A California elementary school is permitting an “After School Satan Club” to hold monthly meetings in the school’s cafeteria. Some parents and grandparents whose children attend the Golden Hills Elementary School in Tehachapi, California, are expressing their outrage.
“The Satanic Temple began communication with the district in late October and submitted its completed Civic Center Facilities User Permit Application on Oct. 21,” the Tehachapi News reported. “The organization was informed on Nov. 14 that use of the cafeteria at Golden Hills was approved.”
“I think it’s disgusting,” Sheila Knight, grandparent to a 5th grader, told Bakersfield Now. “I understand the school has to allow them because they allow other after school programs such as the Good News, which is a Christian based after school program, that one I’m okay with, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want their child to attend this Satanic group.”
“We keep religious matters out of the teachings of the after school Satan clubs and people often ask us, well then why include Satanism at all, being that people are going to be offended by it?” Lucien Greaves, the co-founder and spokesperson of the After School Satan Club declared. “Well, the fact of the matter is, there’s nothing to be offended by and we don’t want people to be unaware of who we are when we run these programs, as we think there would be a more intense backlash if we were trying to hide it.”
Paul Hicks, who will lead the club, which was founded by the Satanic Temple and the Reason Alliance, declared, “There’s currently a Good News Club there which is teaching kids to go save souls for Jesus, at the school. We want to give an alternative point of view. … I’m not teaching these kids to be Satanic, I’m not teaching these kids that they need to hail Satan or identify as Satanists, what we’re doing is we’re thinking critical thinking, we’re teaching science, we’re teaching empathy and benevolence.”
“From my understanding, the Good News Clubs sent out some flyers, which they are certainly entitled to do, and some parents got together and said we’re not interested in this,” Hicks added. “And they knew of the After School Satan Club, and they requested our presence.”
One commenter on the Tehachapi Ask, Raves & Rants Facebook page, who described himself as non-religious, chimed in, “So several people have told me that the new Satan after school club at Golden Hills elementary is not a religion, but a philosophy club. … Then why did they choose Satan? Why not the Jean Paul Sartre existentialism club? Why not the Descartes club? Etc. They put Satan in the name for a reason.”
“It’s just sick that they are targeting elementary school kids,” one woman wrote. “Those are babies.”