Make way for Lucifer!
The Satanic Temple is working to get an after school program going in elementary schools, called the After School Satan Club. They hope to start the program in schools that already have Good News Clubs, which are affiliated with evangelical Christianity.
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The Supreme Court ruled in Good News Club v. Milford Central School, in 2001, that a school operates a “limited public forum” and may not discriminate against free speech that takes place within that forum based on the viewpoint it expresses.
How about we take this to the next level?
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The Satanic Temple does not believe in any higher being, including Satan, but instead use the imagery and spectacle of Satanism in order to promote equality and the separation of church and state.
“It’s important that children be given an opportunity to realize that the evangelical materials now creeping into their schools are representative of but one religious opinion amongst many,” the After School Satan Club website read. “While the Good News Clubs focus on indoctrination, instilling them with a fear of Hell and God’s wrath, After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism, the scientific basis for which we know what we know about the world around us. We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors.”
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The Good News Clubs are run by the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). They describe themselves as a “Bible-centered organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living.”
Amy Monsky, the former executive director of the Atheist Alliance of America, has been working with the Satanic Temple to develop a curriculum for its after-school program, reports The Huffington Post.
It will be staffed by volunteers and will cover “several areas of knowledge like science and art, philosophy and culture,” Monsky said.
Co-founder of The Satanic Temple, Lucien Greaves, aka Douglas Mesner, said he is already hearing from interested teachers.
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“There’s a huge population of people who have been screaming about these Good News Clubs and are disgusted by their presence in the schools,” he said. “This is finally kind of blowing the lid off of all of that and making it a bigger public issue.”
But he also expects some push back.
“I think there’s going to be some schools that don’t want us there for sure,” he said. “I do expect we’ll have to round up legal counsel in at least more than one case.”
The group also produced an activity book for kids, “The Satanic Children’s Book Big Book of Activities,” which they handed out in front of schools to counter the Bible being passed out in this manner. They also sell the book on their site, for $9.95.
Watch the promo video The Satanic Temple released to get everyone excited about their unusual after school program.
Would you let your child attend an After School Satan Club? Let us know in the comments.
Stache
Wonderful wholesome idea. Hail Satan!
Mo Bro
I heard this was a liberal-leaning website, and I’ve noticed a lot of articles aren’t lgbt-oriented but merely digs at conservatives, but satanism? For kids? Holy shit, what’s next—abortions for sport? Blowing up oil reserves? Freeing all criminals? Global communism?
(I realize I just made a lot of you cum reading that short list, so you’re welcome)
Kieran
@Mo Bro: They’re cool with Satan clubs for kids, but Trump clubs in schools would be crossing the line.
ErikO
@Mo Bro: Exactly this isn’t LGBT news and it has nothing to do with the LGBT community.
Kieran
@ErikO: Putting this on a gay website plays right into the hands of those who see gays as “agents of evil”.
Alistair Wiseman
All Hail Diversity!
dwes09
@Mo Bro: @ErikO: This IS LGBT news and if you were even a little astute and had read the article you would see why.
“Good News Clubs” will push the bs that being LGBT is sinful and leads to eternity in hell. After all that is one of their core beliefs. In case you are unaware it is the encouragement of guilt and self hatred that accounts for the high levels of suicide and emotional problems in LGBT youth.
By contrast Satan Clubs will have no such agenda, but will encourage young minds to seek out actual knowledge and hone critical thinking skills. Something that appears to have been lacking in your upbringing. This is way more important LGBT news than which celebrity accidentally bared their junk!
dwes09
@Kieran: Putting this on a gay website plays right into the hands of those who see gays as “agents of evil”.
Would you prefer we obediently kowtow to those people and try not to offend them as they attempt to push us back into the closet? Not wise at all. We should support anything that encourages freedom of thought and freedoms from bizarre Christian guilt and denial of the real world.
ErikO
@Kieran: Very true.
DDstar1me
The blood of Jesus. Noooooo…This entire article needs some bless oil.
Xzamilio
I mean if you’ve read the bible, Satan’s the better one between him and God.
Alistair Wiseman
What is wrong, Queerty?
My first censored post of the day just occurred.
What are you so afraid of? Diversity of thought?
Xzamilio
@dwes09: Oh that’s so fucking dumb. You’re the same ones that will cry about Christian persecution when a bakery won’t make a cake for a gay couple, but bend over backwards finding anything to defend Islam when it’s throwing gay men off of roofs and and slitting throats and repressing women and other sexual minorities. The only reason I would even support a Satanist club is if other religious clubs were in place at that school. And even then the overall point isn’t to push Satanism but to make the school district adhere to the First Amendment.
Xzamilio
Not ALL though… NOT ALL!!!
Hussain-TheCanadian
Am I the only one who read that they will be teaching kids about “Art, science, and philosophy”?
Isn’t that a good thing?
dinard38
I understand their objective, but they could have taken a different approach that wouldn’t be so controversial. I don’t buy into Satan and the God of the bible either (I’m specifically pointing out the God of the bible because, while I consider myself more agnostic, I cannot believe that that monster portrayed in the old testament is the true God), but they’re still using Satanic imagery to make their statement. And whether you believe in Satan or not, those Satanic imagery just have such negative and disturbing connotations. So no!! I wouldn’t let my kids go to that club. But if they changed the name and not use satanic symbolism, then I would let them.
P.S. Queerty, why did you remove the option to be notified when someone replies to my comment?
crumb bum
I think the point is that if it’s okay to have religious clubs of one stripe in schools, it should be okay to religious clubs of any stripe.
Additionally, while a “Satanic” kid’s group is certainly provocative, I think it is a repudiation of the respectability game far-right Christians are playing. These conservative Christian groups indoctrinate children into a bigoted belief system under a veneer of piety and respectability; the satanic church is basically saying ‘to hell with respectability’ – what matters is exposing children to humane values and a variety of viewpoints.