-camp-camp-quest-west/01/2017/|website=Logo TV|publisher=Viacom International|accessdate=2 August 2017}}</ref>
===Invisible unicorn challenge===
During Camp Quest attendees are tasked with the invisible unicorn challenge, aimed at showing that a negative cannot be proven.<ref name=tele2017/> 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.<ref name="gua2017">{{cite web|last1=Morris|first1=Steven|title=The great unicorn hunt|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jul/29/camp-quest-richard-dawkins|website=The Guardian|date=29 July 2009|accessdate=28 July 2017}}</ref> Since first offering this challenge in August 1996, the prize remains unclaimed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.camp-quest.org.uk/frequently-asked-questions/the-invisible-unicorn-challenge/|title=Frequently Asked Questions about Camp Quest|publisher=Camp Quest UK|date=April 29, 2009|access-date=2010-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303233901/http://www.camp-quest.org.uk/frequently-asked-questions/the-invisible-unicorn-challenge/|archive-date=2012-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
International branches: * Camp Quest UK (July 2009)<ref name=tele2017/> * Camp Quest Ireland (Held in 2010)<ref name=ire2017/> * Camp Quest Norway (July 2011)<ref name=frit2017/> * Camp Quest Schweiz (August 2013) in Switzerland.<ref name=swiss2017>{{cite web |url= http://campquest.ch/|title= Camp Quest Schweiz |accessdate= 23 May 2015}}</ref>
==See also== *Invisible Pink Unicorn *Kibbo Kift *Order of Woodcraft Chivalry *Prometheus camps *Scouting *Wandervogel *The Woodcraft Folk
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.camp-quest.org.uk/ Camp Quest UK] *[http://campquest.ch/ Camp Quest Switzerland]
Category:Humanist associations Category:1996 establishments in the United States Quest Category:Summer camps in the United Kingdom Category:Educational organizations based in the United States Category:Outdoor education Category:Outdoor education organizations Category:Youth organizations established in 1996 Category:Secularist organizations