Atheist Summer
With books by Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens still selling like hotcakes, the summer of atheism continues. And not just on The New York Times bestseller list.
While tens of thousands of kids head out to Christian camps, Camp Quest is offering an alternative for those who take their summer recreation without God. About 150 young people attend Camp Quest programs in Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, California, and Ontario, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.
The founder, Edwin Kagin, is legal director for the group American Atheists. He said the atheist camp was founded after the Boy Scouts barred atheists and gays from leadership roles during the 1990s. "We wanted a camp not to preach there is no God," said Kagin, "but as a place where children could learn it's OK not to believe in God."
The Tribune interviewed several young campers in Ohio about their beliefs, or lack thereof. I don't think evangelistically minded Christians have a lot to worry about in overcoming their intellectual objections to the faith. Here is a sampling:
"[Sophia] Riehemann notes that a secular perspective takes away childhood joys other kids have, such as Christmas. But that doesn't bother her. 'They have Santa Claus,' she said, 'and we have Isaac Newton.'"
Actually, Sophia, I hate to break this to you, but you have Santa Claus (though not St. Nicholas), and we have Isaac Newton.
Then there is Allison Page, who is described as a 9-year-old only child. Reflecting on the biblical story of Cain and Abel, Allison opines, "It just doesn't make sense. A brother wouldn't kill his brother."
Ah, the innocence of children. Just wait until you have siblings, Allison.
posted by Stan Guthrie at 9:11 AM
StanGuthrie.com
4 Comments:
Truly, your ability to refute the arguments of 9 year olds is stunning indeed.
Hey, my point is not the 9-year-old's arguments, but the "non-proselytizing" adults who feed them this stuff and then pat themselves on the back for their superior intellect. Glad you got the joke!
So "actually" we have Isaac Newton, huh? Are you hinting here that Newton was a Man of God?
I wondered about the Newton comment, too. I found the following at http://www.newton.cam.ac.uk/newtlife.html, quoted from Microsoft Encarta
"Newton also wrote on Judaeo-Christian prophecy. ... [The book's] message was that Christianity went astray in the 4th century AD, when the first Council of Nicaea propounded erroneous doctrines of the nature of Christ. ... Although a critic of accepted Trinitarian dogmas and the Council of Nicaea, he possessed a deep religious sense, venerated the Bible and accepted its account of creation. In late editions of his scientific works he expressed a strong sense of God's providential role in nature."
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