Students at an elementary school in Illinois have gotten invitations to an after-school “Satan Club” that is holding events on five different days throughout the spring term, according to a new report.
The Washington Examiner explained the invitations went to kids at Jane Adams Elementary in Moline, Illinois, whose attendance has been requested by the club that is being developed by the Satanic Temple.
It’s for students in first through fifth grade.
An elementary school in Illinois gave out these flyers promoting an after school satan club pic.twitter.com/ieF1wSZYds
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) January 12, 2022
The report said parents were reacting negatively, with one posting an image of the invitation on social media and wondering, “How is this even a thing?”
An official from the Moline-Coal Valley School District told FOX 2 locally that the district has policies and procedures in place for “community use” of its facilities outside the school day.
The official said that allows any religious group, regardless of denomination, to “rent” the rooms for a fee.
The official said Christian groups are allowed the same opportunity.
In the Examiner report, the official said, “Flyers and promotional materials for these types of groups are approved for lobby posting or display only, and not for mass distribution. Please note that the district must provide equal access to all groups and that students need parental permission to attend any after-school event. Our focus remains on student safety and student achievement.”
The Satan Club offered “science projects, puzzles and games, arts and crafts projects, [and] nature activities.”
It’s far from the only time the same issue has come up.
“Atheists masquerading as a so-called Satanist Temple group” ended an after-school program at Point Defiance Elementary School in Tacoma,” Washington, according to Liberty Counsel.
“The After-School Satan Club ceased meeting soon after teachers from the Seattle Satanic Temple offered their first meeting in December 2016. Apparently, only one child joined the club.”
Satanist clubs have been offered in some of the schools where Christian Good News Clubs already were meeting. The Christian groups are sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship, which won a landmark 2001 case in the U.S. Supreme Court for equal access to school facilities.
The Satanist groups then claimed the same rights to use school facilities to teach their agenda to children.
Liberty Counsel said the Tacoma School Board’s decision to allow the Satanist club drew protests from parents who asked school officials to ban it.
“The Satanic Temple is an atheist organization known for controversial publicity stunts proclaiming it is a Satanic group in order to scare school boards into blocking access to the Good News Clubs. The After-School Satan Club promotes evolution, gender confusion, and abortion to club attendees.”
In contrast, Good News Clubs, for children ages 5-12, “teach morals and character development from a Christian viewpoint.”
“As we predicted, the so-called Satanist club fizzled,” Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, said at the time.
“These clubs have never been successful and are doomed to fail. The atheists use scare tactics to oppose the Good News Clubs, but we are neither fooled nor intimidated. The so-called Satanist Temple and its after-school club had nothing good to offer students, so it was only a matter of time before it fizzled out.”
At the time, it was reported the Satanic Temple confronted nine public school districts across the nation in just one week to start “after-school Satan programs.”
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