Atheist Campers Learn Archery, Swimming, Skepticism

Atheist parents have it rough: They can't exactly pack the kids off to Bible camp for the summer. That’s changing, thanks in part to establishments like Camp Quest, a humanist-staffed getaway that promotes skepticism. Counselors teach the scientific method and deliver lectures about famous free thinkers. Kids are told invisible unicorns lurk in the woods, and offered a prize for proving they don't exist. The Economist checks it out.

Campers are encouraged to decide for themselves whether a god exists, based on the available evidence. Of course, Bible camp proprietors are appalled. The fundamentalist camp Answers in Genesis decries Camp Quest for giving kids a “hopeless” world view. But humanists say the camp helps kids who belong to a very unpopular minority. In polls, 53% of Americans say they wouldn’t vote for an atheist, suggesting they're less electable than Muslims, Mormons, and gays. (More atheism stories.)