Is After School Satan Club coming to your kids’ school?

A group called The Satanic Temple has launched a nationwide after school club to counter Christian student organizations in public schools. However, the group says the ruling says schools operate a “limited public forum”, and therefore can’t discriminate against religious groups holding after school programs on school premises. Religious after-school programs in public schools used to be rare because the establishment clause in the Constitution prohibited them.

The Good News Club is a project of the Child Evangelism Fellowship; it’s been operating in elementary schools since the 1930s, and it has an explicitly and exclusively evangelical bent.

The Satanic Temple group fight for children’s right to choose between Christ and the Satan, which is guaranteed by the First amendment.

The group plans to petition schools so its curriculum can be part of official clubs as early as this fall.

The Satanic Temple has become known over the past few years for its dogged pursuit of religious equality.

Last week, representatives of the Satanic Temple got together in Salem, Massachusetts to discuss how they are going to get their pilot program off the ground.

Rather than this being a club preaching devil worship, the group says it is instead aiming to raise awareness of and offset religious evangelism in public schools by teaching children about science, rationalism and critical thinking. To attend, kids must have a signed permission slip from their parents.

The Good News Clubs are sponsored by the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), and were largely excluded from public schools due to their supposed violation of seperation of church and state. It will give them an option other than the Good News Club, which he claimed instills children “with a fear of Hell and God’s wrath”.

The Satanic Temple answered that question on Monday with an announcement about its new program, the After School Satan Club (ASSC). After all, snacks and science lessons are good for kids, and parents can always explain afterward why Satan is not the best role model.

Mesner also points out that the evangelical Liberty Counsel, a law firm that represented Kentucky clerk Kim Davis and a host of other aggrieved Christians in big lawsuits, helped make After School Satan possible.

You might be wondering what school would let a Satanic club in, but the Supreme Court has a pretty simple answer.

In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that religious groups seeking to use public school facilities “after school” must be treated as non-religious groups and allowed to organize. “Every club also includes strong discipleship training to build character and strengthen moral and spiritual growth”, The Post noted.

“It’s probably dust they’re kicking up and is likely to fade away in the near future for lack of interest”, Staver said.