According to a report by The Hill on Tuesday, After School Satan clubs are gaining in popularity and don’t show signs of slowing down as supporters continue to garner media attention and legal victories in the name of free speech.
After School Satan Clubs have been steadily increasing in popularity and are not likely to slow down as their supporters rack up media attention and legal wins fighting for free speech https://t.co/da0VUB0xdH
— KTLA (@KTLA) May 9, 2023
These extracurricular clubs associated with the Satanic Temple are only available in primary schools, but the organization soon hopes to expand into high schools. June Everett, campaign director for the After School Satan Club, said the school clubs began in early 2020 as an “alternative to religious clubs.”
Last Monday, a district court sided with the Satanic Temple and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which sued a Northampton County, Pennsylvania school district for not allowing the club to meet on school grounds.
The Satanic Temple, founded in 2014, aims to “encourage benevolence and empathy, and reject tyrannical authority,” according to its website. However, the organization has been engaged in a “pro-abortion crusade” and has repeatedly “come to the aid of America’s largest abortion provider.”
The organization has filed multiple lawsuits in different states to overturn pro-life laws and claims pro-life laws deny the supposed right of an “involuntarily pregnant woman” to engage in the “Satanic Abortion Ritual.”
Despite the well-documented and negative associations made with the Satanic Temple, they claim the students “are not actually getting proselytized or instructed in devil worship.”
Rose Bastet, who has been involved with the Satanic Temple for four years, claims that the clubs are allegedly “not interested in having children identify as satanists” and that her club focuses on learning about different animals. If this is the case, why not call it the Zoology Club instead of After School Satan?
However, Everett hopes the program will change this coming fall because they are “considering teaching some of the seven core tenets of the Satanic Temple in the clubs.” The plan has not been finalized, but the organization has “a lot of big plans for next school year,” including a children’s version of the tenets of Satanism.
The Satanic Temple is hoping to expand to high schools, but doing so is more difficult because high school clubs require more student engagement compared to primary schools, where groups are run by adults. The organization is partnering with the Secular Student Alliance to further its reach with older students.
“With their partnership, we hope to use them to help us get into more high schools and colleges,” Everett said.
