Creation Camp?

Newsweek carried a depressing article this morning. It seem that if parents are tired of God’s little angels, they can send them off to creation camp for the summer. And naturally for those so inclined, there’s an atheist camp for the little tikes too.

Now I know this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to me. I imagine there’s a summer camp for just about every demographic imaginable, including vegan black angus cattle ranching children. But it’s downright depressing and for a couple of reasons.

First, it just deepens the divide that much further. Apparently before the kids are even ready to fight about it, there parents are stirring the pot. I understand (and strongly support) teaching your kids values as they grow up. But creation camp? Why don’t we just start making the villains in two year old’s stories field biologists.

Secondly, if you’re indoctrinating your kid in this way from a young age, it’s going to be a very painful process for both you and them when they start asking questions. For example, one of the organizations mentioned in the article also offers a dinosaur dig.

Experience a paleontology dig in a protected setting. You’ll participate in uncovering several dinosaur skeletons. Along with working in the hands–on dig, you’ll learn about flood geology, the Biotic Message Theory, and visit local natural wonders!

Ah, a protected setting! Thank God. Those paleontologists are terrifying people.

Let me suggest something to these parents. If they think exposing their children to dinosaurs is going to convince them that we live in a world 6,000 years old, they may not have thought this out to its logical conclusion. These camps set the stage for a very painful process for any kid smart enough to read a few books and ask a few questions.

This is pain and misery — both for the kid and the family — that’s unnecessary.

And finally, I have one other objection to Christian summer camps. I think that many times, they take the euphoria that comes with sleep deprivation and turn it into the power of God. It’s a tough call. I’m not against having a bunch of Christian kids get together for a fun experience. But God does not exist (nor work most powerfully) only on summer vacations. And I think kids would do quite well to learn this message, starting from their parents.