‘After School Satan’ club starts in Mormon country — thanks to Christian groups
Christian evangelicals only have themselves to blame for a new After School Satan club that has popped up at Vista Elementary School in Taylorsville, Utah.
According to the Salt Lake Tribue, the club was approved after other Christian based clubs sprung up at the school, Patheos explained.
“If you are going to invite religion into schools you have to invite everybody,” said Chalice Blythe of the Utah chapter head for The Satanic Temple. “You can’t just say one is good and the other is bad.”
The school was forced to send home a letter to parents explaining that there was nothing they could do about the club and that it was legal and the school had no “discretion on this issue.”
Blythe explained that these clubs don’t actually worship Satan. Instead, they work to teach children the importance of science, critical thinking and understand the world around them.
“Kids naturally have that ability to be curious and question things,” Blythe said. “We’re basically just saying we should bolster that.”
Moises Esteves, a spokesperson for Child Evangelism Fellowship, thinks that the club is a misguided attempt by “very confused folk.” He went on to call it nothing more than a publicity stunt, “compelled by their despise of God and despise of anything Christian.”
Blythe explained that the club is perfectly transparent about what they’re doing.
“We have nothing to hide and we legitimately feel we are offering a really good curriculum for kids,” he said.
According to the national website for the club, the group thinks that keeping religion out of school is the best route.
“But the worst case scenario, when religion is allowed in the schools, is an environment in which one religious voice enjoys the exclusive benefit of delivering its teachings to the children, promoting the understanding that their religion is endorsed by the school, or otherwise has special privilege within their community,” the site reads. “The Satanic Temple does not advocate for religion in schools. However, once religion invades schools, as The Good News Clubs have, The Satanic Temple will fight to ensure that plurality and true religious liberty are respected.”‘After School Satan’ club starts in Mormon country — thanks to Christian groups: