A friend of mine and her family live near Lebanon, Connecticut, a small, rural town in the southeastern corner of the state. She recently contacted me, sharing her concern over a new club for young learners at her local elementary school. The name of the club – and this is not a belated Halloween joke – is “After School Satan Club.”
Yes, Satanists are running a club at an elementary school. In fact, they advertise it on a flyer designed with cute colored pencils. While the club is not “approved or sponsored by the school district,” the first meeting is set for December 1, 2023.
The middle of the flyer contains this disclaimer:
The Satanic Temple is a non-theistic religion that views Satan as a literary figure who represents a metaphorical construct of rejecting tyranny and championing the human mind and spirit. After School Satan Club does not attempt to convert children to any religion. Instead, The Satanic Temple supports children to think for themselves.
Sounds like the sort of nonsense we should expect from the father of lies. A little more digging around, however, reveals that a larger organization is behind the new club, The Satanic Temple. And while the title of the organization is foreboding, it appears to be a group dedicated to promoting a leftist agenda — unique only in that it has adopted the prince of darkness as its mascot.
Those upset with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, for example, will be pleased to know that The Satanic Temple has petitioned the state of Texas to allow their members to undergo voluntary abortions as part of a religious ritual.
And since Justice Samuel Alito was the primary author of the Court’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, members can also send in donations to the Temple’s fundraiser for the “Samuel Alito’s Mom’s Abortion Clinic.” How nice.
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In addition to shilling for Big Abortion, The Satanic Temple is also dedicated to going after those children who’ve escaped the womb and actually succeeded in being born. They do it by targeting those schools that allow Bible study groups to meet after school.
Wherever there’s a Bible study club on school grounds, they want a Satan club.
“The After School Satan Club does not believe in introducing religion into public schools and will only open a club if other religious groups are operating on campus,” the group explains.
So far they’ve been successful in setting up after school clubs in rural elementary schools in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The one in Virginia was even promoted by a Democrat candidate for office, The Daily Wire reported last month.
Like many other schools across the country, Lebanon’s elementary school recently authorized a “Good News Club” to hold after school meetings. Good News Club, a ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship, is a weekly interdenominational Christian program for 5- to 12-year-old children featuring a Bible lesson, songs, memory verses, and games.
In 2001, the Supreme Court handed the organization a major victory, holding that the club was entitled to the same access as other groups to provide after-school programs promoting “moral and character development” to elementary school students in Milford, New York. In the words of Justice Clarence Thomas: “When Milford denied the Good News Club access to the school’s limited public forum on the ground that the Club was religious in nature, it discriminated against the Club because of its religious viewpoint in violation of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.”
Last weekend, the superintendent of Lebanon public schools wrote to parents explaining that “by opening its facilities to outside groups offering non-curricular activities, the District legally must allow access by various groups without regard to their religious, political, or philosophical perspectives, as long as the organizations comply with the view-point neutral criteria set forth in Board policies.”
But must it?
The Lebanon School Board policy, consistent with Connecticut law, permits “the use of any school facility for nonprofit educational or community purposes.” There is nothing “educational” about the Satanic Temple’s farce of an after school club. It is tailor-made to mock the principles of the First Amendment by targeting schools where religious clubs have been established. This is a strong reason to deny use of school facilities, but don’t bet on the school board doing so. They are certainly aware that when a school board in Pennsylvania denied the club access, they were hauled into court by the ACLU, the ACLU of Pennsylvania and Dechert LLP on behalf of the Temple.
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Of the 336 pre-K to 4th grade students attending Lebanon Elementary School, the parents of nine children have given them permission to join the after school club for its inaugural meeting on December 1. That’s a very small proportion, but let’s be clear about what is happening here.
Those nine children face the prospect of indoctrination by pro-abortion, gender ideology fanatics who, despite their invocation of the ultimate symbol of evil, enjoy the support of powerful lobbyists friendly with the current administration. Which is headed by someone who tells us he is a devout Catholic. The Satanic Temple may not be Devil-worshipers, but make no mistake about it: their beliefs, which on key issues align closely with those of progressives claiming to be Christians, are truly diabolical.
Andrea Picciotti-Bayer is director of the Conscience Project.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.