Parents of Chesapeake Public Schools are voicing concerns about a new club called the After-School Satan Club. It’s supposed to have its first meeting in a few weeks at a B.M. Williams Primary School.
Some parents argue that such a club does not need to be in a school with children so young, but lawyers said the school must make room for it since it’s attached to a religion. One mom, Melanie Ballard, believes a satan club will shape her young son’s mind in a sinister way.
“But now, it’s okay to have devil worshipping in school around impressionable minds and age,” Ballard said. “Children absorb everything they see and hear and they model what they see adults do.” June Everett, the campaign director for the ASSC said the club isn’t about fire and brimstone. It’s actually about brainstorming.
“We do not believe in a supernatural Satan as a symbol because legend has it that Satan was the first to start asking questions and was cast out of heaven for that reason,” Everett said.
The group’s flyer mentions that it’s voluntary and they’re not trying to convert kids. Instead, they want people to look at the world scientifically, rationally and non-superstitiously. Everette said the first club meeting will be on Dec. 15.
“A lot of the activities are based on community projects or different kinds of crafts that you can share with families or friends. They can color in a book or make a friendship bracelet,” Everette said.
Everette said the group wants to provide transparency in the club’s name. “If we were to name it something like the ‘Fluffy Bunnies’ or ‘Rainbow Club’ and people were to find out it was run by the Satanic Temple, that would be worst,” Everette said. “We do get a lot of people who say, ‘Why don’t you call it the afterschool science club or afterschool critical thinking club?’ We could do that, but then when people find out it’s run by the Satanic Temple and that Satanists are the ones running the club, we feel that will create more of a problem.”
Jack Preis, a professor of law at the University of Richmond, said Chesapeake Public Schools don’t really have a choice but to allow the club to exist. It goes back to the First Amendment—freedom of religion. Preis said that if the school is going to allow one religious club to meet all other clubs have the right to meet regardless of ideology. “To shut down the Satan Club would bring down clubs from other religions,” Preis said. (SOURCE)
