Dawkins Supports First UK Atheist Kids' Camp | The Institute for Creation Research

Dawkins Supports First UK Atheist Kids' Camp

The God Delusion author Richard Dawkins has sponsored a week-long summer camp geared towards making atheists out of children. The camp is a UK arm of Camp Quest, and its 24 slots had been booked even before the BBC and The Sunday Times ran brief stories about it back in June.

Camp Quest’s motto is “It’s beyond belief” and the camp targets children between the ages of eight and seventeen. It started in North America in 1996, and now has locations in Ohio, the Smoky Mountains, Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan, and California.1 Camp Quest UK, located in Bath, England, is the first branch to operate outside of North America.

“CQUK is the first residential summer camp for the children of atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and all those who embrace a naturalistic rather than supernatural world view,” according to the camp’s website.2

The 2009 summer theme focuses on evolution, with this being “Darwin year” in honor of the British naturalist’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species.

The CQUK website posted a response to The Sunday Times article on June 28 depicting it as an atheist camp,3 stating that “Camp Quest is often labeled as an ‘atheist camp’ as we have a non-religious ethos, but we are open to the children from parents of all belief systems and none.”2

But with morning activities like “Philosophy for Children (P4C), pseudoscience…[and] evolution,” as well as financial support from Dawkins’ foundation and the British Humanist Association—which posted anti-God ads on buses last year4—it certainly seems like a camp aimed at turning children against their peers of faith.

The camp will also feature archery, zip wires, climbing, canoeing, as well as an “assault course.”

While people of faith may frown upon Camp Quest and its agenda, camps like this are the proper venues for parents who hold secular views to teach their children the same values they have.

Our taxpayer-funded public schools, which remain firmly entrenched in a Darwin-only, anti-faith philosophy, are not.

References

  1. Camp Quest: The Secular Summer Camp website.
  2. Camp Quest UK website.
  3. Rogers, L. Dawkins sets up kids’ camp to groom atheists. The Sunday Times. Posted on timesonline.co.uk June 28, 2009.
  4. Dao, C. Dawkins Supports ‘No God’ Ads. ICR News. Posted on icr.org October 23, 2008, accessed July 14, 2009.

* Ms. Dao is Assistant Editor at the Institute for Creation Research.

Article posted on July 27, 2009.

The Latest
ACTS & FACTS
ICR 2025 Resource Catalog
At the Institute for Creation Research, our mission is not only to conduct research demonstrating how science confirms Scripture but also to share this...

NEWS
Show Your Love for the ICR Discovery Center on North Texas Giving...
Thursday, September 18, is North Texas Giving Day! We invite you to join others in supporting ICR’s unique ministry as well as our creation museum...

NEWS
Living Gyroscope in Flies
The lowly fruit fly (Drosophila) is the research biologist’s friend in fields such as biomedical science, genetics, and developmental biology....

NEWS
Turning Point Founder Charlie Kirk Is Now with the Lord
Courageous Christian and creation supporter Charlie Kirk was murdered on September 10, 2025, while speaking at a Turning Point USA event held at Utah...

NEWS
Deliverance from Fear
“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4) There are many things in such a world as ours that...

CREATION PODCAST
Can We Build a REAL Jurassic Park?! | The Creation Podcast: Episode...
In 1993, the movie Jurassic Park took the world by storm with its compelling characters, excellent cinematography, industry-altering...

NEWS
Project Artifact: The Spear
DALLAS, TX, September 9, 2025 — It’s finally here! Today marks the official launch of the Institute for Creation Research’s highly...

NEWS
Flood Tsunamis Transported Trees and Amber
A recent study published in Scientific Reports found strange globs of tree resin (amber) mixed within claimed ancient (Cretaceous) deep-water sediments...

NEWS
Secular Paper Admits ''Unreasonable Likelihood'' of Abiogenesis
A recent popular science article begins with the words, “A new study published in July 2025 tackles one of science’s most profound mysteries...

NEWS
September 2025 ICR Wallpaper
"Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What...