By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-524031.mp3
Holland , NY – For most kids, going away to summer camp is a chance to make new friends, sing goofy campfire songs and go exploring. There are some serious-minded parents who will send their kids to specialty camps, that mix in stuff like science or math. But one local humanist group is putting a political spin on the theme-camp idea.
Kids sitting around the campfire this summer at the first "Camp Inquiry" pondered things like the origins of life, separation of church and state and other controversial topics.
Nestled among the woods and meadows of Holland New York is Camp Seven Hills. It's a camp owned by the girl scouts. But kids from lots of different groups flock here each summer to go hiking, sing around campfires or just giggle through the night inside rustic cabins. This year, a humanist group from Amherst, the Center for Inquiry Transnational, started its own camping tradition here.
At first brush this seems like most other summer camp experiences. A camp counselor guiding 18 kids, ages seven to 16 through the woods. They're exploring, learning about nature, catching frogs. But this natural history hike is over arched with politics.
At 6'10" tall, camp counselor Sean Hulsman has no trouble keeping this bunch's attention - even when the topic isn't quite as lively as frogs. For instance, say the debate over evolution versus creationism.
Hulsman is a 33-year-old paramedic who describes himself as a spiritual person. But Hulsman said he supports the ideas the camp is promoting.
For Hulsman it really is all about science. He's studying to be a high school science teacher. Hulsman said he applied for the week-long camp job because he is concerned that religion is being used to change the way kids think.
At age 16, Trenin Bayless from Montana is the oldest of the campers and traveled the farthest to get here. He's also the most outspoken.
Bayless said he was raised by his parents, his mother a doctor, his father a math teacher - to do his own thinking. And Bayless said that makes this the right place for him.
"A lot of my friends go to church camp or witch camp, so I figured I'd go to atheist camp," said Bayless.
The younger kids, who are all remarkably intelligent, aren't really sure what the camp is all about.
There's plenty to help these skeptical campers sort it all out. Posters line the walls inside the lodge - showing life on earth, milestones of science, and even a baby Einstein, complete with mustache and crazy hair.
There are lectures on media literacy, religious based-superstitions, and how to defend against intolerance. And there are games, such as the one that sorts out evolution winners and losers.
But, as some of the kids mentioned, there's pure fun too.
The campers slosh their cans filled with plaster of paris down the hillside into the woods. That's where they will make imprints and leave their own "evidence" of bigfoot.
This is just one of many topics kids are being taught to be skeptical about. CFI Education Director Amanda Chesworth is camp coordinator. She said the Center, which also publishes the Skeptical Inquirer and Free Inquirer magazines, isn't making any money on this new venture.
In fact, this first year of camp Chesworth said lost about $10,000.
But Chesworth called it an investment. She said their supporters - about 100,000 strong from around the United States, as well as other countries - say this kind of summer camp is needed and long overdue. But Chesworth said the intention isn't really to counter religious-based camps.
Chesworth said CFI has plans to expand Camp Inquiry next year. There will be additional sessions in Western New York. The group will also be setting up camp in California and Florida.
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