A parent's attempt to start an After School Satan Club at an elementary school in Pennsylvania as an alternative to the Joy El Christian club was shot down by an angry mob who showed up in droves at their local school board meeting on Tuesday. Although hell-fearing Christian extra-curricular activities are permitted at Northern York Elementary School in Dillsburg, the same doesn't go for the Satan Club — "which will focus on free inquiry and rationalism" — that was founded by the Satanic Temple, a recognized religion in the United States since 2019.
In a 2016 Salt Lake Tribune interview with the Satanic Temple's co-founder Lucien Greaves, he explained the goal of the club: "While the [Christian] Good News Clubs focus on indoctrination, instilling children with a fear of hell and God's wrath, After School Satan Clubs will focus on free inquiry and rationalism. We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of an everlasting other-worldly horror."
From USA Today:
All but one board member opposed the formation of the club. Hundreds of community members attended the two-hour meeting to discuss the age of the children the club would target, cultural and biblical issues attached to the possible formation of such a club and the content on the Satanic Temple's website for the program.
"Look at the range of our students the children suffering from mental health issues, suicide, anxiety, depression all these things are off the chart and my heart goes out to these kids," one resident at the meeting said. "More than ever we need a God in this world and this proposal in the opposite direction." …
Supportive parents mentioned how the formation of the club was a constitutional right. …
Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves told the York Daily Record the program is to highlight what he believes are inconsistencies with the separation of church and state in America.
"What you can't do is you can't pick and choose between viewpoints, you can't say that you're going to only accept certain religious voices but not others," Greaves said. "That is religious discrimination."
With the club denied, Greaves said the Satanic Temple will likely pursue legal action.
