A Particular Blog By A Particular Atheist: Camp Quest Oklahoma Kicked Out Of Their Own Fundraiser

Monday, April 8, 2013

Camp Quest Oklahoma Kicked Out Of Their Own Fundraiser

During a fundraiser for Camp Quest Oklahoma at Oklahoma Joe's, they were asked to leave, specifically because they are a secular organization.

You can see the various details on Reddit^[1]. Oklahoma Joe's stance appears to be that they didn't realize that the Camp Quest is associated with atheists and is secular^[2] when they agreed to the fundraiser^[3]. That's their defense, to admit that they would have rejected the fundraiser, for a summer camp for kids, if they had known that the people running the camp dare to run it in a secular manner, which really just means that they don't preach to the kids. They think that's a defense?

Camp Quest Oklahoma's table at Skepticon was right next to the tables I was volunteering at, so I got to meet a few of their volunteers. They're wonderful people. Any kid would be lucky to spend a week at camp with them.

It's unfortunate. I've often made a point to go to Oklahoma Joe's whenever I'm in Kansas City. ~~Now I'll be making a point to never go there again~~. Luckily, they've made a point of separating themselves from the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma location^[8].

You can donate to Camp Quest Oklahoma here^[4], or Camp Quest in general here^[5].

Update: Camp Quest Oklahoma also has a Kickstarter for their art project^[6]^[7].

Update2: I linked to his entries, but I forgot to include that Dave Muscato was on this like Donkey Kong, showing me that American Atheists made a good hire (as if I didn't already know that the moment I learned they'd hired him).

Update3: I've added a correction regarding the association of the Kansas City Oklahoma Joe's and the one where this incident occurred in Oklahoma.