From: Edwin Kagin, Camp Quest Director, June 23, 2002.

To: the Campers of Camp Quest 2002, Greetings.

As campers from past years know, and as new campers are now to learn, it is traditional at Camp Quest for your beloved Camp Director to each year provide you, on the first night of camp, with certain "Challenges," and invite you to provide answers to them on the final night of camp.

First a news update. As you probably know, the S.S. Quest, the spaceship you assisted with your advice at Camp Quest '97 for its 3 year, 80 day journey to the newly discovered planet Questerion, arrived safely on Questerion on November 26, 2000.

At Camp Quest ’98, and again last year, our campers provided valuable information to people of a then unknown world, we now know to be Questerion, through a warp in space and time, with information, encouraging that planet to develop their civilization along paths of rational inquiry and science rather than along paths grounded in faith and the revealed supernatural truths of priests. And the people have been attempting to do so, against the fierce opposition of those who want their religious beliefs to be made the laws for everyone.

Once again we have received a communication from these grateful people, transmitted by the Phantasmagorical Solutions Institute. Our missionaries advise that a number of religious sects on Questerion are attempting to pass laws to force schools to teach children that living things, including the people on the planet, came from something other than the natural processes of evolution. They are trying to make teachers teach religion instead of science.

Again, the people of Questerion have turned to the campers of Camp Quest for advice.

Please provide them, in a creative form of presentation, with reasons why each of these five religious beliefs about the origins of humans is valid or invalid. One such belief is assigned to each cabin. Responses to each should be under ten minutes. Use rules of fallacy if possible.

Good luck. The time-space warp will open briefly the last night of camp for your replies.

The future of a world is in your hands.

CABIN #2: People are brought from other worlds by storks as babies and they are found in pumpkin patches by adults who then take care of them.

CABIN #3: All people and animals were created out of nothing all at once in six days, more or less, by a supernatural being that was not created by anyone.

CABIN #4: Planets are actually gigantic spaceships of unknown purpose or origin. All living things live inside of one of these space ships. Everyone who has ever lived has lived inside such a ship and humans always will live inside of their ship. Someday the ships will get to wherever they are going. No one knows when that will be or what will happen then.

CABIN #5: The universe, and all planets and stars and everything we think we know about actually exists on the microscope slide of an enormous giant. The giant has been studying us for billions of years, as we know time. The giant is about ready to wash the slide.

CABIN #6: It is evil and wrong for people to try to figure out where they came from.

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