In January, we informed you that The Satanic Temple (TST), headquartered in Salem, is holding its second annual “SatanCon” in Boston next month. Advertised as the “largest satanic gathering in history” and “a weekend of blasphemy and remembrance,” SatanCon is planning to feature Satanic rituals, a Satanic marketplace, and even a Satanic wedding chapel. Read our blog post about it here.
The fact that TST’s SatanCon is now sold out is troubling enough, but even more concerning is their ongoing advocacy to expand abortion access (read about their abortion ritual here), affirm LGBT ideology, and create a platform to influence children in public schools.
On its website, TST attempts to distinguish itself from the Church of Satan, while also claiming they are the premier religious and anti-theistic Satanic organization in the world promoting a number of campaigns “to preserve and advance secularism and individual liberties.” One of its campaigns is targeted at recruiting children with “After School Satan Clubs (ASSC).” Duplicitously, even though TST calls itself a religious organization, the ASSC asserts it does not believe in introducing religion in public schools. This is ironic considering its self-professed religion of secularism is firmly embedded in public schools already through curricula that teach LGBT ideology and promote abortion and the presence of Gender Sexuality Alliance clubs that openly indoctrinate students in sexual orientation and gender identity dogma.
Its actions make it clear that TST is not against religion per se, they are just against Christianity. The ASSC was created as an alternative to Good News Clubs and other Bible clubs established by students to share the Gospel in public schools. In fact, TST even admits this, stating that they will “only open a club if other religious groups are operating on campus.” While insisting that the advancement of critical thinking, science, and creativity is the focus of ASSCs, the lyrics from their promotional video demonstrate they intend to convince children that Christian beliefs about Satan and hell are not true:
Satan’s not an evil guy
He wants you to learn and question why
He wants you to have fun and be yourself
And by the way, there is no hell
Science is important, so we understand the world
Satan looks for truth
Let’s help him boys and girls
Everyone is different and that’s ok with Satan
He’ll always treat you equal whether your black, white, or gay
Satan’s not a scary guy
He wants you to share and to be kind
He wants you to have fun and be yourself
And by the way, there is no hell
Like the devil himself, the Satanic Temple craftily twists things meant for good and repurposes them for evil. This is apparent in the way that TST is seeking to legally justify its ASSCs. In cases such as Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch. Dist., the Supreme Court has made clear that student religious clubs have a constitutional right to use the same spaces to meet on school campuses as any other secular club. A school cannot discriminate against a student group’s speech and activities, the Court said, simply because students want to discuss religious topics. These holdings have allowed Christian students to come together in classrooms after school across the nation to grow in their faith and be inspired to share the Gospel with their peers. Yet TST is now using these positive legal precedents to claim a right to infiltrate public school spaces to inculcate students with their Godless ideology. TST can argue, likely successfully, that it would violate their free speech rights for a school to deny their club permission to meet. This is yet another way for TST to mock people of faith by cynically twisting religious freedom and free speech rights to work to TST’s advantage. Ultimately, these Clubs are likely more about upsetting and angering Christians through these inflammatory tactics and undermining Christian belief than they are about truly recruiting students into satanism. While Christians should always take Satan seriously, we should not allow TST’s tactics to intimidate us.
MFI strongly encourages students to establish Bible clubs on their school campuses. Rosa, a high school student from Lynn was discriminated against when trying to start a Bible club discussion at her school. MFI was honored to defend Rosa’s First Amendment rights and help her establish her club. If you would like more information about starting a Bible club in your local school district contact Michael King, [email protected].
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For our families,
Andrew Beckwith, President & General Counsel
