(The Hill) - The Satanic Temple is increasing its work in schools across the country, trying to combat a rise in religious teachings.
The group, launched in 2013 to battle the "intrusion of Christian values on American politics," recently began a religious release program in an Ohio school district and plans to expand to a district in Tennessee soon.
It does not seek to convert students toward Satan but wants to be a bulwark against increased religious education.
“A lot of people obviously hear the word Satan, and they tend to lose their minds wherever we go, there tends to be quite a community backlash,” said June Everett, campaign director for the After School Satan Club and Hellion Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL) for The Satanic Temple.
“I’m actually a little surprised that things have gone viral in Ohio, because we actually had three after school clubs in Ohio. It seems to be our most popular state, so I was thinking maybe launching the HAIL program in Marysville that everybody would sort of be over us, but apparently, they are not,” she added.
The temple will be offering its HAIL program to elementary school students in Marysville as an alternative to the LifeWise Christian one that takes students out of school for 55 minutes a week for religious instruction.
The HAIL alternative will take students to a local library for activities such as learning The Satanic Temple's seven tenants, though more commonly general knowledge topics such as zoology.
"We don't believe in the biblical Satan or any sort of supernatural Satan. We do look to Satan as a symbol and nothing else,” Everett said.
The Ohio school district is the second one to receive the HAIL program after the Northern York County School District in Pennsylvania.
“We have about three more that are in the queue, where we are talking to the parents, getting the school district policy, going to finding locations. We're looking for a library that's within a really short distance for a drive,” said Everett.
The in-school offerings are in addition to the After School Satan Clubs, which launched in 2020 and have risen in popularity among parents seeking alternatives to religious clubs.
“Our goal is never to aggressively grow our programs. Our goal is to just be there as an alternative for the people that want us there," she said, adding the group does not go into schools without a Christian presence.
And the number of such schools is rising.
In Oklahoma, schools have been ordered to place a Bible in every classroom and to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans. That mandate has been challenged in the court system.
In Texas last month, the State Board of Education voted to allow lessons about the Bible to be incorporated into public school curricula.
And in Louisiana, in another move facing legal challenges, a law signed this year orders posters of the Ten Commandments to be hung in every public school classroom.
“If they want to hang the Ten Commandments up and we have somebody who wants to push for the seven tenants to be hung up,” the The Satanic Temple would fight for that, Everett said.
“We have had inquiries about that, but it doesn't seem to have panned out yet. If people want to preach the Bible, we also have literature and different things for the temple that we can also push. So, we haven't crossed that bridge yet, but we are ready to do so here in the next four years,” she added.
The organization is also fighting in Florida to be part of the state’s school chaplain program.
“It's very disappointing and frustrating to us, because, as much as religious pluralism and religious freedom is very important to the temple, but we do fear the theocracy that is forcing itself into our public schools, and we obviously feel for the minority religions in our country, and, of course, the huge number of people that consider themselves non-religious.” Everett said.
But those efforts have faced backlash, including threats against Everett and other members, and the temple warns parents of potential pushback when they get involved.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) made a public declaration that The Satanic Temple will not have any part in the state's program.
"Some have said that if you do a school chaplain program that, somehow, you're going to have satanists running around in all our schools. We're not playing those games in Florida," DeSantis said in August, according to the Florida Phoenix.
"That is not a religion. That is not qualified to be able to participate in this. So, we're going to be using common sense when it comes to this. You don't have to worry about it,” he added.
While The Satanic Temple works with other civil rights groups to block efforts for more Christianity in schools, when that doesn’t work, they focus on equal access for all religions.
“So, what we really do is test equal access with the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution that does say that all religions should be treated equally,” Everett said.
