After targeting invocations at city council meetings, Satanists are eyeing to establish After School Satan Clubs in public schools across the U.S., aiming to be like the Christian The Good News Clubs.
The Satanic Temple has sent letters to schools and petitioning officials to open After School Satan Clubs when the new school year starts.
Temple chapter heads from Utah, New York, Boston and Arizona were in Salem, Massachusetts last July 10 to discuss the establishment of the club along with others from Minneapolis, Detroit, San Jose, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Florida who participated online, reported The Salt Lake Tribune.
"It's critical that children understand that there are multiple perspectives on all issues, and that they have a choice in how they think," said Satanic Temple co-founder Doug Mesner.
According to the Satanic Temple, the curriculum they are proposing for the club is about development of reasoning and social skills such as snacks, literature lesson, creative learning activities, a science lesson, puzzle solving and an art project.
Each student will be given a membership card and parents should give consent before a student will be allowed to attend any meeting.
"We think it's important for kids to be able to see multiple points of view, to reason things through, to have empathy and feelings of benevolence for their fellow human beings," said the group's Utah chapter head, who uses the name Chalice Blythe.
The Satanic Temple is leveraging on the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Good News Club v. Milfrod Central School, which said that excluding an after-school programme because of religious views of its organisers was a violation of free-speech rights.
By 2011, there were 3,560 Good News Clubs in the U.S.
"As it is illegal for the schools to discriminate against specific religions or preference others, After School Satan Clubs cannot be denied wherever Christian, or any other religious clubs, operate," according to the After School Satan Club website.
The Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver agreed that the Satanic Temple has the legal right.
"I would definitely oppose after-school Satanic clubs, but they have a First Amendment right to meet," he said. "I suspect, in this particular case, I can't imagine there's going to be a lot of students participating in this. It's probably dust they're kicking up and is likely to fade away in the near future for lack of interest."
The Satanic Temple is thanking the Liberty Counsel "for opening the doors to the After School Satan Clubs through their dedication to religious liberty," said Greaves.
