On Wednesday, November 16th, The Satanic Temple launched our first After School Satan Club (ASSC) at Sacramento Elementary School in Portland, OR. While the presence of a religious organization in public schools will no doubt be shocking to some, evangelical litigants; primarily the Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) represented by lawyers from the Liberty Counsel, have solidly established the legal rights of religious organizations to operate clubs in public schools.
School districts across the nation have received letters from The Satanic Temple explaining that we will be offering our clubs in their schools this coming school year, and parents in those schools can expect to be presented with a permission slip from their children in the first weeks of the Fall semester. All of the districts we've approached are nearby to local chapters of The Satanic Temple, and each school district has hosted or is now hosting, Good News Clubs (GNC) in their schools.
According to the CEF website, "the purpose of Good News Club is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living." These clubs essentially aim to turn schools into mission fields, encouraging young students to spread the gospel to fellow students and offer rewards of treats and candy for proselytising to their non-churched peers. Further, the curriculum of the GNC is categorically harmful to young minds. Intrinsic Dignity, a volunteer-driven non-profit organization whose mission is to challenge religious practices that harm children has reported that "The most recent Good News Club literature cycle, completed spring 2011, placed a heavy emphasis on sin (~5000 mentions), obedience (>1000 mentions), punishment (~1000 mentions), and hell (>250 allusions, including 52 direct uses of the word "Hell";)"
While 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 believe that it's important for young people to understand that there is a diversity of beliefs and principles represented within their communities and that they have the freedom to learn about and explore all of these perspectives without fear of retribution.
Our first ASSC meeting held on Wednesday was met with both a great deal of support and protest from outside groups. Particularly, the Catholic group called "America Needs Fatima," part of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property which presents it's own irony as CEF's USA Organization Policy Manual sec. 200.1.3.3, explicitly states that it does not affiliate with churches that do not "teach the Word of God as outlined in CEF's "Statement of Faith," explicitly disassociating themselves from the Roman Catholic Church. This group hosted prayers alongside the bellows of live bagpipes and held signs that condemned "evil," in the school.
The school let out students an hour early prior to our open house due to the commotion of the protest outside. Of course, many parents placed blame on us despite the fact that we were not involved in any way with protest actions and were simply trying to host an informational meeting for interested students. Fortunately, several students and parents completed permission slips and joined After School Satan. We look forward to launching our next ASSC in Seattle next month.
If you're aware of a chapter of The Good News Club in a school near you and would like to see After School Satan in your district please contact us at [email protected].
For more information about After School Satan: https://afterschoolsatan.com
For more information about Good News Clubs: http://www.goodnewsclubs.info
Photo by Jex Blackmore. Video from Lizzy Acker | The Oregonian/OregonLive
