The Satanic Temple is increasing its work in schools across the country, trying to combat a rise in religious teachings.
The group, launched in 2013 to battle the “intrusion of Christian values on American politics,” recently began a religious release program in an Ohio school district and plans to expand to a district in Tennessee soon.
It does not seek to convert students toward Satan but wants to be a bulwark against increased religious education.
“A lot of people obviously hear the word Satan, and they tend to lose their minds wherever we go, there tends to be quite a community backlash,” said June Everett, campaign director for the After School Satan Club and Hellion Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL) for The Satanic Temple.
“I’m actually a little surprised that things have gone viral in Ohio because we actually had three after-school clubs in Ohio. It seems to be our most popular state, so I was thinking maybe launching the HAIL program in Marysville that everybody would sort of be over us, but apparently, they are not,” she added.
The temple will be offering its HAIL program to elementary school students in Marysville as an alternative to the LifeWise Christian one that takes students out of school for 55 minutes a week for religious instruction.
The HAIL alternative will take students to a local library for activities such as learning The Satanic Temple’s seven tenants, though more commonly general knowledge topics such as zoology. “We don’t believe in the biblical Satan or any sort of supernatural Satan. We do look to Satan as a symbol and nothing else,” Everett said.
“We have had inquiries about that, but it doesn’t seem to have panned out yet. If people want to preach the Bible, we also have literature and different things for the temple that we can also push. So, we haven’t crossed that bridge yet, but we are ready to do so here in the next four years,” she added.
The organization is also fighting in Florida to be part of the state’s school chaplain program.
“It’s very disappointing and frustrating to us, because, as much as religious pluralism and religious freedom is very important to the temple, but we do fear the theocracy that is forcing itself into our public schools, and we obviously feel for the minority religions in our country, and, of course, the huge number of people that consider themselves non-religious.” Everett said.
