Comments on: Dawkins funds atheist summer camp

By: Sara Leighs - English revert to Islam

Sara Leighs - English revert to Islam — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 23:41:22 +0000

So he’s setting out to brainwash just like religious schools and churches etc. Just shows that athiesm is and always will be the faith of the human ego. thiests worhsip some kind of god athiests worship their belief in themselves.

Interestingly both thiests(christian’s, jews etc) and athiests think they are 100% correct in their belief yet neither’s evidence withstands critical apprasial.

By: Andy Evans

Andy Evans — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:59:36 +0000

I think Dawkins is starting to believe his own hype. ‘The Richard Dawkins Foundation’? Do me a favour!

By: Karina

Karina — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:59:13 +0000

I don’t see anything wrong with an athiest summer camp. Religion consumes our society. Take Christmas for instance. Although I revel in the commercialism as much as the next, why not simply admit what it is – an ancient pagan festival. I hate lying to children. Santa Claus is a big fun guy but he does not climb down chimneys and he certainly does not bring you the presents – no that comes from mummys hard earn cash that she has been saving up all year. And don’t even get me started on the nativity play. But despite my own beliefs, I never follow through with them, because the rest of society would say : ah that poor kid. Isn’t her mother awful. So I go along with the fanfair like everyone else.I think it is great to teach kids to open their minds and not be manipulated so maybe the next generation will be less putty in the hands of whoever it is that wishes to mould them.

By: Don

Don — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:01:55 +0000

Worth reading

http://www.camp-quest.org.uk/media/press-releases/corrections-to-sunday-times-series-of-articles-printed-2862009/

Even supposedly positive articles have to be double-checked, it seems.

By: flapjack

flapjack — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:38:15 +0000

SGC – Regarding crop circles, everyone knows crop circles are made by stoned wallabies!

By: Ricky

Ricky — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:38:36 +0000

If we are to counteract the poison of religion, peddled to our children like crack cocaine on a daily basis, we need more projects like. Religion is an evil which plays on our children’s’ fears, throttles their imaginations, imposes false morality on them and reduces the real wonder of our existence to a mere fairy story.
Well done for Richard D for helping to fund such a worthwhile project. I’d rather leave my kids in the hands of atheists than to the ‘tender’ care of a group or scoutmasters, priests or nuns – so much for religion!

By the way the whole point about the unicorn is that you can’t prove it does not exist. Merely by being unable to prove something doesn’t exist does not mean is exists! Now apply that reasoning to god.

By: ScreamingGreenConure

ScreamingGreenConure — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:09:24 +0000

What we really need is a camp that teaches kids to make their own crop circles.

By: Ms G

Ms G — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:01:54 +0000

I may hope they will leave the kids some hope and dreams here and there. It’s not always about reason I’d say. And about crop circles .. I hope the kids get to have their own say about it as well, or what they would like it to be. Next to what they think it probably is. Well, the younger ones will come up with interesting stuff, I’m sure about that. My little cousin talks about the 2 little red buttons on our back which makes us invisible and about trashcans underneath the roots of plants (very practical I thought). And that we were doing silly things, we, the two of us, not because we were crazy .. but for fun (not all people understood that he thought).

They find their own way quite well most of the time … and will enjoy exploring their own brain … in all its facets … Let’s not forget how we got where we are now …. and see also the good points …

These camps … they make it sound a bit … depressive .. like .. they are going to tell the kids that all that nice stuff ..it’s just not true .. and then they will tell them what they will have to see … the cold truth … The oldest ones even need to be capeable to play .. Oh, and they taught me stuff .. which I never took in as my own … so let’s hope that is all most kids will do … listen .. check stuff .. and make up their own mind as far as possible.
The extreme floaters might need some help here and there but I did not encounter those at any moment in my life I have to say .. we all seemed to float …. it is another way of surviving this not so nice place called planet earth .. life is not always that nice, even not for kids. They are just bored in some part as the adults.

By: ScreamingGreenConure

ScreamingGreenConure — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:38:57 +0000

KatM: what you say about reaching encouraging kids to question and think around what they’re taught was what I first thought this article meant when it talked about teaching kids skepticism, but I’m not so sure now. I do think a camp with science and general philosophy would be better than this idea.
http://www.camp-quest.org/ here is Camp Quest’s website. I am not sure I really like them very much and I don’t feel altogether happy about what is basically segregation – I understand that parents might not want to send their kids to a camp with religious content and there’s definitely a place for camps without that, but a camp JUST for the kids of atheists and secular humanists? That’s just seperating them from their religiously brought-up friends for the summer, and that helps nobody at all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Quest the Wikipedia article makes me like them even less.

By: Giant Alex

Giant Alex — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:27:58 +0000

Indoctrination is indoctrination whether the ploy is atheistic, religious, or la la monkeyism. Children should be allowed to be children first and foremost. How about a summer camp without ulterior motives? Strikes me as tit-for-tat bollocks to be honest. Christians have a summer camp so I’m going to have an atheist summer camp. Handbags.

Oh and Dawkins is intelligent and at a push has integrity….but compassion…Seriously?