Camp Quest - History

History

In November 1995, a meeting was hosted by the Council For Democratic and Secular Humanism (CODESH, now the Council for Secular Humanism), focusing on ways to promote secular humanism. A member of the Free Inquiry Group of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky (FIG), attorney and Eagle Scout Edwin Kagin, presented the idea for a secular summer camp to counter the exclusion of nontheists from the Boy Scouts of America. Though many participants were skeptical of the feasibility, and a few opposed it in principle, Paul Kurtz encouraged Kagin and FIG to create the camp.

The first camp began August 11, 1996, as a project of FIG, with Kagin as camp director. For the first two years the camp was held at a facility owned by the Bullitsburg Baptist Assembly in Boone County, Kentucky. Despite minor complaints from both Camp Quest and the Baptist group, the sessions went smoothly.

For the camp's third year, FIG had decided to relocate to a nearby YMCA camp in Ohio, Camp Kern. The Northern Kentucky Baptist Association then sought the legal right to restrict the use of their campgrounds based on religious beliefs. At their request, then-Kentucky Representative Tom Kerr sponsored legislation (House Bill 70) exempting religious organizations from the common anti-discrimination requirements of public accommodation laws. That bill passed over the governor's veto in 2000.

In 2002, Camp Quest moved to its third location, another YMCA-owned facility, Camp Campbell Gard, which is located in Hamilton, Ohio, approximately 40 miles north of Cincinnati. That same year, the organization incorporated under the name Camp Quest, Inc., an independent educational non-profit organization, with Fred Edwords as its first president.

Camp Quest, Inc. now serves as an umbrella group for all Camp Quest affiliates in North America. Edwin Kagin, with his wife Helen, continued as co-directors of the original Camp Quest, now known as Camp Quest Ohio or Camp Quest Classic, at its Ohio location until their retirement after the summer of 2005. August Brunsman IV assumed the position of Camp Director at that time; he is also Executive Director of the Secular Student Alliance. That same year, Amanda Metskas became president of Camp Quest, Inc. In 2007, Camp Quest Ohio moved to 4-H Camp Graham in Clarksville, Ohio, its current location.

The first affiliated group to begin operating a second Camp Quest summer camp session was the Rationalists of East Tennessee, which hosted its first camp session in Tennessee under the name Camp Quest of the Smoky Mountains in 2002. Other Camp Quest affiliates in North America, and dates of their inaugural camp sessions, include: Camp Quest of Michigan in 2003, Camp Quest Minnesota in 2004, Camp Quest Ontario in 2005, Camp Quest West (located in California) in 2006, Camp Quest Texas in 2010, and Camp Quest Chesapeake (located in Virginia), Camp Quest Montana, and Camp Quest South Carolina in 2011, and Camp Quest NorthWest (in Washington State) in 2012.

Camp Quest has also expanded outside North America. Camp Quest UK launched in the United Kingdom in 2009, set up by Samantha Stein. The 2009 camp received a £495 donation from the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. CQUK also received support from the British Humanist Association and many private donators. The prize for the 'Invisible Unicorn Challenge' was changed to a £10 note (all Bank of England £10 notes bear the image of Charles Darwin), which is autographed by Richard Dawkins. This prize also remains unclaimed. In 2010 Camp Quest Ireland held a two-day day session to kick off their program. And Camp Quest Norway launched in 2011.