BSA camps always have that undertone/vibe happening: I remember sitting head-up in the mess hall – the only kid doing so, I noticed – while the other kids were following the scout leaders in rather banal prayer. The only good side was that they all genuinely had their eyes closed, so i wasn’t noticed and singled out.

There are church camps a-plenty out there as it is that do more to move the message and sell salvation. Not surprisingly, they’re quite expensive from what I’ve heard.

A place like this, where it’s just about camping and having a good time with no religious undertones of any kind, is what the experience should be no matter where a kid goes! Learn outdoorsy stuff: putting up a tent, maybe building a lean-to, getting a ripping good fire going, checking out local wildlife…

Seriously, do you really need God for all that?

I agree: The Times should apologize for what is clearly a case of making a mountain out of a mole hill, probably to cause an uproar among people of ‘faith’ for the sheer news value.

Maybe Dawkins’s atheist kiddy camps can educate these already overindulged middle-class children as to why more than 80% of all voluntary and charity work in this country is carried out by faith (mostly Jewish and Christian) groups. That he might prevent them from turning out to be as smug, selfish and generally joyless as the majority of adult atheists is already a lost cause, I fear.

Julie Burchill

Ah yes, the former Mrs Tony Parsons admonishing atheists for being “joyless” and their children for being “over-indulged” and “middle class”. What wonderful irony.