The Christian-based after school Good News Club has functioned in public schools in numerous cities for more than 10 years. Children at the clubs learn about the Bible, missions and music and are taught by trained volunteers who want to share the gospel with boys and girls.
But soon, if approved by an elementary school in Tacoma, Washington, children will have another after school option — the After School Satan Club (ASSC).
According to the founder of the Satanic Temple of Seattle, Lilith Starr, ASSC should be allowed in any school and “cannot be denied wherever Christian or any other religious clubs operate.”
Access was approved by Mount Vernon School District north of Seattle, but space would not be available until April 2017 so Starr has worked to obtain space at Point Defiance Elementary School in Tacoma. If approved, space would be available to ASSC by the end of November.
‘Target young children’
“We think [satanic clubs are] especially important when religious clubs target young children ages 5 to 12,” Starr said. “Because at these ages it can be hard for children to distinguish between official educators and the teachers proselytizing to them in the after-school clubs.”
The group also states on its website that they do not worship Satan or try to get students to convert to Satanism. One ethicist likened their group more to “atheist” activists than to Satan-worshippers.
But Christian parents in Tacoma are voicing their opposition, according to The Christian Post.
“My son will not be at a school where they’re preaching against what I believe,” said Bishop Michael Doss of Deliverance House of Prayer. “And if I have to take my baby out of Tacoma schools, I’m going to home-school because they want to allow this stuff, I’ll do that.”
Tacoma, however, is not alone in this after school club battle.
In Portland, Oregon, ASSC was approved to begin its program, focusing “on science and rational thinking” and promoting “benevolence and empathy for everybody,” at Sacramento Elementary School.
The Satanic Temple also is seeking to place programs in Atlanta, along with several other school districts located near local Satanic Temple chapters. The group has specifically targeted schools that currently host or have previously hosted Good News Clubs.
According to the LA Times, the Los Angeles Unified School District recently rejected the ASSC request for a meeting space in the Panorama City area.
The U.S. Supreme Court, however, ruled in 2001 that if a public school provides space for after school clubs like the Good News Club, they are not allowed to discriminate against other groups based on their “viewpoint of speech,” The Post reported.
Taking ‘the bait’
Family Research Council’s Travis Weber, director of the center for religious liberty, advised Christian parents to not argue with the operation of ASSC and not “take the bait” — not in support of the group’s teachings, but rather, in support of religious liberty for all.
ASSC is seeking to “bait” Christian parents into causing enough uproar to entirely shut down the limited public forum.
“First school administrators should not be deterred,” Weber wrote on frcblog.com. “The ASSC organization would love nothing more than for the school forum be shut down to all groups.
“Second we should not look at this as a setback, but as an opportunity,” Weber wrote. “If the ASSC … wants to start a spiritual discussion … let’s welcome [it]. The group’s use of the term ‘Satan’ gives everyone the opportunity to discuss Satan. Let’s explain his role in the Bible, his power to tempt humans away from God to our own detriment and the good news that Jesus provides a way out of that temptation.” (TAB)
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