If Good News Clubs get access to public schools, so does After School Satan Club

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on November 21, 2023.

The Satanic Temple agreed to a settlement with Pennsylvania’s Saucon Valley School District last week for $200,000 in legal fees and access to their buildings for their After School Satan Club.

It’s another victory for those who oppose Christian supremacy by appealing to the same religious freedom arguments evangelicals use to gain access to public schools and government property.

The argument stems back to a 2001 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed the Good News Clubs to meet in public schools after school hours. Due to what it sees as a harmful, dehumanizing theology promoted by Good News Club, the After School Satan Club offers an alternative view in some of the same locations.

As an ex-evangelical parent of five public school kids, it can be frustrating to watch these back-and-forth political battles happening in schools. After all, the reason our kids are there is to learn, not to get swept up into culture wars.

“The reason our kids are there is to learn, not to get swept up into culture wars.”

But because evangelicals have so succumbed to the devil’s temptation of authority and glory over the kingdoms of this world, the irony is that Jesus followers are fully embracing the devil’s offer, while the Satanic Temple is the group standing up for “the least of these.”

What many Christians and Satanists have in common

In an interview with Baptist News Global, June Everett, campaign director for the After School Satan Club and Hellion Academy of Independent Learning and an ordained minister of The Satanic Temple, said: “We had a Christian Biker Group (gang) come and support us at every school board meeting in Chesapeake, Va. I hear from people that are proud Christians all the time, stating that they appreciate what we do and think that our campaigns and our mission are needed more now than ever.”

When asked how Christians tend to respond to the Satanic Temple’s legal arguments for their religious freedom, Everett said, “The Christians that are willing to listen (and I do believe they really make the majority, like my father for example) to who we are and what we do agree that we make lots of good points.”

Because the Satanic Temple recognizes most Christians are willing to listen to those they disagree with, there is an opportunity for conversation and convergence, even in the midst of religiously fueled legal settlements.

“Many of them I hear from understand that although we have different beliefs, we are fighting for their religious freedom as well,” Everett noted. “After all, we are not an anti-Christian church, and we have members of the Satanic Temple who are Christian.”

Saving the children through threats of God’s violence

Despite the Satanic Temple offering the fruit of kindness, some Christians choose not to see and take of it.

“Please keep your false doctrine and deception to yourself instead of infecting our beautiful, precious, innocent children with pure evil!” one person wrote. “Live your own life how you choose, and please leave our children alone!”

“Live your own life how you choose, and please leave our children alone!”

“Get the f*** out of my state you sick a**holes,” declared another. “How dare you go after young kids with your demonic ways. GET THE F*** out of here.”

As one would imagine, threats of hellfire are common. One person celebrated, “I’m so glad the day God rose from the dead was the day Satan was defeated. You’ll see. You’re time’s coming. Have a nice burn.”

Still, other Christians seem to take less delight in what they believe will be the eternal suffering of all non-Christians. “You will have to answer to God one day too, just like everyone else. So I encourage you to get right with the Lord,” one wrote. “Hell is no joke (nor is Satan), and hell is very real. Please don’t take our sweet children along with you!!!! Their souls matter (and so does yours).”

Of course, there also are lone actors who attempt to save the children through threatening violence against the After School Satan Club.

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.