The school system is going to hell.
A California elementary school is facing backlash from parents after promoting an After School Satan Club aimed at kids as young as five.
The controversial club is slated to hold monthly meetings starting this December at Golden Hills Elementary School in Tehachapi, Bakersfield Now reported. It was created by the nontheistic religious organization The Satanic Temple — not to be confused with the Church Of Satan — as an antidote to the evangelical Christian groups cropping up in public schools.
“The Satanic Temple does not advocate for religion in schools,” the outfit states on its website. “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.”
In this instance, the After School Satan Club was created in response to the Good News Club — a weekly Christian program for kids 5-12 years old — running after-school programs at Golden Hills Elementary.
Needless to say, parents were not pleased with the development, which many deemed “disgusting” and sacrilegious.
“I think it’s disgusting, I understand the school has to allow them because they allow other after-school programs such as the good news, which is a Christian-based after-school program, that one I’m okay with, but I can’t imagine why anyone would want their child to attend this Satanic group,” Sheila Knight, grandparent to a 5th grader at Golden Hills, fumed to Bakersfield Now.
“Tehachapi said yes, and I think they made a mistake,” seconded Brenda Maher, grandparent to a 1st grader. “I know my grandson will not be a part of this club.”
However, the After School Satan Club organizers feel that the criticism is misplaced as the group does not actually promote Satanism, but rather encourages critical thinking and rationalism, per the site.
“The initial reaction is definitely that of shock and disgust,” Lauren Mae, a Tehachapi mother who volunteers with the After School Satan Club, told SFGATE in an email. “They definitely do seem to think that we are devil worshippers, which we are not. We don’t believe in a supernatural Satan.”
Paul Hicks, a critical-thinking professor who will be running the club, seconded the sentiment. “I’m not teaching these kids to be Satanic, I’m not teaching these kids that they need to hail Satan or identify as Satanists,” he declared. “What we’re doing is we’re thinking critical thinking, we’re teaching science, we’re teaching empathy and benevolence.”
He added, “There’s currently a Good News Club there which is teaching kids to go save souls for Jesus, at the school. We want to give an alternative point of view.”
However, many parents simply deemed the move a philosophical trojan horse aimed at promoting devil worship in schools.
“‘So several people have told me that the new Satan after school club at Golden Hills elementary is not a religion, but a philosophy club … Then why did they choose Satan?” asked concerned citizen Joe Lathrop in the Facebook group “Tehachapi Ask, Raves and Rants.” “Why not the Jean Paul Satre existentialism club? Why not the Descartes club?”
He added, “They put Satan in the name for a reason. People should stop being intellectually dishonest and just own up to the fact that they want kids to worship Satan as a secular god.”
However, the Tehachapi Unified School District said in a statement that the law prevents them allowed to discriminate against organizations who want to use school grounds based on a philosophy, per Bakersfield Now.
In addition, parents need to give permission before their kids can attend the meetings, per a flyer by the Satanic Temple. “Nobody has to engage with it who doesn’t want to, and children are going to need to have permission slips signed by their parents to have any involvement at all,” claimed Lucien Greaves, the After School Satan Club’s spokesperson and co-founder.
This isn’t the first time the Satanic Temple club has ruffled feathers in academia. In April, a Pennsylvania elementary school rejected a similar proposal to establish an After School Satan Club on campus.