Free Thinking Vacation

Now Religion in the News, a report and comment on religious trends and events being covered the media,This week’s item is from an ad in the Cincinnati Inquirer titled:CampQuest, It’s Beyond Belief.The following are excerpts:Camp Quest is the first residential summer camp in the history of the United States for the children of atheists, free thinkers, humanists, brights, or whatever other term might be applied to those who hold to a naturalistic, not supernatural life stance.Campers are encouraged to think for themselves and are not required to hold any particular view.Daily activities include swimming, archery, sports, crafts, challenges, board games, famous free thinkers, biology critical thinking and comparative religions.Counselors are free thinkers from all walks of life.Camp Quest Inc. is a not for profit, educational organization.It’s purpose is to provide children of free thinking parents a residential summer camp dedicated to improving the human condition through rational inquiry, critical and creative thinking, scientific methods, self respect, ethics, competency, democracy, free speech and the separation of religion and government guaranteed by the constitution of the United States.

Tom:

Dave, usually we have a news article something like that but this was an ad from a newspaper in Ohio, Cincinnati Inquirer, and I thought it was interesting because, well, you’re working on a book that addresses atheism, and not just our old atheism, but now we are seeing it very aggressive perspective.So now we have for our kids, we have camps for atheists, so they don’t have to deal with any religious view as a matter of fact, although as we saw this they are going to have some classes in comparative religions.I don’t know what they are going to do with that, except to debunk them.

Dave:

Yeah, Tom, they don’t know anything about religion.

Tom:

Well, except I think this is a religious world.

Dave:

Of course it is, but they are not going to give an honest picture of that.Well Tom, one thing that I’m happy about with this camp in this article is at least they are not Calvinists.They are free thinkers, they say, We can think, We’re free to think and choose whatever we want.Okay.We’re free to reject God or we are free to believe in Him.Now that would have to be the case, Tom, otherwise belief wouldn’t be belief and love would not be love.Tom, God did not create us robots just to say, I love you God,I love you God, I believe in you God.No, there’s all the evidences out there and God himself said, Come now and let us reason together.

Tom:

Dave, I agree with what you are saying, but there’s, as you know, there’s another problem here.Let’s say I show up with an open mind and I want to be, as we’ve mentioned over and over on this program, critical thinking is something that’s not around in the church as much today.

Dave:

It’s what they say they are going to promote.

Tom:

So critical thinking.So if I come in with an idea that there is a God, are they going to allow me to be thoughtful enough to think through these things or are they going to throw me out of camp?

Dave:

Well, I don’t know, Tom, I’m not going to prejudge them, but probably that wouldn’t be very welcome.

Tom:

Well, you can see their biases.

Dave:

They are going to try to convert you.

Tom:

I’d love it if they stuck with the scientific method which they mentioned here, but ethics, free speech and separation of religion and government guaranteed by the constitution of the United States?Again Dave, you say you don’t want to prejudge them, but we have seen this aggressive, atheism, it is a religion in itself and it is against, primarily biblical Christianity, but they don’t like the others as well.

Dave:

Tom, it is irrational, and you said I am writing a book about it.Yes, I am, one of the main things in the book is, well, one of my chapters is titled, From Big Bang To DNA?There never was a big bang, and I quote all kinds of scientists to that affect.Where did the energy come from?Furthermore, we have the law of biogenesis.It was Louis Pasteur who came up with that.You sterilize something, you don’t get life out of it.The law of biogenesis is life comes from life.The Bible says, In Him was life, He gave the life to us.Okay?Now, the Big Bang would have sterilized every substance that was part of it trillions of times over, and now you’re going to get life out of there?And I think in the book I quote a Nobel Prize winner, HarvardUniversity professor, and he says:Well, we all know the law of biogenesis, well, life only comes from life.But if you believe that, then you know it’s something supernatural had to be a source of life outside of this dead universe.And he says, No, I know that spontaneous generation is impossible, but I’m going to stick with that because the only alternative is I would have to believe in God.

Tom:

Well Dave, guess what?This isn’t going to sadden you too much but you can’t go to this camp because they say it’s for atheists, humanists, free thinkers, brights, or whatever other terms might be applied to those who hold to a naturalistic, not supernatural world view.

Dave:

Oh, Tom, you can’ get in, I’m sorry, but at least they understand naturalistic is not supernatural, but “The Secret” is talking about some pretty supernatural stuff, but it’s also naturalistic, they got it together.Pat Roberts did the same thing in his SecretKingdom based on eight laws, remember?Now this can be naturalistic, this is just how it works.No, God, He decides the laws, and it is supernatural.Tom, you couldn’t be a Christian if you don’t believe in supernatural.The resurrection of the dead is supernatural.